Dynamism

Description

Kupka wished to explore the laws of the universe and the underlying cosmic order, which he imagined as a “kaleidoscope of changing light, color forms and space.” This drawing is part of a series exploring these ideas; dark shapes explode and unfold on the page while the debris from this universal force appears to float on the surface. As the eye attempts to make sense of the dense network created between the layered charcoal lines and delicate white shapes, one gets the sense of peering into the unknown.

Provenance

Estate of the artist [stamp (Kupka; not in Lugt) verso, lower right, in red, and stamp (FRANK KUPKA / 7, Rue Lemaitre / PUTEAUX (Seine); not in Lugt) verso, upper left, in purple]. Sold by the Robert Elkon Gallery, New York, to Mr. and Mrs. Murray A. Gribin, 1971; sold, Sotheby’s, London, June 23, 1993, lot 115, to Dorothy Braude Edinburg, Brookline, MA; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2013.

Dynamism

František Kupka

c. 1912

Accession Number

186102

Medium

Charcoal and white pastel, with stumping, with touches of black pastel, on gray laid paper with fibrous inclusions

Dimensions

30.6 × 33.6 cm (12 1/16 × 13 1/4 in.)

Classification

prints and drawing

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection