Wedded to abstract painting, Whitten’s practice took a decisive turn in the mid-1970s, when he pioneered new methods of paint application that involved the use squeegees, rakes, saw blades, and Afro picks. Such techniques had the effect of systematizing and depersonalizing his work. Indeed, Whitten has noted that in 1974 he started embracing "laboratory work," making what he has called "programmed" or "photographic" pictures. To this end, the diagrammatic composition of Delta Group II, with its meticulous network of parallel and intersecting lines, recalls images of the lunar landscape as well as aerial landscapes taken from military planes. The protrusions that appear in the work’s otherwise flat, raked surface were created by placing objects such as stones, pieces of wire, and thin metal sheets between the canvas and the drawing board during painting.
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Inscription: Inscribed, signed, and dated (verso, upper left): DELTA GROUP # II / Jack Whitten '75
the artist, New York (1975; sold to MMA)
Brooklyn. Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. "Selected Works by Black Artists from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 14–June 14, 1976, unnumbered cat.
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, The Arsenal. "Selected Works by Black Artists from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 7–March 30, 1979, no catalogue.
New York. Studio Museum in Harlem. "Jack Whitten: Ten Years, 1970–1980," November 6, 1983–March 18, 1984, no. 13.
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. "Jack Whitten: Five Decades of Painting," September 20, 2014–January 4, 2015, unnumbered cat. (pp. 112–13).
Columbus. Wexner Center for the Arts. "Jack Whitten: Five Decades of Painting," May 16–August 2, 2015, unnumbered cat.
Minneapolis. Walker Art Center. "Jack Whitten: Five Decades of Painting," September 13, 2015–January 12, 2016, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Met Breuer. "Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture, 1963–2017," September 6–December 2, 2018, unnumbered cat. (p. 180).
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture, 1963–2017," March 3–May 27, 2019, unnumbered cat. (p. 180).
Beacon, N.Y. Dia Beacon. "Jack Whitten: The Greek Alphabet Paintings," November 18, 2022–July 10, 2023, unnumbered cat. (pp. 65–66).
Jack Whitten. Studio log. April 20, 1976 [published in Ref. De Salvo et al. 2023, pp. 178], discusses inclusion of this work in Exh. Brooklyn 1976 and its purchase by MMA.
Hilton Kramer. "Wanted: A Purpose for Modern at the Met." New York Times (November 20, 1977), p. D29.
Henry Geldzahler and Jack Whitten. Interview by Henry Geldzahler with Kellie Jones at Jack Whitten's studio, 36 Lispenard Street, New York. March 31, 1983 [published in Ref. De Salvo et al. 2023, pp. 208, 212–13].
Carmen Winant. "Jack Whitten. Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego." Frieze 171 (May 2015), p. 222.
Kathryn Kanjo inJack Whitten: Five Decades of Painting. Exh. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. San Diego, 2015, pp. 29–30, 199, fig. 10 (color), ill. pp. 112–13 (color).
Robert Storr inJack Whitten: Five Decades of Painting. Exh. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. San Diego, 2015, p. 41.
Quincy Troupe inJack Whitten: Five Decades of Painting. Exh. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. San Diego, 2015, p. 74.
Jack Whitten in Katy Siegel. Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture, 1963–2017. Exh. cat., Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore, 2018, p. 180, ill. (color).
Mark Godfrey. "Mark Godfrey on Jack Whitten." Four Generations: The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection of Abstract Art. Ed. Courtney J. Martin. Revised and expanded ed. (1st ed., 2016). New York, 2019, pp. 142, 157 n. 2.
Aruna D'Souza. "A Lost Chapter in an Artist's Story." New York Times (December 30, 2022), p. C10.
Courtney J. Martin inJack Whitten: The Greek Alphabet Paintings. Ed. Donna De Salvo et al. Exh. cat., Dia Beacon, Beacon, N.Y. New York, 2023, pp. 13, 19, 22–23, 25 n. 37, ill. (color) pp. 65–66, 150 (installation photo, Exh. Beacon 2023), 223.
Jack Whitten (American, Bessemer, Alabama 1939–2018 New York)
2015
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