Jules Olitski
JULES OLITSKI (1922–2007)
Ky, 1979
Acrylic mounted on canvas on board, 13 1/ 2x 13 1/2 in.
Signed, dated, and inscribed (on verso): “Ky” / For my beloved Kristina, from Jules / 1979
EX COLL.: the artist, to the Kristina Olitski Family Collection, by gift, 2007; and by descent until the present
Olitski’s early career was characterized by his use of heavy impasto. He moved on to thin washes of color and was associated with the color field movement closely associated with Mark Rothko and Helen Frankenthaler. Olitski returned to heavy impasto, concerned through all his stylistic transmogrifications with the interplay of color and texture. Though Olitski was overwhelmingly an abstract painter, he customarily named his works, suggesting meanings that they had for the artist. He worked across media, painting, sculpting, and printmaking.
