The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Sestina II

Sestina II

1958
(American, 1900–1983)
America, 20th century
pastel
Framed: 168.2 x 121.9 cm (66 1/4 x 48 in.)
Gift of Agnes Gund 2017.129
Location: not on view

Description

Adja Yunkers revolutionized the medium of pastel in the 1950s with gestural strokes of color that emphasized pastel’s painterly qualities, presented on an unprecedented scale. Sestina II refers to a type of sung poetry common in Italy and France in the 1500s and 1600s and associated with troubadours. Yunkers’s composition may be more concerned with capturing the romantic spirit of the poetry than its rigid structure.
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    Henning, Edward B. Fifty Years of Modern Art, 1916-1966. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. pp. 162 and 208
    Bartelik, Marek. To Invent a Garden: The Life and Art of Adja Yunkers. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2000. p. 67
  • To Invent a Garden: Adja Yunkers Retrospective. Bayly Art Museum of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (March 24-June 11, 2000).
  • {{cite web|title=Sestina II|url=false|author=Adja Yunkers|year=1958|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2017.129