Untitled (Circles and Squares on Purple/Pink Ground)

Introduced to “non-objective” painting through a chance introduction with Paul Klee in 1923, Rolph Scarlett became one of the most significant contributors to the genre and the canon of American Modern from the 1930s through the 1960s. He became the third most highly collected painter, after Wassily Kandinsky and Rudolf Bauer, of Solomon Guggenheim, founder of the original “Museum of Non-Objective Painting” in 1938 and namesake of today’s Guggenheim Museums. Scarlett was the featured speaker at the museum on the principles and technique of non-objective, distinguishing the aesthetic differences between geometric and lyrical forms of the genre. This particular gouache is a brilliant example of “Geometric Non-Objective” yet subtle in it’s color and fine, delicate line.

ARTIST: Rolph Scarlett

YEAR: ca. 1935

MEDIUM TYPE: Painting

MEDIUM/MATERIALS: Gouache on Board

CONDITION: Excellent

DIMENSIONS: 9 7/8 × 11 7/8 in