1959, Adolph Gottlieb, Crimson Spinning -- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
From the museum label: Part of Bursts, a group of paintings that merge planes of color and gestural brushwork—two hallmarks of American painting from the 1950s—Crimson Spinning is composed of an ethereal circular form and a dense mass of brushstrokes. The floating red orb was created with thin paint that produced a halo-like outer ring as it was absorbed by the threads of the canvas. In contrast, the splattered tendrils of thick black pigment below pulsate against the work's surface. Although such forms, common throughout the series, evoke landscapes or even atomic blasts, the artist gave his works ambiguous titles that leave their meaning open to the viewer.
1959, Adolph Gottlieb, Crimson Spinning -- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
From the museum label: Part of Bursts, a group of paintings that merge planes of color and gestural brushwork—two hallmarks of American painting from the 1950s—Crimson Spinning is composed of an ethereal circular form and a dense mass of brushstrokes. The floating red orb was created with thin paint that produced a halo-like outer ring as it was absorbed by the threads of the canvas. In contrast, the splattered tendrils of thick black pigment below pulsate against the work's surface. Although such forms, common throughout the series, evoke landscapes or even atomic blasts, the artist gave his works ambiguous titles that leave their meaning open to the viewer.