Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an ink print by Sarah Crowner. It dates from 2013 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
This 2013 print by Sarah Crowner merges lithography and screenprinting to explore geometric abstraction. The composition features a muted, blue-gray field interrupted by three pale yellow circles and a single red one. Overlapping forms create subtle shifts in tone where edges converge, while a faint wood-grain texture underlies the color fields.
Subject & Meaning
The work distills abstraction to its essential elements, shape, hue, and spatial tension. Crowner’s arrangement of circles evokes mid-20th-century hard-edge painting while avoiding strict symmetry. The interplay of overlapping forms suggests depth and interaction, inviting consideration of how simple geometries generate visual complexity.
Technique & Style
Combining lithography’s fine tonal gradations with screenprinting’s flat, opaque color, Crowner achieves a hybrid surface. The soft-edged circles contrast with the grainy background, a duality that underscores the print’s materiality. The approach aligns with her broader practice of reinterpreting modernist abstraction through contemporary printmaking methods.
History & Provenance
Created in 2013, the print entered the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, where it contributes to the institution’s holdings of contemporary works engaging with abstraction. Crowner’s practice, rooted in geometric experimentation, situates the piece within ongoing dialogues about the legacy of modernist painting.
Context
Crowner’s work reflects a renewed interest in mid-century abstraction, particularly the hard-edge and color field traditions. By employing printmaking techniques, she bridges historical styles with contemporary processes, emphasizing the medium’s potential for both precision and spontaneity. The piece participates in broader conversations about the evolution of geometric art.
Artist & collection
Artist
Sarah Crowner (born 1974) is an American painter best known for her geometric abstractions that evoke the style of hard-edge painting of the 1950s and 60s.
