Half Light

Mary Pinchot Meyer, Half Light, 1964, synthetic polymer on fabric: canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Quentin and Mark Meyer, 1976.41
Copied Mary Pinchot Meyer, Half Light, 1964, synthetic polymer on fabric: canvas, 60 1⁄8 in. (152.7 cm.) diam., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Quentin and Mark Meyer, 1976.41

Artwork Details

Title
Half Light
Artist
Date
1964
Location
Dimensions
60 1⁄8 in. (152.7 cm.) diam.
Credit Line
Gift of Quentin and Mark Meyer
Mediums Description
synthetic polymer on fabric: canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Abstract
Object Number
1976.41
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1976.41

Artwork Description

In my paintings, the color is the form.
--Mary Pinchot Meyer

The tondo--or circular canvas--was a favorite format for Mary Pinchot Meyer. Half Light is divided into precise quadrants. Their colors alternate in tone and hue, with pale lavender and blue contrasting crisply with earthy olive green and brown.

Meyer used thinned paint to penetrate the fibers of the canvas, thus melding color with form. She noted that there are no lines in her paintings, only edges "where one color stops and another starts." The artist did, however, draw two tiny dots in this composition. Can you find them?