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Ambi I, 1959, 94 7/8 x 137 3/4 in. (241.0 x 349.9 cm), Acrylic resin (Magna) on canvas, du250

Copyright © 2014 MICA

Rights administered by Artists Rights Society (ARS)

Collection:

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California, United States. Gift of Sally Lilienthal, 1974

Provenance:

André Emmerich Gallery, New York

Sally Lilienthal, San Francisco

Exhibitions:

(E 147): San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1968

References:

(B 385): Upright [Headley] January–February 1978, color, p. 94

(B 412): Upright 1985, cat. no. 250, color, p.155

Remarks:

André Emmerich wrote in a letter dated 20 April 1967 to Mrs. Sally Hellyer (Lilienthal): “The estate has given it the reference title Ambi-1. The term ambi was arrived at because this Latin word indicates the double direction from which these pictures were painted and is of course a part of many commonly used terms in which it denotes this dual quality. The other stalactite-stalagmite pictures will also carry this reference title, together with individual numbers.”

Some of the paintings in the “Ambi” series were titled when released for exhibition or sale. Others in the series were first assigned titles when the catalogue raisonné was originally prepared for publication in 1985. Their order of presentation on this website is based upon stylistic comparison rather than upon the order in which titles were assigned.

ML number:

ML 2-22

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