backstory: A Really Big Painting
A monumental, site-specific, 28-panel, 250 foot wide painting and 20 foot high work that was painted by the artist in the Museum’s Theater Gallery between 1972 and 1973, and displayed for the first time in the Museum’s inaugural exhibition in May 1974.
Threnody is really big, so big that it doesn’t fit in our giant cargo elevator. Actually, when I see the work come out of storage, I often imagine our predecessors back in 1974, taking the piece down from the galleries after the inaugural show closed, carrying the first panel over to the elevator and… uh oh. See… the artist not only painted the panels in the Theater Gallery, but he also stretched the rolled canvases there as well. First show at the museum… maybe they didn’t realize it wouldn’t fit into the elevator? I’m just mulling out loud, but also guessing a few of you out there reading this might actually know what happened. Let me know!
Tracy Fitzpatrick
Director, Neuberger Museum of Art
Cleve Gray (New York City, September 22, 1918 – Hartford, CT, December 8, 2004). Threnody, 1972-73. polymer acrylic, Duco enamel and oil on canvas.
28 panels, 20 feet high x 250 linear feet. Collection Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York. Gift of the Artist with support from the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art
EL 1974.01.01 a-bb