Accession Number
1973/2.50

Title
Steam, from "Earth Projects, A Suite of 10 Prints"

Artist(s)
Robert Morris

Object Creation Date
1969

Medium & Support
lithograph on Rives BFK Paper

Dimensions
30 in x 22 1/8 in (76.2 cm x 56.2 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Manoogian

Label copy
Gallery Rotation Spring/Summer 2011
Robert Morris
United States, born 1931
Steam, from the portfolio Earth Projects
1969
Lithograph on wove paper
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Manoogian, 1973/1.250

Subject matter
This print is one of a series of ten works in a portfolio titled, "Earth Projects." They were pulled in the Detroit Workshop at the Common Ground of the Arts in Detroit during the summer and fall of 1969. Robert Morris stated, "They are organized around certain phenomena that can best be experienced outside... dust storms, earthquakes, plowed fields, sudden changes of temperature, Indian mounds, concrete dams, formal gardens, steam rising from city streets, natural disasters and aftermath, suburban hedges and gravel paths, burning industrial wastes storage dumps of vast quantities of materials...most of the projects would, if built, be of such a scale that the whole of the work could not be seen. This would allow the body [to explore the work] through walking rather than through an instantaneous visual impression."

Physical Description
This print is one of a series of ten works in a portfolio titled, "Earth Projects." They were pulled in the Detroit Workshop at the Common Ground of the Arts in Detroit during the summer and fall of 1969. Robert Morris stated, "They are organized around certain phenomena that can best be experienced outside... dust storms, earthquakes, plowed fields, sudden changes of temperature, Indian mounds, concrete dams, formal gardens, steam rising from city streets, natural disasters and aftermath, suburban hedges and gravel paths, burning industrial wastes storage dumps of vast quantities of materials...most of the projects would, if built, be of such a scale that the whole of the work could not be seen. This would allow the body [to explore the work] through walking rather than through an instantaneous visual impression." The immense scale of these projects often meant that the work’s overall structure or shape would be visible to the spectator only from a distance, while the experience in greater proximity to the work would necessarily be only partial. In Steam, a project realized in Bellingham, Washington, a dematerialized white cloud that dissipates into the air was created by bringing steam from below the city to the surface via pipes, resulting in an ephemeral, constantly changing sculpture.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
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Keywords
diagrams
landscaped-site elements
plan views