Horizon III

Artist Henry Pearson American, 1914–2006

Date1964

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions87 x 68 in. (221 x 172.7 cm)
Frame: 87 1/2 x 68 1/2 in. (222.3 x 174 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of the artist in memory of his father, A. Louis Pearson

Object numberG.68.7.1

On View

Not on view

Label Text
The gently undulating lines of Horizon III, along with the clue in the title, suggest a landscape. Pearson arrived at this approach to painting in part through his experiences as a cartographer in World War II. In his words, "Working with this [linear style] I could return to what had fascinated me in the topographical drawings, the flowing change rather than the abrupt change. I am still pushing space around, as I was in the geometric works, but the forms are now probing rather than fixed." The space in Horizon III is indeed pushed around, "wrinkling" the surface in a mesmerizing way.
ProvenanceCreated New York, 1964; collection of the artist; given to NCMA, 1968.Published References"Acquisitions," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 9, nos. 1 and 2 (December 1969), listed 56.

Henry Pearson (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1969), cat. no. 44, illus. (b-w).

200 Years of the Visual Arts in North Carolina (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art), cat. no. 43, illus. (b-w).

Huston Paschal, "New Acquisitions: Henry Pearson, Romantic Painter of Abstractions," Preview: The Magazine of the North Carolina Museum of Art (January/February 2002), 7, illus. (color).
Exhibition HistoryMartha Jackson Gallery, NC, "Vibrations Eleven."

Chicago, IL, Chicago Art Insititute.

Cincinnati, OH, Cincinnati Art Museum.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The North Carolina Gallery: An Introductory Exhibition," October 4-November 26, 1972.

Raleigh, NC, Branch Bank and Trust Co, August 1973.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "200 Years of the Visual Arts in North Carolina," September 12-October 31, 1976, cat. no. 43, illus. (b-w).

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, Mary Duke Biddle Gallery, "Of Space and Time: Motion in Art," September 1985-August 1986.

Greenville, NC, Wellington B. Gray Gallery, East Carolina University, "Native Son: The Work of Henry Pearson," February 6-25, 1998.
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