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Challenge
Agnes Pelton's "Challenge" was inspired in part by the spectacular natural environment around her studio in Cathedral City, California. The triangular arrows at the lower left, surrounded by cloudlike forms, may represent the nearby mountains and their dramatic weather phenomena. The artist's images are not pictorial records of nature, but rather equivalents for her emotional experiences of it. Pelton's double silhouettes may serve as a metaphor for biological reproduction. She joins these forms, linking the forces of physical creation with the broader theme of cosmic creation. Arrows, S-curves, and snakelike lines connect the earthly and heavenly realms, conveying a sense of ascension and aspiration towards a higher state of spiritual rebirth and enlightenment.
- Artist
- Agnes Pelton
- Title
- Challenge
- Date
- 1940
- Object Type
- Painting
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 32 x 26 in. (81.3 x 66 cm); 36 3/4 x 31 in. (93.3 x 78.7 cm) framed
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase, Harriet and Maurice Gregg Fund for American Abstract Art, The Harriet and Maurice Gregg Collection of American Abstract Art
- Accession Number
- 2000.134