Black Paragraph #1, 1962

Date:	1962
Medium:	Oil on canvas
Size inches:	48 x 38
Size cm:	121.9 x 96 .5
Signature:	Inscribed signature, date, and title on the reverse
Location:	The Menil Collection, Houston

Our records indicate Dominique de Menil purchased the painting in 1964 from Allan Stone Galleries, Inc. of New York. The invoice for that purchase notes the title as Black Paragraph #1, and that is the title listed under (Menil Collection) accession number X457 in our museum files. I noticed, however, that you have a different title . Additionally a photograph of the back of the piece shows the handwritten words "George Deem, 1962" and below that "paragraph (on dark ground)." A label on the top of the stretcher bar from Allan Stone Galleries indicates "Paragraph 1" as the title of the piece. We would greatly appreciate any information you could share with us that would ensure we have the proper title. We are eager to know the intended title for this piece, as well as any other information about this work or related works you can provide. Of particular interest to us is that these works appear quite different from Mr. Deem's other paintings, which investigate spatial representations. Can you provide us with information about his text-based works during this period? (Franklin Sirmans, letter to Ronald Vance, December 18, 2007).
George Deem replied with a letter to Franklin Sirmans on January 2, 2008 (see Artist's Notes). The title of the painting is as the Menil Collection has it: Black Paragraph #1.

Paintings: Paragraph (on dark ground) 1962 38 x 48"  sold, Allan Stone  (source: the artist's undated handwritten list of his paintings. Side in inches width by height).



About Black Paragraph #1, 1962.
I first painted the canvas with white impasto horizontal bands, After this dried, I thoroughly painted over the surface with black. Then, while it was still wet, I scratched through the black paint with the side of a palette knife, inscribing the calligraphic marks. This second application all had to be done on the same day before the black paint dried. The impasto bands guided me in making the horizontal calligraphic lines. That gave me my image of handwriting on lined paper. The "writing" is not meant to be readable. The painting is an image of handwriting, an image of a paragraph. I could not have done this painting, and my other calligraphic paintings, had I not done my 1959 painting A Letter to Mark Tobey. My calligraphic paintings have an ancestry in the paintings of Mark Tobey. I didn't sign this and my other calligraphic paintings on the face because I didn't want an intrusive readable word. I inscribed signature, date, and title on the back of the canvas. (George Deem, letter to Franklin Sirmans, The Menil Collection, Houston, January 2, 2008

In my painting I work on a theme, one painting moving me forward to the next.With the "Paragraph" series, each painting had the title "Paragraph." Paragraph No. 1 was the first painting of a paragraph completed in the year 1962. It was followed by Paragraph No. 2, 1962, etc. I didn’t sign any of these paintings because I didn’t want any word to be readable. They are all inscribed on the reverse.

Paragraph No. 1, 1962 is underpainted with impasto white horizontal bars. After the painting dried, I thoroughly painted over the surface with black.Then, while it was still wet, I scratched through the black paint with the side of a palette knife, inscribing the calligraphic marks. This second application all had to be done on the same day before the black paint dried.

As you can see, the impasto bars guided me in making the horizontal calligraphic lines.That gave me my image of handwriting on lined paper. You ask, was I working from a specific earlier text. No, this is my own callligraphic gesture. The “writing” is not meant to be read or readable.The painting is meant to be seen as an image of “handwriting,” an image of a paragraph. This paragraph is indented paragraph-like at the upper left.

I could not have done this painting, and my other paragraph paintings had I not done my 1959 Letter to Mark Tobey.
I was living on Avenue B in 1959. In 1960, I moved to a loft at 65 Fulton Street, already engaged in making paintings of non-readable writing. See the attached Paragraph1960. The image is again a sheet of lined paper. This painting is underpainted in flat white. With blue paint I plucked the horizontal lines onto the dry surface with a tight paint-soaked string. The chance wet deposits of blue have the look of handwriting on mechanically given horizontal lines.

My calligraphic paintings have an ancestry in the paintings of Mark Tobey. I was also looking at Bradley Walker Tomlin’s paintings with admiration. I first saw Cy Twombly’s work at Leo Castelli’s Gallery sometime in 1963. By then I had completed my series of calligraphic paintings of “writing” and was incorporating images of paintings. See Double Landscape and Dutch Landscape. My 1963 show at Allan Stone Gallery included both the paragraph paintings and the paintings combining an image of “writing” with an image of a “painting.” (George Deem, email to Bruno Freeman October 31, 2007)

Allan Stone Gallery, New York

Exhibition date:	December 11 - 29, 1962
Works Shown:	Composition with Goya, 1962 Double Landscape Black Paragraph #1, 1962

The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas

Exhibition date:	September 13 - December 9, 2007
Institution:	The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas
Works Shown:	Black Paragraph #1, 1962