Robert Indiana (American, 1928–2018). *Year of Meteors*, 1961. Oil on canvas, 90 x 84 inches (228.6 x 213.4 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1962 (K1962:13). © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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Robert Indiana

American, 1928-2018

Year of Meteors, 1961

oil on canvas

support: 90 x 84 inches (228.6 x 213.36 cm); framed: 92 x 86 1/16 x 3 inches (233.68 x 218.6 x 7.62 cm)

Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1962

K1962:13

Collection Highlight

More Details

Inscriptions

signature, dated; signature, undated / back, lower right / Indiana

Provenance

Stable Gallery, New York;
November 19, 1962, purchased by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery with funds provided by Seymour H. Knox

Class

Paintings

Work Type

Oil painting

Information may change due to ongoing research.Glossary of Terms

Year of Meteors is one of several “literary paintings” Robert Indiana created during the early 1960s. The painting’s central geometric motif, a compass rose with eight points and two concentric circles, provides the architecture for passages from Walt Whitman’s poem “Year of Meteors,” published in Leaves of Grass. In his poem, Whitman reflects on events of 1859 and 1860, including the passage of the ship the Great Eastern (an engineering marvel) through New York Harbor, the presidential election of Abraham Lincoln, and a rare meteor procession.

Label from Robert Indiana: A Sculpture Retrospective, June 16–September 23, 2018