Cy Twombly
Artist Factorywas born in Lexington, Virginia, USA, in 1928 and died in Rome in 2011.
TALK ABOUT IT
Can emotions take on a shape? Can we express them in color?
His father was a swimming and golf instructor and bequeathed him his nickname “Cy” (as in cyclone) – named after the professional baseball player Cy Young.
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Ponder this
How many meanings can one color assume?
Cy attended painting lessons at the age of 14 and began to take an interest in art history. He continued his studies as a scholarship holder at the Art Students League in New York. During his second semester he met one of his best friends, Robert Rauschenberg, who would later also become a very famous artist.
A travel grant gave Cy Twombly the opportunity to leave New York in 1952 and travel by ship to Europe and North Africa for the first time—together with Robert Rauschenberg. Travel would remain very important to him his whole life, and was a source of inspiration to him.
Cy Twombly studied at the renowned Black Mountain College in North Carolina, USA. There was a colorful mix of interests there, which all came together in joint projects: painters worked with musicians, dancers with writers, and vice versa—which greatly enriched Cy!
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Talk about it
Which landscapes hold a great attraction for you? How would you capture them abstractly?
Cy Twombly loved Italy. When he was about 30 he moved from New York to Rome. He liked it best there and in the city of Gaeta. He spent the rest of his life alternating between Italy and the United States.
Some of Cy Twombly’s works look like doodles. Words can often be discerned in them. At what point a sign becomes a word, or whether a few strokes form a word or an image—these are good topics for discussion when viewing his works.
Ponder this
look closely
How much expression does a line have?
Get creative
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Be creative
TWOMBLY’S SCULPTURES
Do you know Cy Twombly’s sculptures? They are less known than his paintings. In his sculptural work, he uses the technique of “bricolage”. He puts together found objects to create interesting new pieces.