Robert Ryman, hailing from Nashville, Tennessee (1930), emerged as a preeminent American painter in the latter half of the previous century. His journey, however, did not entail a formal education in the arts. Rather, in the 1950s, he worked as a security guard at the MoMA in New York. It was there that he first crossed paths with Dan Flavin and Soll Lewitt, his colleagues at the time, who would later become pivotal figures in the rise of minimal art.
Ryman’s work bears a close resemblance to that of minimal art. His square monochromatic paintings, for instance, can be likened to Carl Andre’s steel plates. Yet, unlike his peers, Ryman was more intrigued by the technical aspect of painting. He delved into the realm of possibilities presented by white paint on various mediums such as canvas, aluminum, paper, plexiglass, and more. In fact, Ryman referred to himself as a “realist,” not in the conventional sense of creating illusions, but in his pursuit of working solely with the fundamental elements of painting. As Rudi Fuchs eloquently stated, “Every facet of a painting (medium, size, paint, brushstroke, hanging) contributes to its overall appearance. This is the tangible foundation of Rymans’s art.”
www.ftn-books.com has some Ryman titles available.
