Untitled (Two-Sided Monotype)

1949

Not on view

Here the same motif, a mechanomorphic creature assembled from a variety of nuts, bolts, screws, and tools, is rendered once on each side of a piece of paper using different techniques. On one side, the creature is surrounded by a halo of expressionistic black marks. On the other, it is starkly isolated against a more or less bare background. Early in her career, before immigrating to New York in 1941, Sterne had strong ties to the European Dada and Surrealist movements, especially through her family friend, Victor Brauner. Her debt to Dada and Surrealism is very much in evidence here.

Artwork Details

Overview

Inscriptions and Markings

Provenance

Title: Untitled (Two-Sided Monotype)
Artist: Hedda Sterne (American, Bucharest 1910–2011 New York, New York)
Date: 1949
Medium: Monotype (recto); chalk over graphite with red colored pencil on paper (verso)
Dimensions: 14 × 22 1/16 in. (35.5 × 56 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift of Clara Diament Sujo and Glenn Sujo, 2017
Object Number: 2017.172.2a, b
Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

By Hedda Sterne

From the same time and place

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New York #2, Hedda Sterne American, Oil on canvas — New York #2
Hedda Sterne
1953

Untitled, Hedda Sterne American, Transfer monotype drawing — Untitled
Hedda Sterne
ca. 1949

Machine, Hedda Sterne American, Oil on canvas — Machine
Hedda Sterne
1949

Untitled, Hedda Sterne American, Black chalk on paper — Untitled
Hedda Sterne
ca. 1954

Saul Steinberg, Hedda Sterne American, Graphite on paper (recto) ; graphite on paper (verso) — Saul Steinberg
Hedda Sterne
1944

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