Jan Dibbets

Catalogue entry

Jan Dibbets born 1941

P07232 Collage 1973

Inscribed 'Jan Dibbets 1973 17/25' b. centre
Collage on paper, 29 5/8 x 40 (75.4 x 101.7). The two collages, together with the space between them, occupy an area 14 1/8 x 29 1/2 (35.7 x 74.8)
Purchased from Leo Castelli, New York (Grant-in-Aid) 1974

This collage was made with invitation cards printed for the artist's exhibition in New York, at Leo Castelli's, from 10 February to 3 March 1973. The card, which is square, has a colour photograph of an expanse of flat grassland and blue sky; the straight horizon line divides the image diagonally into two equal parts. Dibbets made the collage by putting four cards together on the left, with the sky areas in the centre forming a blue square surrounded by green; and another four, on the right, the other way round, with the green in the centre surrounded by blue. A pencil diagram below shows the geometrical structure.

He wrote on 12 October 1974 that he made the three artist's proofs himself in New York and the edition of twenty-five (of which this is no.17) was done by someone else. He then signed them. (The person who made the edition was in fact Charles Yoder who works for Castelli Graphics).

The original photograph was taken by Dibbets and was made at the Dutch Flevo-polder where he made many works. It is a drained area of land formerly sea (Ysselmeer).

A twin collage-print was made the same way for the Galleria Sperone in Turin.

Published in:
Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.172-3, reproduced p.172

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