Throughout his career, Robert Ryman has attempted to eliminate illusionism and outside references from his work, focusing instead on the fundamental properties of the materials he employs. He has confined himself to the color white, yet disclaims its importance. “It was never my intention to make white paintings,” he insisted in a 1986 interview with critic Nancy Grimes. “And it still isn’t. . . . The white is just a means of exposing other elements of the painting.” These “other elements” include varieties of paint (oil and acrylic) and supports (canvas, paper, and metals), as well as the process of binding them. He investigates the properties of these elements methodically, yet responds spontaneously to the unpredictable exigencies caused by their interaction.

Ryman’s Classico 4 is one of a series of compositions consisting of multi-panel paintings on a specific type of paper called Classico. For each work in the series, Ryman attached a configuration of heavy, creamy white sheets of the paper to a wall with masking tape, painted the sheets with a shiny white acrylic paint, removed the tape when the sheets were dry, mounted them on foamcore, and reattached them to the wall. The built-up paint edge tracing the outline of masking tape and the ripped paper left behind give witness to the process of creation. The various works in the Classico series differ in the organization of paper sheets, the configuration of tape traces, and the painted shape, yet they share an emphasis on the thinness of the support surface in its alignment with the wall and the monumentality conceived as an accumulation of parts.

Just as the Classico works were titled after the type of paper used as a medium, the so-called Surface Veil works were named for the brand of fiberglass upon which the smaller pieces in this group were painted. Surface Veil I, II, and III are among four 12-foot square paintings from the series that were executed not on fiber-glass but on cotton or linen. In each of these works the pigment appears to form a membrane over the support due to the differing degrees of opacity and translucence in the white paint juxtaposed with areas where less of it has been applied, leaving the fabric exposed. These disruptions in the painting’s skin often mark the literal pauses between the artist’s working sessions.

Purchased from Yvon Lambert, Paris, by Panza in 1972; purchased by Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 1991.

Solo
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Robert Ryman, March 3–April 30, 1972. Catalogue by Diane Waldman, unpag. (illus., cat. no. 19).

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Robert Ryman, February 1–March 24, 1974. Catalogue in Dutch and English by Naomi Spector, pp. 21–24, 41 (cat. no. 57), 45, 46. In Dutch and English.

Tate Gallery, London (organizer), Robert Ryman, February 17–April 25, 1993; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, May 25–August 16, 1993; The Museum of Modern Art, New York (organizer), September 22, 1993–January 4, 1994; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, February 3–April 17, 1994; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, July 23–October 2, 1994. The work was exhibited in New York, San Francisco, and Minneapolis. Catalogue by Robert Storr (London: Tate Gallery Publications, 1993), pp. 30, 31, 144, 145 (fig. 49), 146, 148, 218. Spanish edition: Madrid: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, 1993, pp. 38–41, 160, 162. In Spanish and English.

Group
Museum Friedericianum, Kassel, Documenta 5, June 4–October 8, 1972. Catalogue (Kassel: Documenta and Verlagsgruppe Bertelsmann), section 17.71 and p. 44.

Stadthalle Düsseldorf and Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (organized by Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Kunstmuseum, and Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf), Das Bild einer Geschichte 1956/1976: Die Sammlung Panza di Biumo. Die Geschichte eines Bildes: Action painting, Newdada, Pop art [more], Minimal Art, Conceptual, Environmental Art, September 19–October 12, 1980. Traveled to Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel, Minimal + Conceptual art [more] aus der Sammlung Panza, November 9, 1980–June 28, 1981. The work was exhibited at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf only. German catalogue by Germano Celant (Milan: Electa International, 1980): p. 257 (illus.). Swiss edition by Franz Meyer: no reference to the work.

Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Three Painters: Mangold, Marden, Ryman, September 13–October 1, 1983.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Los museos Guggenheim y el arte de este siglo, October 18, 1997–April 5, 1998.

Arte come Arte. Milan: Centro Communitario di Brera, 1973. Essays by Douglas Crimp, Cornelio Brandini, and Germano Celant; unpag. text reference.

Bann, Stephan. “Documenta 5: Le Vide et le plein.” L’Oeil (Paris), no. 212–213 (August–September 1972), p. 33 (illus.).

Benjamin, Andrew. Object Painting. London: Academy Editions, 1994, pp. 74, 87, 89, 90.

Danto, Arthur. “Art: Retro MoMA,” Nation (November 22, 1993), p. 635.

Denton, Monroe. “Robert Ryman: Episteme of Vision.” Arti (Athens), no. 18 (January–February 1994), p. 158. In Greek and English.

Devade, Marc. Histoire-critique d’une peinture. Paris: Edition Gerald Piltzer, 1976, p. 62.

Dossier Ryman, Macula (Paris), nos. 3–4 (1978), pp. 124, 125 (illus., fig. 25), 140.

Hughes, Robert. “A Paler Shade of White.” Time, October 11, 1993, pp. 75 (illus.), 78 (illus.).

Knight, Christopher. Art of the Sixties and Seventies, pp. 199 (illus.), 202 (illus.), 269. Revised and expanded English edition: pp. 239 (illus.), 242 (illus.), 310. French edition: pp. 199 (illus.), 202 (illus.), 269. Italian edition: pp. 199 (illus.), 202 (illus.), 269. Revised and expanded Italian edition: pp. 239 (illus.), 242 (illus.), 310.

Kramer, Hilton. “White Squares at MoMA: Ryman a Minimal Talent.” New York Observer, October 4, 1993, p. 23 (illus.).

Mellow, James R. “And Even a Bit of Bawdiness.” New York Times, April 2, 1972, sec. 2, p. 19.

Oliva, Achille Bonito. Europe/America: The Different Avant-Gardes. Milan: Deco Press, 1976, p. 256 (illus.).

———. “Robert Ryman Interviewed.” Domus (Milan), no. 519 (February 1973), pp. 49, 50. In Italian and English. Reprinted in Oliva. Dialoghi d’artista; incontri con l’arte contemporanea, 1970–1984. Milan: Electa, 1984, pp. 84–93.

Reise, Barbara R. “Review of Exhibitions: Robert Ryman at the Stedelijk Museum.” Art in America (New York) 62, no. 4 (July–August 1974), p. 90.

Robert Ryman. New York: Dia Art Foundation, 1988. Interview by Gary Garrels; p. 23.

Robert Ryman (exh. cat.). Zurich: InK, Halle für Internationale Neue Kunst, 1980. Text by Christel Sauer; pp. 137 (illus.), 139 (illus.), 147 (illus.). In German. French edition: Paris: Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, 1981. Texts by Sauer and Yve-Alain Bois; pp. 20, 66 (illus.).

Schjeldahl, Peter. “New York Reviews: Robert Ryman at the Guggenheim.” Art in America (New York) 60, no. 3 (May–June 1972), pp. 33–35.

Smith, Roberta. “Robert Ryman Derives Poetry from White on White.” New York Times, September 24, 1993, sec. 2, p. c28.

Spector, Nancy, ed. Guggenheim Museum Collection: A to Z. New York: Guggenheim Museum, 1992, 2d ed. 2001, p. 299 (illus.).

Wood, Christopher S. “Ryman’s Poetics.” Art in America (New York) 82, no. 1 (January 1994), p. 65.