Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an ink print by Pol Bury. It dates from 1973 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
The collection combines lithography, screenprinting, etching, aquatint, and woodcut, reflecting Bury’s experimental approach to printmaking.
Created in 1973, this work is one of many prints in a diverse portfolio by Belgian artist Pol Bury. The collection combines lithography, screenprinting, etching, aquatint, and woodcut, reflecting Bury’s experimental approach to printmaking. Though primarily known later for kinetic sculptures, this series reveals his earlier engagement with graphic media, exploring form and color through repeated, iterative compositions.
Subject & Meaning
The portfolio includes pencil sketches of a face viewed from multiple angles, alongside abstract color studies using flat fields of yellow, green, and brown on dark grounds. A single print features a basic color wheel, suggesting an investigation into chromatic relationships. These elements function less as finished images and more as visual experiments, probing perception, repetition, and spatial variation without narrative intent.
Technique & Style
Bury employed a range of printmaking methods, from lithography to screenprint and aquatint, often layering techniques within single works. The sketches are rendered in loose, unembellished pencil, while the colored prints use minimal, unmodulated hues. The stark contrast between dark backgrounds and saturated shapes emphasizes geometric clarity, aligning with a systematic, almost scientific approach to visual analysis.
History & Provenance
The portfolio was produced during a transitional phase in Bury’s career, following his involvement with the COBRA group and preceding his shift toward kinetic sculpture. It entered The Museum of Modern Art’s collection as part of a comprehensive acquisition of his graphic work, preserving a critical record of his process before he turned fully to three-dimensional movement-based art.
Context
In the early 1970s, many artists were re-examining printmaking as a site for conceptual exploration rather than reproduction. Bury’s portfolio aligns with this trend, using seriality and variation to question how form emerges through repetition. His work here parallels contemporaneous investigations in minimalism and systems art, though rooted in a more personal, observational practice.
Legacy
Though Bury’s later kinetic sculptures gained wider recognition, this print series remains a vital document of his methodical process. It illustrates how his interest in motion and spatial dynamics was already present in two-dimensional studies, laying groundwork for his sculptural innovations. The portfolio continues to be referenced in discussions of postwar European printmaking and artist-led experimentation.
Artist & collection
Artist
Pol Bury (26 April 1922 – 28 September 2005) was a Belgian sculptor who began his artistic career as a painter in the Jeune Peintre Belge and COBRA groups.
