WattsOS
SF
Study for First Theme
1963 · Crayon and pencil on paper
10 7/8 x 8 3/8" (27.7 x 21.5 cm)
Museum of Modern Art
WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture
Burgoyne Diller
1906–1965
Michigan, USA
SculptureGeometric AbstractionConstructivismDe Stijl
Representation
None documented
6
Institutional Exhibitions
14
Works in Collection
33
Assets Indexed
18
Authority-backed Facts
0
Publications Referenced
90%
Profile Completeness
Cultural Positioning
Movements
- • Geometric Abstraction
- • Constructivism
- • De Stijl
- • Abstract Art
Related Artists
No edges recorded
Influence Graph
No influence edges encoded yet.
Selected Institutional Exhibitions
View all exhibitions →No image
Drawing since 1940
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1987
No image
Contrasts of Form: Geometric Abstract Art, 1910�1980
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1985–1986
No image
Gifts of Drawing
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1979
No image
Ways of Looking
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1971
No image
Recent Acquisitions
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1959–1960
About
Why this artist matters now
Burgoyne Diller was an American abstract painter whose orthogonal compositions in primary colors and black lines directly engage the geometric vocabulary of De Stijl and the work of Piet Mondrian. His study with Hans Hofmann at the Art Students League of New York shaped his non-objective approach, which he termed constructivist. A founding member of the American Abstract Artists, Diller balanced his geometric abstraction with early figurative work as a muralist for the New York City Federal Arts Project.
Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 25d ago
Graph relationships
Taste overlap and adjacency
Movement
Geometric Abstraction
Medium
Sculpture
Related Artists
12 in graph
Institutional
Museum Collections
Canonical record
Artworks (14)
View all 14 artworks →
Record
Images
12 assets
View all 12 media items →
Related artists
Adjacent in the graph
Gerrit Rietveld
Shared movement
Paul Huxley
Shared movement
Lygia Clark
Shared movement
Dorothy Dehner
Shared movement
Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart
Shared movement
Alejandro Otero
Shared movement
John McCracken
Also sculpture
Jeff Koons
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Dan Flavin
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Louise Nevelson
Also sculpture
Ruth Asawa
Also sculpture
Isa Genzken
Also sculpture
Record
Movements and affiliations
Institutional
Representation & Collections
In collection
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
In collection
Cleveland Museum of Art
In collection
Museum of Modern Art
New York, US
In collection
Art Institute of Chicago
Background
Education
Art Students League of New York
Visual Arts
Michigan State University
Visual Arts
Record