In the Balance: Between Painting and Sculpture, 1965–1985

Oct 19, 2022–Mar 5, 2023

A collection of red acrylic paint is layered in quick strokes that resembles a collection of particles, like a body of sand.
A collection of red acrylic paint is layered in quick strokes that resembles a collection of particles, like a body of sand.

Alma Thomas (1891–1978), Mars Dust, 1972. Acrylic on canvas, 69 1/4 × 57 1/8 in. (175.9 × 145.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from The Hament Corporation 72.58

In the Balance: Between Painting and Sculpture, 1965–1985 brings together artworks from the Whitney's collection that cross boundaries and upset conventions. Regardless of whether they pour across or sit on the floor, the sculptures included here explore painting’s domain through investigations of color, surface, and optical perception. The paintings, conversely, engage with sculptural concerns by taking up ideas long associated with three-dimensional art, such as balance and objecthood.

The works share many crossover effects, but their greatest affinity is in revealing how artists during this period were persistently questioning how we relate to, react to, and fit into (or are alienated from) physical space. Such queries were top of mind for sculptors associated with movements that flourished at this time, including Minimalism, Post-Minimalism, and feminist art. Similarly, just as many critics were arguing that painting had reached a dead end, painters active in the 1970s and early 1980s asserted the medium’s enduring vitality by pursuing untraditional starting points like shaped canvases, mathematically driven abstract compositions, and other explorations of positive and negative space that called attention to perception.

By commingling elements of painting and sculpture, these works exist beyond established limits of what artists can do and upset the balance of preexisting ideas of what art can be.

This exhibition is organized by Jennie Goldstein, Assistant Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Major support for In the Balance: Painting and Sculpture, 1965–1985 is provided by the Jon and Mary Shirley Foundation.

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Dorothea Rockburne 

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Dorothea Rockburne referred to works like Balance, with its stacked linen supports and translucent application of paint, as “wickedly balanced,” a description that underscores the ingenuity of the composition. The artist painted it during a period in the 1980s when she was working on an ongoing redefinition of perspective, aiming to “invent and experience a different pictorial space.” The painting’s support as well as the colors applied to it reflect the work’s title: the red triangular shapes, for example, both depict and construct visual geometry. The results further Rockburne’s project to achieve, as she wrote, “a differently conceived use of perspective: a painting that looked through its layers at itself.”

  • A blue vertical rectangle tilting to the left overlaps with a green rectangle tilting to the right. Layered with the two rectangles are orange and red triangles.
    A blue vertical rectangle tilting to the left overlaps with a green rectangle tilting to the right. Layered with the two rectangles are orange and red triangles.

    Dorothea Rockburne, Balance, 1985. Oil on linen, 58 15/16 × 82 3/4 × 4 1/16 in. (149.7 × 210.2 × 10.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Mari and Peter Shaw 2020.150. © 2022 Dorothea Rockburne / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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Essay

Artist sitting amongst large sculptures

Balancing Acts

By Jennie Goldstein, Assistant Curator

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Audio guides

A vibrant orange and pink abstract sculpture consisting of slanted rectangular shapes is installed on a lush green lawn, with a backdrop of assorted trees under a partly cloudy sky.
A vibrant orange and pink abstract sculpture consisting of slanted rectangular shapes is installed on a lush green lawn, with a backdrop of assorted trees under a partly cloudy sky.

Judy Chicago, Trinity (Outdoor Version), 1965/2019. Matthews polyurethane paint on stainless steel, overall: 63 3/8 × 127 1/4 × 60 in. (161 × 323.2 × 152.4 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Painting and Sculpture Committee 2022.45a-c. © Judy Chicago / Artists Rights Society, New York

Hear directly from artists and curators on selected works from the exhibition.

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Explore works from this exhibition
in the Whitney's collection

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In the News

“To tackle chaos but achieve order nonetheless—that’s when balance is beautiful.” —The Wall Street Journal

“The exhibition, an anthology of innovation, is not only enjoyable, it shows the experimental bent of these artists extremely well.” —The Brooklyn Rail

On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Maya Man, A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

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