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Ilya Bolotowsky Russian/American, 1907-1981 Yellow and Blue Tondo on White, 1973 Signed Ilya Bolotowsky and dated 73 on the reverse Acrylic on wood 5 x 6 1/2 x 1 1/8 inches Provenance: The Estate of Ilya Bolotowsky In the 1940s, Bolotowsky began exploring shaped canvases, including triangles, diamonds, and tondos. He first used the tondo after being given several wheels by ranchers on a visit to Wyoming. Removing the spokes, he turned a wheel into a stretcher, which enabled him to explore how to fit "straight lines or straight edges within a round format." It was of interest to him that the lines and the area of the circle were affected by the edges and seemed to curve away from them. He compared the effect to that of a string on an instrument that "is being plucked away from the edge but, since there are two edges, first one edge pushes it away and then the other." The result, he observed, is "an almost vibrating effect." The bands of color in this work seem to curve, while the yellows and blues appear to vary in intensity. The artist's son, Andrew Bolotowsky, stated of this work: "It is unusual that [my father] decided to realize the circular design within a rectangular format. The signature on the back, the pale color scheme, and the use of a wood block lead me to believe that this work was used as a kind of artistic 'Snapshot.'" The Spanierman Gallery, LLC Collection of American Art