Cy Twombly, Treatise on the Veil, 1970

White Michelle, Dervaux Isabelle, Rothenberg Sarah

One of the most important American postwar artists, Cy Twombly (1928-2011) engaged with mythological and poetic source material, setting him apart from other artists of his generation. In 1970, Twombly revisited his 1968 painting Treatise on the Veil and, in a short period of focused creativity, produced a painting – "Treatise on the Veil (Second Version)" – on a single, 33-foot canvas along with more than a dozen related drawings.

This handsomely produced oversize book features three essays that examine these works in relation to Twombly's oeuvre, contemporaneous explorations of time, the Orpheus myth, and a musical composition that Twombly cited as an influence. Large images and details bring us in close to Twombly's magnificent meditation on time and space.

About the Author

Michelle White is senior curator at the Menil Collection, Houston.

Isabelle Dervaux is the Acquavella Curator and Department Head of Modern and Contemporary Drawings at the Morgan Library and Museum, New York.

Sarah Rothenberg is a pianist specializing in French modern music and artistic director of Da Camera, Houston.

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