During the mid-1960s, when the notion that painting was dead was at its peak, Brice Marden found himself in a challenging predicament. He was producing minimalist artworks, using horizontal and vertical canvases in muted tones of oil paint mixed with melted beeswax. It seemed like there was no uncharted territory left for him to explore. The critic Barbara Rose even commented that if Ellsworth Kelly were to paint a Jasper Johns, it would resemble a Marden.
Marden, who passed away at the age of 84 last week, had studied Johns’s art while working as a guard at the Jewish Museum during Johns’s 1964 retrospective. He always acknowledged Johns’s influence and even dedicated a painting titled “Three Deliberate Grays for Jasper Johns” to him in 1970.
At a time when Abstract Expressionism was fading and Pop and Minimalism were taking hold of the New York art scene, Marden, along with other artists, found themselves at a creative impasse. Frank Stella, known for his black-striped shaped canvases, began exploring three-dimensional forms and vibrant colors. On the other hand, Robert Ryman, an innovative painter, continued to experiment with variations of white in his work.
Marden took a different path to break free from this corner. He began by expanding on his monochromatic works, incorporating additional panels and introducing loosely outlined shapes. He drew inspiration from the history of painting, demonstrating that art from any culture or time period could be contemporary and vibrant if it offered something meaningful to artists.
Unlike artists such as Pollock, Johns, or Stella, Marden never halted the progress of painting. He maintained a traditional painter’s perspective, emphasizing the importance of light, nature, and the rectangular shape as a significant human invention. While his paintings possessed the characteristics of Minimalism, with their thick surfaces and single colors, they also exuded personal expression and craftsmanship reminiscent of the Abstract Expressionists.
Marden’s first exhibition took place in 1966 at the renowned Bykert Gallery on East 81st Street, alongside other prominent young artists of that era. His shows garnered anticipation, and younger painters closely followed his artistic development.
Marden and his wife, Helen Marden, were one of the most glamorous couples in the New York art scene during the 1970s and 1980s. Brice Marden’s fashion sense included cowboy boots and various headgear, often wearing black-knit watch caps. At their Bond Street loft in the early 1970s, they amazed visitors with their geometric leather sofa and Helen’s pet fruit bat.
Despite his successful career, Marden maintained a modest and gentle demeanor. He rarely made grand statements or displayed egotistical behavior. In a photograph for a Bykert show announcement, he sat on an empty pedestal assumed to be Cézanne’s tomb, showcasing his admiration for the artist. However, it was actually the pedestal for Aristide Maillol’s “Monument à Cézanne” in Paris.
Marden had a complex personality, blending rigor with pragmatism, and often expressing wry self-deprecation. He remarked that “painting says pain in it,” showcasing the profound truth underlying his sometimes corny statements. He also established his business, Plane Image, emphasizing the importance of the rectangle and flatness in his work. Collages featuring postcards of his favorite Old Master paintings, flanked by black or white plane-like structures, hinted at the possibility of oblique figurative elements in his work.
From the late 1960s onwards, Marden tirelessly worked across painting, drawing, and printmaking, gradually expanding and adding layers of meaning to his art. He named his paintings after friends, musicians, and significant locations and events. For example, his “Back Series” from 1967-68 symbolized a period of distance between him and Helen, with the panels measuring her height. Additionally, his “Annunciation” series from 1978 coincided with Helen’s pregnancy.
Helen had a profound influence on Marden’s work. She was typically the first person in his studio and introduced him to various cultures and places that became crucial to his artistic development. Marden acknowledged that he would never have traveled if it weren’t for Helen, while she understood that he would only go to places where he could continue working. Their summer house on the Greek island of Hydra, with its blue seas, skies, and olive groves, inspired paintings like “Grove Group V.”
Marden’s artistic evolution involved increased complexity and deeper meanings, providing viewers with more visual stimuli. The number and arrangement of panels changed over time, and the colors became more vibrant. His composition titled “Thira” from 1979-80 combined 18 panels across 15 feet, evoking crosses and Greek temple structures.
He eventually abandoned beeswax and monochrome panels, transitioning to calligraphic marks on fields of color, adding movement and rhythm to his paintings. This transition took most of the 1980s. The trajectory of Marden’s career left people curious about what he would create next. In the early to mid-1980s, he improvised with straight lines that formed skewed and overlapping twisted structures reminiscent of Cubist grids. He repeatedly went over these lines and corrected them with white paint, making them appear fragile. By the mid-1990s, the lines relaxed, thickened, and unfurled into floating ribbons of color. In the early 2010s, Marden focused on intricate patterns of moss, resulting in fine lines resembling porcelain craquelure. Later, the lines became heavier, resembling ropes or tracks, creating a roadmap-like configuration on the surface.
Marden’s career was characterized by constant expansion. He pushed the boundaries of abstract painting, exploring the formal aspects of color, line, and proportion while refusing to confine himself to the narrowness of modernism. His refusal to stagnate, his perpetual curiosity, and his eagerness to learn and grow define his legacy.
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