Monday, October 5, 2020

Cy Twombly, Fifty Days as Illam, Edition Cantz, Germany, 1990


An interesting accordion that reproduces this major work by Twombly. I particularly like how some of the images of the individual works wraparound the accordion's pages. Interestingly, this accordion has a central binding and the two halves of the work fold out from the center, kind of odd really. The work is located at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The online label for the work states:

In the summer of 1977, Cy Twombly began working on a "painting in ten parts" based on Alexander Pope's translation of Homer's Iliad. Completed in 1978 and collectively titled Fifty Days at Iliam, the works evoke incidents from Homer's epic poem in Twombly's characteristic synthesis of words and images. The ten large canvases follow one another much like a developing narrative. They are ordered as follows: Shield of AchillesHeroes of the AchaeansVengeance of AchillesAchaeans in BattleThe Fire that Consumes All Before ItShades of Achilles, Patroclus, and HectorHouse of PriamIlians in BattleShades of Eternal NightHeroes of the Ilians.

16 pages, single-sided, individual pages 11.75" (h) x 8.25 (w), when fully open 11ft long.

For photographs of the work installed in the museum see:  

https://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/85709.html




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