Collections Database

Description:
Two columns of fuzzy-edged, black ellipses form a rectangle on a white canvas. The left column's ellipses are flatter and rounder while the right's are taller and feature a white line in the center of each ellipse.

Label Text:
Since the 1970s, Joan Witek has worked exclusively in black and white. Although black is often considered a formal or somber color, Witek strives for a playful, impressionistic effect. She achieves this in "It’s a Jungle Out There …" and its preparatory drawing by contrasting smooth- and fuzzy-edged ellipses in inky black against the unpainted grounds of the canvas and paper.

Steven Jacobson acquired these artworks directly from the artist, with whom he developed a close friendship. He describes visiting her studio in Tribeca before it became a “ritzy” area: “I used to ring the doorbell and she would open a window, wrap a sock around the key, and toss it down to me. I’d open the door and walk up the five flights of stairs to her studio. Joan would show me paintings, give me coffee, and we’d talk art for an hour or so.”

MD, 2013

Tags:
abstract

Subjects:
Canvas; Art, Abstract

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2013.14

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.