Sold for: $52,250

PROVENANCE
J.L. Hudson Contemporary Art Gallery, Detroit
Private Collection, Toronto

Clotho II is a vivid example of the large-scale works Norman Bluhm began exhibiting in the 1970s. In this painting we encounter “Rubenesque” swelling forms, with swathes of pink and purple, underscored by yellow and lavender hues. Bluhm drew on a variety of art-historical references, from Asian manuscripts and stained glass to Greek legend. Clotho was one of the Three Fates or Moirai in Greek mythology. She was the one who spun the thread of the lives of mortals, deciding birth and death. Here, the power of the female muse reigns, culminating in the energy this painting radiates.

Bluhm was a part of what has been labeled the second generation of Abstract Expressionist painters. He was an architectural student of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at the Armour Institute of Technology in Illinois. In 1941, he joined the US Army Air Forces, became a B-26 pilot and flew dozens of missions for the Allied effort. After the war, he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His work resides in several public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

This work will be included in the forthcoming Norman Bluhm catalogue raisonné.

Please note: this work is comprised of three sheets of paper. Each sheet measures 30 x 22 3/8 inches.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars