CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 5/23/2014

Anne Truitt: Threshold

In Matthew Marks' beautiful new monograph on the 70s work of sculptor and painter Anne Truitt (1921–2004), the artist is quoted from a 1978 lecture: "In the last analysis the artist's work is underwritten by character. By character which has been formed in a lifelong process of growing self-knowledge, informed by widening experience. One of the exciting aspects of being an artist is precisely this kind of development. The artist takes risks and makes mistakes and then lives with the results, learns from them and moves on. If the artist is thoughtful and maintains a sturdy independence, if he or she makes an honest attempt continually to refine values in the light of experience, it is possible to live in the world productively without in any way compromising the integrity which underwrites all art." This detail of the sculpture "Prescience," from the same year, is reproduced from Anne Truitt: Threshold.