Etching and aquatint on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
Tiles
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/brice-marden-1578" aria-label="More by Brice Marden" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Brice Marden</a>
Purchased 1983
abstraction
emotions, concepts and ideas
formal qualities
geometric
non-representational
space
paper print etching aquatint
[title not known]
image: 203 × 203 mm
Purchased 1983
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/marden-title-not-known-p07852" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07852</span></a> [from] <b>Tiles</b> 1979 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/marden-title-not-known-p07849" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07849</span></a>-<span>P07852</span>; complete]
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<br/>Four etchings with aquatint each approx. 8 × 8 (203 × 203) on Somerset paper 29 3/4 × 22 3/8 (755 × 568), printed by Stephen Thomas at Crown Point Press, Oakland, California and published by Parasol Press, New York
<br/>Each inscribed ‘B Marden 79’ b.r. and ‘15/50’; impressed with the printer's and publisher's stamp
<br/>Purchased from Parasol Press (Grant-in-Aid) 1983
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<br/>‘Tiles’ is a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portfolio" title="Glossary definition for 'Portfolio'"><span>portfolio</span></a> of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>prints</span></a> from a series of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a> and <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/etching" title="Glossary definition for 'Etching'"><span>etchings</span></a> in which Marden was working out ideas for the design of ceramic tiles which, ultimately, were not made. Unlike earlier works, which are more <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/minimalism" title="Glossary definition for 'Minimalism'"><span>minimal</span></a> and explore the formal characteristics of the series, ‘Tiles’ is an expressive series in which the grid and the notion of serial progression are both exploited and subverted. They are subverted by the broad manner in which the rosin is applied in the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/aquatint" title="Glossary definition for 'Aquatint'"><span>aquatint</span></a> process and by the general air of improvisation with which the prints are endowed by the foul biting in the central black areas. The use of large blotches of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/i/ink" title="Glossary definition for 'Ink'"><span>ink</span></a> and the accidental (but ultimately desired) appearance of foul biting reveal that Marden's interests are not strictly speaking minimal but are more expressive. Since 1972 his work has reflected his interest in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a> and <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/classicism" title="Glossary definition for 'Classicism'"><span>classical</span></a> Greek architecture and manifests a reaction ‘against what have become the excesses of Minimal <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a>’ (‘Brice Marden Interviewed by Robin White’, View, III, June 1980). The grid is used not only to limit and define the two dimensional surface but is also employed to create an architectonic space.
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<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><i>The Tate Gallery 1982-84: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions</i>, London 1986
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Catalogue entry
2004-10-13T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction emotions, concepts and ideas formal qualities geometric non-representational space