Study for Tondo #54

Study for Tondo #54 is part of a series of round paintings that affirmed Fritz Glarner's contribution to American abstract art. Superimposing a system of parallel, intersecting geometric forms on a round picture surface, Glarner achieved what he called the 'squaring of the circle'. This process created the work's structural basis: a set of rectangular areas that he then divided with a 15 degree diagonal line. A color is then attributed to each area: white, black and grey or yellow, blue and red. Combining angular shapes with the circle and juxtaposing perpendicular lines with slightly oblique ones, Glarner achieved a vibrant contrast between motion and statis that alludes to the influence of Piet Mondrian, and foreshadows the Abstract Expressionist movement to follow. The quest at the core of Glarner's art was 'to bring about a purer and closer relationship between form and space' (F. Glarner, quoted in: N. Edgar, 'An exhibit of Fritz Garner's Geometry: A personal language', n.p., in Fritz Glarner 1944-1970, exh. cat., San Francisco, 1970.): a feat which Glarner successfully achieves in Study for Tondo #54 in which he presents shapes not as elements in space, but rather as visual relations constructing space.