Poem (polyptych, panel 10/12) (1983)

James Cramb

oil on board

The McManus, Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum

Classification:

Painting

Materials:

Board, Acrylic

Dimensions:

25 x 35.5 cm

Accession Number:

11-1986-10

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1986

Scheme:

Historic Purchase by Purchaser (1914-2008)

Ownership history:

Purchased from the Graeme Murray Gallery, Edinburgh by Mary-Rose Beaumont for the Contemporary Art Society, with a grant from the Scottish Arts Council, May 1983; presented to The McManus, Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum, July 1986

Relationship:

Mary Rose Wauchope Beaumont The McManus, Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum

Subject:

Greens, Letter, Alphabet

James Cramb has written of his work: "POEM, the first fully integrated large work, derives its title from the question what is poetic? Or what makes poetry? The Dada movement suggested groupings of sounds could be a poem. My grouping of colour and characters is another suggestion. A visual poetry? A poetic vision? What this work is not: is an alphabet or code, cypher or system of hieroglyphics which can be understood with a key. There is no language equivalent. It is rather, a visual dance in which characters inter relate vertically, horizontally, diagonally individually and in groups. A cast of characters which will be re-employed in other productions and colour contexts. POEM is the beginning of a lifelong exploration in, what is for me, a new and unexpected visual world".

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