Richard Pousette-Dart

1916–1992

Richard Pousette-Dart was an integral member of the New York School during the early years of Abstract Expressionism. He grew up the son of a painter father and poet mother and, as a child, Pousette- Dart was exposed to his father’s collection of African and South Pacific tribal artifacts. These objects no doubt informed his interest in pictographs and other iconography of non-Western art. In the 1940s Pousette- Dart’s work made use of calligraphic and biomorphic forms, similar to those of his contemporaries, such as Jackson Pollock, Adolph Gottlieb, and Mark Rothko, with whom he exhibited at the Betty Parsons Gallery. Unlike his colleagues, however, who increasingly privileged aesthetic formalism, Pousette-Dart aspired to a symbolic and spiritual function for his art. He once said, “I strive to express the spiritual nature of the universe. Painting for me is a dynamic balance and wholeness of life; it is mysterious and transcending, yet solid and real.”

This “dynamic balance” is evident in Within the Room. The loosely flowing geometry appears constantly in flux and yet, as the title suggests, it is contained. One colorful shape transforms into the next as lines meander, connect, and continue. The complex tumble of triangles and semicircles keeps the viewer’s eye moving, and yet the composition never descends into chaos. The richly textured organic forms simultaneously evoke two orderly systems that remain mysteries to humankind: the body and the cosmos. Within the Room is emblematic of Pousette-Dart’s early work in its evocation of a mystical transcendence and synthesis of European Cubist and Surrealist styles.

Wikipedia entry

Introduction

Richard Warren Pousette-Dart (June 8, 1916 – October 25, 1992) was an American abstract expressionist artist most recognized as a founder of the New York School of painting. His artistic output also includes drawing, sculpture, and fine-art photography.

Wikidata identifier

Q870701

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Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed May 10, 2025.

Getty record

Country of birth

United States

Roles

Artist, art critic, graphic artist, lecturer, manufacturer, muralist, painter, photographer, sculptor, self-taught artist, teacher

ULAN identifier

500018154

Names

Richard Pousette-Dart, Richard Dart, Richard Pousette- Dart, Richard Warren Pousette-Dart, Richard Poussette-Dart

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Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed May 10, 2025.

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First acquired
1953

API
artists/1047