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Gene Davis, Narcissus, 1973, color lithograph on paper, sheet: 29 x 39 3⁄4 in.
Vertical lines in muted colors take on the organic quality of handmade paper, resulting in this subtle iteration of Gene Davis’ iconic color field stripe paintings. The title “Narcissus” refers to the Greek myth of the son of the river god Cephissus, who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Perhaps the muted, cool-toned blues and greens of this work are meant to evoke the rippling of water under his transfixed gaze.
A copy of this lithograph is in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.