2002.16
Muted Clues
Artist
Gyorgy Kepes
(Selyp, Hungary, 1906 - 12/29/2001, Massachusetts)
Title
Muted Clues
Creation Date
1966
Century
20th century
Dimensions
16 1/8 in. x 7/8 in. (40.96 cm x 2.26 cm)
Object Type
painting
Creation Place
North America, United States
Medium and Support
oil on canvas
Credit Line
Gift of Ruth C. Hoffman
Copyright
This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s
Copyright Terms and Conditions.
Accession Number
2002.16
Fascinated by the revelations of twentieth-century science and technology, Kepes argued that artists “need a reunion with…nature, albeit a nature different from that which our fathers knew.” His commitment to the use of unconventional strategies to evoke fundamental structures present in the natural world is evident in the incorporation of sand to accentuate the texture of the work, literally introducing rather than referencing the natural world. Leaving it open to his viewers’ imagination whether this may be a distant universe or a molecular structure, Kepes invites his audience to meditate upon the “muted clues” that may be discerned. His artistic practice was greatly informed by his research in developing civilian aerial camouflage for the U.S. Army in 1942.