RIP – Painter Brice Marden, Luminary of Modern Abstraction, Has Passed Away Aged 84

August 10th, 2023

Brice Marden, Rivers (2021-2022), via Gagosian
Brice Marden, Rivers (2021-2022), via Gagosian

Artist Brice Marden, a landmark figure in the development of modern abstraction and a luminary in the landscape of post-war American art has died at the age of 84, his family announced this week. Marden passed away at his home in Tivoli, New York.

Brice Marden, Yellow Painting (2018-2019), via Gagosian
Brice Marden, Yellow Painting (2018-2019), via Gagosian

Born in Bronxville, NY Marden trained at Boston University and Yale, where he earned his M.F.A., then moved to New York City, where he honed his approach to color and line, creating a series of nuanced tonal compositions that weighed line and form against each other in striking juxtapositions. Using varied materials to arrive at luminous, glowing surfaces and serpentine, flowing brushwork, the artist would expand out into meditations on calligraphy and deconstructed brushwork. Of late, the artist’s work had branched into subtle, dismantled iterations of his prior work, allowing the brush to run free until it reaches jagged cut-offs and trailing endpoints.

Brice Marden, Star (for Patti Smith), (1972-74), via Phillips
Brice Marden, Star (for Patti Smith) (1972-74), via Phillips

Marden had continued to paint up until early last week, his family noted in an online post.