Exhibition, 16 Feb 2013 - 26 May 2013

Destroy the Picture: Painting the Void, 1949-1962

Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, United States

Destroy the Picture: Painting the Void, 1949–1962 focuses on one of the most significant developments in contemporary abstract painting: the artist’s literal assault on the picture plane. Responding to the physical and psychological destruction wrought by World War II—especially the existential crisis resulting from the atomic bomb—artists ripped, cut, burned, and affixed objects to the canvas in lieu of paint. Destroy the Picture emphasizes this internationally shared artistic sensibility in the context of devastating global change and dynamic artistic dialogues, offering an innovative and expansive view of art making in the postwar period.

On this occasion, three paintings of fire were presented.