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Dimensions: diameter: 72 in. 182.9 cm.
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Provenance: Galerie Annemarie Verna, Zurich (acquired directly from the artist in 1975)
Studio La Città , Verona
Galleria la Polena, Genova
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 1980/1981
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Literature: Exh. Cat., Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Robert Mangold, 1982, cat. no. 288, illustrated
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Notes: Elegance is often a word associated with the work of Robert Mangold. It is also a constant feature in the work of contemporary minimalists: Frank Stella, Robert Ryman, Ellsworth Kelly, and Brice Marden. An uncanny aesthetic value, elegance is pictorially palpable in the geometrized internal tension of Four Triangles Within a Circle #2. The present painting conveys Mangold's vision of a `good painting', simply described by the artist as "an area where, at the right moment, a complex of painterly elements finds their right place." (Exh. Cat., Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Robert Mangold, 1982, n.p.) Despite its limiting means, Four Triangles Within a Circle #2 exhibits a strong connection to the painterly tradition extending up to the Italian art of the Quatroccento, a period favored by Mangold for inspiration. Whereas a tondo (the original shaped canvas) enclosing four thinly outlined triangles of varying size is arguably an unexpected minimalist composition, Four Triangles Within a Circle #2 reinforces Mangold's interest in two pairs of basic elements: form/line and color/surface. Avoiding all gestural ornamentation that could deter from its geometric abstraction and non-illusionistic enterprise, Four Triangles Within a Circle #2 prioritizes its monochromatic grayish blue color and directs the viewer to the presence of the angular structures therein. Mangold is an expert at generating pictorial tensions without drama; ``evoking a sense of irritation accessible to interpretation only through painstaking examination''?an arc of tension between measurable and intuitive perfection that is characteristic of all of his works. (Exh. Cat., Museum Wiesbaden, Robert Mangold, Paintings and Drawings 1984-1997, 1998, p. 153)
