Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an ink print by Sara Seagull. It dates from 1976 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
Created around 1976, this offset lithograph by Sara Seagull—catalogued under the generic title Untitled—is part of the Museum of Modern Art’s collection.
Created around 1976, this offset lithograph by Sara Seagull—catalogued under the generic title Untitled—is part of the Museum of Modern Art’s collection. The work presents a stark black‑and‑white depiction of a sky dominated by four large, fluffy clouds, each marked with a simple plus sign. The composition is minimal, focusing the viewer’s attention on the interplay of natural form and graphic annotation.
Subject & Meaning
The image isolates a segment of an overcast sky, reducing it to a series of cloud forms punctuated by the plus symbols. The marks suggest a system of measurement or annotation, inviting speculation about how the clouds might be quantified or interpreted. Accompanying text refers to the piece as *American Sky* and mentions a sound component linked to weather, hinting at an interdisciplinary exploration of visual and auditory representations of atmospheric conditions.
Technique & Style
Produced as an offset lithograph, the work employs a printing process that transfers ink from a metal plate onto paper, allowing for crisp, high‑contrast imagery. Seagull’s choice of monochrome emphasizes texture and form, while the precise, hand‑drawn plus signs contrast with the organic cloud shapes, creating a dialogue between natural phenomena and human‑made symbols within a modernist visual language.
History & Provenance
The lithograph entered the Museum of Modern Art’s holdings sometime after its creation in the mid‑1970s, though the exact acquisition date is not publicly recorded. Its presence in the museum’s collection reflects MoMA’s ongoing interest in experimental print media and works that intersect visual art with conceptual and technological concerns.
Context
The piece emerged during a period when artists were increasingly integrating sound, technology, and scientific data into visual practice. Collaborators Bob Watts, Bob Diamond, and David Behrman—figures associated with early computer music and sound art—contributed to the work’s conceptual framework, suggesting that the plus signs may correspond to data points used to generate weather‑related sounds, situating the lithograph within a broader network of multimedia experimentation.
Artist & collection
Artist
Sara Seagull made bold, flat-color prints in the mid-1970s, part of a wave of artists using offset lithography to push graphic design into fine art.
