Untitled (Ham Hock)

Artist Vija Celmins (born 1938)

Date1964

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions18 × 18 in. (45.7 × 45.7 cm)
Framed: 19 7/16 × 19 5/16 × 2 1/4 in.

ClassificationsPainting

Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2014.4

Signedverso, on canvas: Celmins 64

Accession number 2014.4

On View

On view

Provenanceto Private Collection, Los Angeles, CA, 1964; to (Los Angeles Modern Auctions, Los Angeles, CA), February 23, 2014, lot 210; purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2014
Label TextArtists of this period looked to the world around them for inspiration: from advertisements, popular culture, and everyday life. In Ham Hock, Vija Celmins depicts an everyday cut of meat used for flavoring sauces or soups. For centuries, artists have featured similar subjects in still life paintings. However, Celmins painted it differently: plopped on a too-small plate, lit harshly from above, and devoid of other objects or even a tabletop, the ham hock appears grisly and alien. Its fleshy color and wavy lines recall the gestural abstract painting Celmins herself had left behind.