Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a gouache drawing by Nancy Graves. It dates from 1969 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1969, this work by Nancy Graves combines typewritten text with hand-applied ink, gouache, and felt-tip markings on two sheets of paper. The materials are layered and unevenly applied, suggesting a process of spontaneous annotation. The physical presentation—roughly cut edges, pinned or taped sheets—emphasizes its function as a working document rather than a polished composition.
Subject & Meaning
The juxtaposition of bureaucratic language and intuitive mark-making reflects Graves’ interest in blending scientific inquiry with intuitive expression.
The typewritten text proposes the reintroduction of camels to manage invasive brush vegetation across arid regions of the United States and Mexico. This practical idea, framed as a policy suggestion, is overlaid with gestural marks that disrupt its formal tone. The juxtaposition of bureaucratic language and intuitive mark-making reflects Graves’ interest in blending scientific inquiry with intuitive expression.
Technique & Style
Graves employed typewriting as a structural base, then introduced gouache, ink, and felt-tip in loose, irregular strokes across transparentized paper. The light blue and pale yellow paint appears splattered and smeared, contrasting with the rigid alignment of the typed letters. The hand-drawn additions suggest a mind in motion—sketching, correcting, and reacting—as if the drawing were a record of thought unfolding in real time.
History & Provenance
The work entered the collection of The Museum of Modern Art as part of its broader acquisition of Graves’ experimental drawings from the late 1960s. It reflects a period when the artist was transitioning from sculpture to works on paper, using everyday materials to explore systems of knowledge and representation. Its preservation as a single, unframed object underscores its status as a process-based artifact.
Context
In the late 1960s, Graves was investigating ecological and geological themes, often drawing from scientific literature and field research. This piece aligns with contemporaneous interests in environmental management and the intersection of human intervention and natural systems. The use of typewritten text echoes conceptual art’s engagement with language, while the painterly interventions root it in the materiality of drawing.
Legacy
This work exemplifies Graves’ distinctive approach to merging research-based content with tactile experimentation. It influenced later artists who treated the page as a site of intellectual and sensory inquiry, where documentation and improvisation coexist. Its presence in MoMA’s collection affirms its role in expanding the boundaries of drawing as a medium for conceptual and ecological thought.
Artist & collection
Artist
Nancy Graves (December 23, 1939 – October 21, 1995) was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and filmmaker known for her focus on natural phenomena like camels or maps of the Moon.
