Accession Number
1964/2.29

Title
Mercredi

Artist(s)
Auguste Herbin

Artist Nationality
French (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1950

Medium & Support
oil on canvas

Dimensions
36 1/4 in x 29 in (92.07 cm x 73.66 cm);36 1/4 in x 29 in (92.07 cm x 73.66 cm);36 1/4 in x 29 in (92.07 cm x 73.66 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Florence L. Stol

Label copy
Auguste Herbin was born in the north of France and studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lille. In 1901 he moved to Paris and spent the early years of his career painting landscapes and portraits reminiscent of Impressionist works. In Paris, contact with Cubist artists such as Pablo Picasso led Herbin to react against his early more straightforward style, and instead he adopted an interest in geometric form and theories of color.
In Wednesday, Herbin reflected on the word itself and arrived at an arrangement, consisting of both color and shape, that reveals his thoughts. Using the three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue, as well as other theories derived from the color wheel, the artist created visual contrasts. Shapes interact with one another, inviting the viewer to think about how this flat vision reveals inner depth. Herbin’s art was quite revolutionary at the time and was not widely accepted until very late in his career.
Regina DiBella
Modern and Contemporary Art Intern
Summer 2003

Subject matter
In this work, Herbin reflected on the title itself and arrived at an arrangement, consisting of both color and shape. Using the three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue, as well as other theories derived from the color wheel, the artist created visual contrasts. Shapes interact with one another, inviting the viewer to think about how this flat vision reveals inner depth. The year this work was created, he joined the group of pure abstractionists at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, an antecedent of which was the Abstraction-Création group that Herbin co-founded in 1931.

Physical Description
This abstract painting consists of four unequal rectangular quadrants. The background of the top left rectangle which is tall and thin, is orange, and it contains a tall yellow triangle. The background of the top right rectangle, which is the same height as the top left but wider, is red and it contains red circles, blue hemispheres, an inverted L shape and a blue straight line. The straight line continues downward into the bottom right rectangle which is long, flat and dark blue and also contains an orange circle and yellow triangle. Finally, the small yellow square at the bottom left contains an orange circle. The painting is titled, signed and dated (l.r.) "mercredi herbin 1950".

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
abstract

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
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Keywords
abstraction
color theory
geometric patterns
modern and contemporary art