Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a tempera drawing by E. McKnight Kauffer. It dates from 1939 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
The piece is part of the Museum of Modern Art’s collection and exemplifies the artist’s interest in precise, graphic abstraction.
Created in 1939, this untitled work by E. McKnight Kauffer is a paper drawing executed in gouache and tempera. The composition is dominated by stark geometric forms—circles, squares, and triangles—filled with flat, saturated hues of black, brown, white, red, peach, and yellow. The piece is part of the Museum of Modern Art’s collection and exemplifies the artist’s interest in precise, graphic abstraction.
Subject & Meaning
The drawing presents a series of intersecting shapes that function like a visual puzzle, inviting viewers to explore relationships between color and form rather than a narrative content. A large black circle rests atop a brown square, while a white circle is nested within a triangle below. Additional red, peach, and yellow triangles punctuate the layout, emphasizing balance and tension without suggesting a literal subject.
Technique & Style
Kauffer employed a combination of gouache and tempera, mediums that dry to a matte finish and retain crisp edges. The use of tempera’s glue‑based binder ensures the pigments remain vivid and the geometric planes stay sharply delineated. The flat application of color, free of blending, underscores the work’s graphic quality and aligns it with early modernist tendencies toward abstraction.
History & Provenance
The untitled drawing was produced in the late 1930s, a period when Kauffer was exploring non‑representational compositions. It entered the Museum of Modern Art’s holdings, where it remains on view as part of the institution’s representation of early twentieth‑century experimental drawing. Its acquisition reflects MoMA’s commitment to documenting the evolution of abstract visual language.
Artist & collection
Artist
Edward McKnight Kauffer was an American artist and graphic designer who lived for much of his life in the United Kingdom. He worked mainly in poster art, but was also active as a painter, book illustrator and theatre designer.
