White Oval

1955

White Oval, 1955. Ilya Bolotowsky (American, 1907–1981). Oil on canvas; unframed: 47.3 x 62.9 cm (18 5/8 x 24 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art 1965.3 © The Estate of Ilya Bolotowsky / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY Bolotowsky had a difficult childhood, which entailed immigrating to New York from Russia via a two-year interlude in Constantinople. After the “violent historical upheavals in my early life,” he once stated, “I came to prefer a search for an ideal harmony and order.” These qualities are manifest in White Oval, one of the artist’s most serene compositions. Unlike his contemporaries, Bolotowsky painted many works on oval, circular, or diamond-shaped canvases.