THE PA INTED WORDS
Cy Twombly’s evocative works are back in the public eye, thanks to a donation
to Tate and two new books. Earlier this year, three of artist Cy Twombly’s sanguine, calligraphic canvases, painted between 2006 and 2008, became part of a bequest to the Tate Modern that was so monumental it recalled the gift of Rothko’s plum and oxblood ‘Seagram’ murals to the gallery in 1969. With his dripping paint and orgiastic vermillion loops, Twombly, who died in 2011, was paying tribute to Bacchanalian revelry. Like much of his work, these blots and smears were inspired by stories of classical literature.
Perfectly timed to complement Tate’s latest acquisition are two glossy new monographs on the painter. Edited by his long-term partner Nicola del Roscio, The Essential Cy Twombly deciphers the squiggles and codes embedded in his work, while Cy Twombly Paradise examines his psychedelic take on antiquity.
2004,