Mass Tone: Manganese Blue

Marcia HafifWW-1974-114054

1974·Oil on canvas·96.5 × 96.5 cm (38 × 38 in.)

<p>Since the early 1970s, Marcia Hafif has systematically examined the historical and technical fundamentals of painting. Her body of work is rigorous and investigative, with a resolute concentration on color manifested by exquisitely complex monochrome paintings. Hafif often employs paint mixtures she has made herself, grinding a pigment with a muller and combining it with linseed oil. <em>Mass Tone: Manganese Blue</em>, titled after the specific pigment used, is from the first series of paintings for which Hafif created her own paints in this way. Unlike commercial paint from the tube, which contains various additives and binders, her handmade paints can behave unpredictably. As Hafif has stated, this patient technique was chosen because it “let a color . . . express itself, reveal its multiple nuances.” Her process invites us to perceive each particular paint mixture as matter rather than simply as color.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1974
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 96.5 × 96.5 cm (38 × 38 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Marcia Hafif

Artist

Marcia Hafif

Drawing

Marcia Hafif was an American painter who developed a rigorous practice centered on monochromatic and near-monochromatic abstraction, working primarily with oils on canvas. Beginning in the 1970s, she pursued systematic investigations of color, texture, and the phenomenology of paint itself, creating works of austere formal discipline. Her paintings, often executed in barely perceptible tonal variations, demanded sustained looking and challenged conventional notions of composition and visual interest. Hafif's work engaged with post-war abstraction's legacy while resisting gestural expressionism in favor of methodical, material-focused inquiry.

Pomona, United States

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