Alphabet and abstract arithmetical symbols
[creator]: Cumming, James William Hunter, RSA · 1922-1991
Firth (op cit., p25), writing of the Late 1960’s states; “He [ie Cumming] became interested in Wittgenstein’s works on the philosophy and logic of language, particularly the Tractacus, and was thereby motivated to seek out the most primitive written word symbols: the Sumerian cuneiform alphabet. In those still undeciphered marks, he discovered once again the spectral echoes of chromosome shape-symbols. Many more paintings followed.” Indeed Cumming was still producing works based on alphabets into the mid 1980s.
Vide also RSA 2014.731 for a similar study
© The Artist's Estate
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Object data
Date c.1951 - c.1990 Accession 2014.740 Dimensions Max
13.9 x 17.2 -
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