
Portland Works: Group II #6
A delicate interplay of watercolor washes and graphite marks unfolds across the thin, translucent surface of airmail writing paper, highlighting Tuttle's sensitivity to modest, everyday materials. Subtle tonal variations and spare gestural lines create an intimate composition that feels both fragile and deliberate. The work exemplifies Tuttle's enduring exploration of minimal form and the quiet expressive potential found within unconventional, unassuming supports.
- Medium
- Watercolor and graphite drawing, on airmail writing paper,
- Location
- Phillips, Salt Lake City, UT
- Spotted At
- Auction House · PhillipsView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
Evening & Day Editions
October 26, 2015
More by Richard Tuttle
Artists in conversation

Agnes Martin
American · b. 1912

Martin shares Tuttle's devotion to quiet, intimate mark making on paper using delicate pencil lines and subtle washes that evoke stillness and fragility. Her works on paper similarly explore minimal form with a meditative restraint and sensitivity to the expressive potential of understated gestures.

Cy Twombly
American · b. 1928

Twombly's drawings combine graphite marks and watercolor washes across fragile paper surfaces with the same spare, gestural intimacy found in this Tuttle piece. Both artists treat the support as an active participant in the composition, allowing thin washes and tentative lines to coexist in a quiet, poetic equilibrium.

Roni Horn
American · b. 1955

Horn creates small scale works on paper that use subtle tonal variations and restrained mark making to achieve a deeply intimate and contemplative mood closely aligned with this Tuttle piece. Her sensitivity to modest materials and her postminimalist approach to drawing share the same quiet experimental spirit evident here.
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