Artwork
The Chief
Artist
Robert Goodnough
(American, 1917 - 2010)
DepartmentContemporary Art
Date1960
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions84 x 84 in. (213.4 x 213.4 cm)
Credit LineSan Antonio Museum of Art, purchased with Museum Endowment Funds
Object number76.105.2
DescriptionLarge abstract painting featuring a mass of angular geometric shapes that abut and interlock with one-another. The shapes are outlined in black and filled in with color ranging from white and pale beiges/pinks, turquoise, bright red, black, various blues,Label TextThe gridded structure of black lines and geometric forms in Robert Goodnough’s The Chief recalls the work of Piet Mondrian (Dutch, 1872–1944), founder of the avant-garde De Stijl movement whose works sought a universal modern aesthetic through radically simplified abstraction. The painterly drips and more expressive brushwork, however, reveal Goodnough’s connection to the New York School.
Although stylistically elusive, Goodnough was associated with the second generation of Abstract Expressionists. In the late 1940s Goodnough attended Hans Hofmann’s summer art school in Provincetown, MA, before graduating from New York University with a master’s degree in art education. He became friends with Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko along with other New York School artists through the Eight Street Club, or simply The Club, which was founded in 1949 by a famous group of largely abstract painters in Manhattan. Weekly meetings were filled with volatile discussions and arguments, which sometimes continued and became even more heated, at a nearby dive bar, the Cedar Tavern. (Suzanne Weaver, 2017)Not on view
Collections
Andrea Nungarrayi Martin
Culture: Aboriginal Australians (Warlpiri/Anmatyerre language group)
1997
Linda Syddick Napaltjarri
Culture: Indigenous Australians (Pintupi/Pitjantjatjara language group)
2005
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
