Collage 1938

Ad Reinhardt’s Collage, made with paper, is part of the collection at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. As Reinhardt came of age as an artist, it was also the rise of the Abstract Expressionists. Reinhardt’s collages reveal his interest in geometric abstraction and the constructivist styles of the early 20th century. The rectangles, squares, and linear forms float against a black background, creating a subtle sense of depth and movement. The work is reminiscent of a child's construction set. The color palette, ranging from muted pastels to earth tones, adds a touch of understated elegance. Reinhardt's journey was marked by a quest for purity and the stripping away of the non-essential. He sought to eliminate any trace of personal expression or narrative content, arriving, in the 1960s, at his famous "black paintings," canvases divided into a five-by-five grid of near-imperceptible shades of black. "The one thing to say about geometry," he once wrote, "is that it is not mess." In this collage, we can witness the beginning stages of Reinhardt's search for an art devoid of illusion.