Untitled #26

Untitled #26

1998
Artist
Francesco Clemente, Italian, 1952-
Born: Naples, Italy
Work Locations: New York, NY, India
Object
painting
Medium
Watercolor on paper
Accession Number
2001.700
Credit Line
Gift from Vicki and Kent Logan to the Collection of the Denver Art Museum
Francesco Clemente (Italian). Untitled #26. 1998. Watercolor on paper. Gift from Vicki and Kent Logan to the Collection of the Denver Art Museum. 2001.700.
Dimensions
sight height: 10 in, 25.4000 cm; sight width: 7 in, 17.7800 cm; frame height: 13 3/8 in, 33.9725 cm; frame width: 10 3/8 in, 26.3525 cm; frame depth: 1 1/2 in, 3.8100 cm; height: 9 3/4 in, 24.7650 cm; width: 6 7/8 in, 17.4625 cm
Inscription
In graphite in upper right corner "A01773426". Two stamps bottom center.
Department
Modern and Contemporary Art
Collection
Modern and Contemporary Art

Italian artist Francesco Clemente works in painting, drawing and sculpture. He is most widely recognized for his figurative paintings, which he began making in the early 1980s, during the post-modern rejection of conceptualism and formalism. Informed by his experiences living in Italy, India, and the United States, Clemente approaches his work with a unique worldview that seeks to explore the complexities of the human condition. He often combines signs, symbols and forms from variety of sources, ranging from Hinduism to Tarot. Regarding his post-modern cultural “mash-ups,” the artist says: “My goal is to collect images and references from these traditions and connect them with the emotions from the present-day, and common experiences.” His compositions are celebrated for their exceptional ability to appear both timeless and contemporary, as they create a dream-like space for deeper discovery of ambivalence, human relationships, and sexuality. 

Francesco Clemente was born in Naples, Italy in 1952. After an early academic background in classical languages and literature, he briefly enrolled as an architecture student at the University of Rome in 1970.

© Francesco Clemente, courtesy Mary Boone Gallery, New York

Known Provenance
Purchased from Anthony d'Offay Gallery by Vicki and Kent Logan, 1998; gifted to Denver Art Museum 2017
Exhibition History
  • "Retrospectacle: 25 Years of Collecting Modern and Contemporary Art"—Denver Art Museum, 11/16/2002 - 08/03/2003
  • “Disruption: Works from the Vicki and Kent Logan Collection” — Denver Art Museum, 1/13/2022