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Lot Essay
Pat Steir’s Priscilla Waterfall is an alluring and extraordinary work from her most renowned body of work, the Waterfall series. Painted with delicate flows of white paint on a deep monochromatic background, this piece is a classic example of Steir’s notable series in which she pours and throws paint onto a canvas and allows gravity to determine the path of paint and the overall composition of the work. With this technique, Steir has created a beautiful balance between control and natural forces in her paintings. Priscilla Waterfall is infused with passionate movements, dramatic forms, as well as a soft-spoken power, brought to life by Steir’s unique and monumental drip and splash technique.
Priscilla Waterfall is covered by a wash of white paint that drips and flows down the surface of the canvas. Steir’s unique techniques create the effect of a waterfall that cascades down a ravine, with water leaping into the air as it lands from the fall. The white paint transforms into a serene yet omnipotent force, harnessed by the energy of the natural world and its gravitational forces. The flows of paint stream from the top of the canvas, with concentrations in the center of the painting and the left. The deep and alluring purple background of the work highlights the white streams and sprays, drawing attention to the flow and pulsating energy of the falling water. The end of the center flow is flanked by white splashes of paint that appear to spring up from the base of the painting, leaping toward the top and center of the work. The splashes from the “waterfall” extend to the outer edges of the painting, giving the illusion that the movement of the spray and the scene itself extends far beyond the canvas. The strong drips and subsequent splashes of paint create a surreal experience of the forceful nature of the cascading waterfall.
In the late 1980s, Pat Steir began implementing her most prominent technique of pouring and throwing paint on to a hanging canvas, allowing gravity and chance to determine the path of the paint. Steir throws paint onto the upright canvas and allows it to travel down the canvas at its own leisure. Although she does have a hand in the work, Steir ultimately lets nature take control in the creation of her painting. By allowing natural outside forces to dominate her paintings, Steir removes herself from the consciousness of the artistic creation and leaves the composition to be decided by fate. However, she is still able to maintain a rigorous control over her technique, a method that has been deeply inspired by both Taoism as well as Buddhism. Pat Steir relies on the philosophy of Taoism to inform her practice by simultaneously creating and not-creating. “You don't touch the canvas. You pour or throw paint. You put each color on separately. Don't blend colors. So I have my set of rules that I stick to, limitations more than rules” (P. Steir, quoted in J. O. Richard and P. Steir, “Oral History Interview with Pat Steir, 2008 March 1-2,” Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 2008, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-pat-steir-13682#transcript).
Steir’s specific dripping and splashing techniques are also influenced by Chinese Yi-pin or “ink-splashing” painting from the 8th and 9th century. Unlike the machismo and vigor of Jackson Pollock’s movements and full-body gestures in his famous drip paintings, Steir’s brushwork and pouring technique is singularly serendipitous, elegant, as well as confident. Her constant pursuit of the very essence of painting led her to establish fruitful relationship with mentors such as John Cage and Agnes Martin.
The resulting sense of contemplative deliberation comes through in the present work, a large-scale and alluring example from 1991. The dual presentation of lines on rich color of recalls the compositional structure of Barnett Newman’s signature “zip” paintings. The deep purple monochromatic background draws the viewer in, with the cascading white lines working grounding the viewer within the space and bring the piece to life. Certainly, critics have drawn parallels between Steir’s work and that of Newman, as well as the action paintings of Jackson Pollock, and admire her ability to both embrace that of the foundations of Abstract Expressionism while simultaneously carving out her own space within its canon. “I feel that, among other artists, I am making some of the last late Modernist paintings” (P. Steir, quoted in T. McEvilley, Pat Steir, New York, 1995, p. 76).
Viewing this work, one immediately is met with a full sensory experience. Each element of the bold yet serene composition works together to transport the viewer to the scene. The contrast of the deep purple background with the flow of the white water creates a dramatic moment in which the viewer can feel the spray of the water, hear the roaring waters cascade down the ravine, and smell the damp, chill air that surrounds the waterfall. The deeply rich color behind the falls evokes the feeling of nighttime, with the white flows and sprays of water illuminated in the darkness. The contrast between the dark background and the white water envelops the viewer with a shroud of mist as the waterfall roars in front of them. This multi-sensory experience is the product of Steir’s technique and special attention to the exploration of outside forces. By allowing nature to take control of her work, it is directly infused into the final work. Steir states: “From an aesthetic, philosophical or spiritual point of view, the process is like unleashing something, allowing the paintings to make themselves. You just happen to be the instigator, the inventor” (P. Steir quoted in A. Waldman, “Pat Steir,” BOMB 83, Spring 2003, p. 31).
Priscilla Waterfall is covered by a wash of white paint that drips and flows down the surface of the canvas. Steir’s unique techniques create the effect of a waterfall that cascades down a ravine, with water leaping into the air as it lands from the fall. The white paint transforms into a serene yet omnipotent force, harnessed by the energy of the natural world and its gravitational forces. The flows of paint stream from the top of the canvas, with concentrations in the center of the painting and the left. The deep and alluring purple background of the work highlights the white streams and sprays, drawing attention to the flow and pulsating energy of the falling water. The end of the center flow is flanked by white splashes of paint that appear to spring up from the base of the painting, leaping toward the top and center of the work. The splashes from the “waterfall” extend to the outer edges of the painting, giving the illusion that the movement of the spray and the scene itself extends far beyond the canvas. The strong drips and subsequent splashes of paint create a surreal experience of the forceful nature of the cascading waterfall.
In the late 1980s, Pat Steir began implementing her most prominent technique of pouring and throwing paint on to a hanging canvas, allowing gravity and chance to determine the path of the paint. Steir throws paint onto the upright canvas and allows it to travel down the canvas at its own leisure. Although she does have a hand in the work, Steir ultimately lets nature take control in the creation of her painting. By allowing natural outside forces to dominate her paintings, Steir removes herself from the consciousness of the artistic creation and leaves the composition to be decided by fate. However, she is still able to maintain a rigorous control over her technique, a method that has been deeply inspired by both Taoism as well as Buddhism. Pat Steir relies on the philosophy of Taoism to inform her practice by simultaneously creating and not-creating. “You don't touch the canvas. You pour or throw paint. You put each color on separately. Don't blend colors. So I have my set of rules that I stick to, limitations more than rules” (P. Steir, quoted in J. O. Richard and P. Steir, “Oral History Interview with Pat Steir, 2008 March 1-2,” Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 2008, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-pat-steir-13682#transcript).
Steir’s specific dripping and splashing techniques are also influenced by Chinese Yi-pin or “ink-splashing” painting from the 8th and 9th century. Unlike the machismo and vigor of Jackson Pollock’s movements and full-body gestures in his famous drip paintings, Steir’s brushwork and pouring technique is singularly serendipitous, elegant, as well as confident. Her constant pursuit of the very essence of painting led her to establish fruitful relationship with mentors such as John Cage and Agnes Martin.
The resulting sense of contemplative deliberation comes through in the present work, a large-scale and alluring example from 1991. The dual presentation of lines on rich color of recalls the compositional structure of Barnett Newman’s signature “zip” paintings. The deep purple monochromatic background draws the viewer in, with the cascading white lines working grounding the viewer within the space and bring the piece to life. Certainly, critics have drawn parallels between Steir’s work and that of Newman, as well as the action paintings of Jackson Pollock, and admire her ability to both embrace that of the foundations of Abstract Expressionism while simultaneously carving out her own space within its canon. “I feel that, among other artists, I am making some of the last late Modernist paintings” (P. Steir, quoted in T. McEvilley, Pat Steir, New York, 1995, p. 76).
Viewing this work, one immediately is met with a full sensory experience. Each element of the bold yet serene composition works together to transport the viewer to the scene. The contrast of the deep purple background with the flow of the white water creates a dramatic moment in which the viewer can feel the spray of the water, hear the roaring waters cascade down the ravine, and smell the damp, chill air that surrounds the waterfall. The deeply rich color behind the falls evokes the feeling of nighttime, with the white flows and sprays of water illuminated in the darkness. The contrast between the dark background and the white water envelops the viewer with a shroud of mist as the waterfall roars in front of them. This multi-sensory experience is the product of Steir’s technique and special attention to the exploration of outside forces. By allowing nature to take control of her work, it is directly infused into the final work. Steir states: “From an aesthetic, philosophical or spiritual point of view, the process is like unleashing something, allowing the paintings to make themselves. You just happen to be the instigator, the inventor” (P. Steir quoted in A. Waldman, “Pat Steir,” BOMB 83, Spring 2003, p. 31).