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Night Sky 1 (Reversed)

2002
Not on view
Celmins’s oeuvre is characterized by an embrace of formal and technical challenges and by a rich and prolonged engagement with a limited group of subjects. Central among these motifs is a star-filled night sky, shown tightly cropped and at a slight angle. Instead of dramatic black-and-white contrasts, in Night Sky 1 (Reversed) the dark sky becomes an expansive white field against which black flecks create a vast, horizonless constellation that fills the picture plane. Framing this nearly abstract work is a thin outline that mirrors the impression left by the etching plate and acts as a double border directing attention inward.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Night Sky 1 (Reversed)
  • Artist: Vija Celmins (American, born Riga, Latvia, 1938)
  • Publisher: Gemini G.E.L.
  • Printer: Jennifer Turner
  • Printer: Carmen Schilaci
  • Date: 2002
  • Medium: Three-color photoetching, aquatint, photogravure, and drypoint
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 21 in. × 24 5/8 in. (53.3 × 62.5 cm)
    Plate: 15 7/8 × 19 1/2 in. (40.3 × 49.5 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of Vija Celmins, 2003
  • Object Number: 2003.336.1
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Web 2, Vija Celmins American, born Latvia, Mezzotint
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Untitled (Desert), Vija Celmins American, born Latvia, Lithograph
Untitled (Desert)
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The Stars, Vija Celmins American, born Latvia, Book with etchings
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