{"data":{"id":"1355","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":1355,"topgoose_id":476,"tms_id":1355,"display_name":"Cy Twombly","sort_name":"Twombly Cy","display_date":"1928–2011","begin_date":"1928","end_date":"2011","biography":"\u003cp\u003eWhen Cy Twombly began painting\nin the early 1950s, he shared with Abstract\nExpressionists a commitment to\nnonrepresentational subjects and allover\ncompositions that filled large-scale\ncanvases. Yet instead of using the broad,\ngestural brushstrokes common to the\nthen-dominant style, Twombly covered his\nsurfaces with quick lines and graffiti-like\nmarks reminiscent of handwriting.\nBeginning in 1957 he made Rome his\nprimary home, with frequent trips back to\nthe United States, and created drawings,\ncollages, and sculptures that merge\ncultural references—Greek and\nRoman mythology, ancient ruins of the\nMediterranean, or Western literature—\nwith his idiosyncratic approach to mark\nmaking and construction throughout\nthe next five decades. As he once explained,\n“Generally speaking my art has evolved\nout of the interest in symbols abstracted . . .\nand a deeply aesthetic sense of eroded\nor ancient surfaces of time.”\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\nIn 1966 Twombly began a cycle\nof paintings and drawings with gray grounds\nonto which he made repetitive markings\nin white crayon—abstracted, lyrical,\nsometimes frenetic scrawls and marginalia.\nOften described as his “blackboard\npaintings” because of their resemblance\nto chalked lessons that have been\npartially erased, this format dominated his\noutput until the early 1970s. In\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/3103\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eUntitled\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e\n\u003c/em\u003eoverlapping outlines of rectangles, rendered\nin loose perspective, flow diagonally\nfrom the top right to the bottom left of the\nlarge canvas, as if cascading down a\nwaterfall. Letters, numerals and fractions\npunctuate the palimpsest-like surface, and\nthe words \u003cem\u003ewater chart\u003c/em\u003e can barely be\ndiscerned at the top right. Yet Twomby’s\ncanvases defy easy interpretation or\nimpersonation. As the French theorist and\ncritic Roland Barthes wrote, Twomby’s\nline “is inimitable. (If you try to imitate it what\nyou do will be neither his nor yours.)”\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500032301","wikidata_id":"Q159566","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:41:29.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-26T07:04:51.145-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/1355/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/1355/exhibitions"}}}}