Adding to the Mix 6: Raymond Jonson’s “Abstract Naught” (1930)

June 14, 2013 - August 25, 2013

Abstract painting

This exhibition explores two divergent themes — landscape conventions of the American West and serial artistic production — using as a focus the recently acquired painting Abstract Naught (1930) by New Mexico artist Raymond Jonson.

A founding member of the Transcendental Painting Group, Jonson also played an important role in the history of abstraction in America. Abstract Naught marks a key transition in his artistic progression, preserving traces of an earlier fascination with New Mexico’s distinctive landscape, while manifesting his increasing commitment to painting in series; this work was the first in a sequence of compositions based on the numerals 0-9.

Other artists whose work is presented alongside Jonson’s Abstract Naught include, for the exploration of landscape, Ansel Adams,  Kimowan Metchewais, and Minor White, and, for seriality, Josef Albers, Francisco de Goya, Nikki S. Lee, Robert Motherwell, and Lucas van Leyden, among others.

This exhibition is part of the Ackland’s informal exhibition series Adding to the Mix which sets recent acquisitions within the context of resonant works already in the collection.

Curated by Klint Ericson, 2012-2013 Eaton Curatorial Intern in American Art, Ackland Art Museum.

Curator’s Tour: 
Sunday, June 30, 2 p.m. Led by Klint Ericson. Free and open to the public.

Images Credit: Raymond Jonson, American, 1891-1982: Abstract Naught, 1930; oil on canvas. Ackland Fund. © The Raymond Jonson Collection, University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque.