Piano

Object NameMosaic Panel

Maker Robert Kehlmann (American, b. 1942)

Made FromNon-lead glass, tesserae

Date1994

Place MadeUnited States

Techniquetesserae hand cut, adhered together over drawing..

SizeFrame H: 42.8 cm, W: 73.8 cm, Th: 3.3 cm

Accession Number96.4.57

Credit LineGift of the Artist

Curatorial Area(s)

Postwar and Contemporary

Exhibitions

Robert Kehlmann, Painting with Glass: A Retrospective

Bay Area Artists Working with Glass

Not On View

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

A respected artist and critic, Robert Kehlmann (American, b. 1942) is best known for his work in stained glass, using the leaded glass panel as a "canvas" for abstract compositions in color and light. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was one of a group of American studio glass artists, living in Northern California's Bay Area, who developed new approaches to stained glass that went beyond conventional techniques, materials, and concepts. The abstracted form and black and white palette of this mosaic, one of Kehlmann's more recent works, is characteristic of the artist's subdued, minimal style.

Physical DescriptionColorless, opaque black, transparent gray non-lead glasses, black with shades of gray charcoal drawing on white background, black frame, glass tesserae, charcoal drawing and acrylic background on masonite, adhesive (GE RTV 118-self leveling on large pieces, GE Silicone II on small pieces), painted wood frame; tesserae cut by hand, adhered together over drawing on masonite, assembled. Horizontal panel of small, colorless, irregular squares and rectangles (some cut with angles) forming background to asymmetric black "antique" and gray glass sections cut and arranged to cover and largely correspond to the underlying abstract black linear composition with shaded gray and white ground; central large, wide black bell-shaped glass with a line flaring from both sides of top, at base is a narrow gray horizontal section on short angled "legs", three main background groups (top left, lower left corner, right side) of linear compositions covered with gray and black pieces; varying thicknesses of glasses create an irregular surface; wood frame painted black; front lower right corner in pencil or charcoal apparent through colorless tesserae; (within a circle "RK/'94".
Provenance

Source Robert Kehlmann (American, b. 1942) - 1996