P roduced at an epiphanic moment in Ad Reinhardt’s career when black monochromatism overwhelmed his practice, Untitled (Black on Black) is an incomparable exploration of tonal nuance and meditative stillness. Dating from 1955, Untitled (Black on Black) steeps with alluring darkness and unveils an almost indiscernible cross mere shades away from the background. A staunch defender of abstraction and a believer in pure form, Ad Reinhardt began painting solely black-on-black compositions from 1953 until his death in 1967. Untitled (Black on Black) is an exceptional example from the Black Paintings series, or, as Ad Reinhardt termed them, “ultimate paintings”, other examples of which prominently belong to the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; and Philadelphia Museum of Art. Residing in the same permanent collects ion for over 40 years, Untitled (Black in Black) reveals subtle shifts in lightless hues evoking a vast realm of atmospheric space.
Ad Reinhardt’s work beginning in the 1950s is distinguished by a careful and deliberate application of paint, indicative of a decidedly unemotional approach seeking transcendence through nonfigurative form. “Above all, Reinhardt values the painting itself over idea, technique and style, which explains, I think, why his black paintings stand up so well. They are made in full cognizance of the fact of painting as painting… Reinhardt’s paintings are made with one end in mind; they are objects to experience esthetically, not commentary, self-expression, or formal exercises that may be challenging to decipher… It is artists like Reinhardt who extend our comprehension of beauty,” (Lucy R. Lippard, Ad Reinhardt: Paintings, New York 1966, p. 26).
