Untitled (Plank Study)
1972 · Pen and brown ink with black ink stamp on ivory wove paper
21.6 × 27.9 cm (8 9/16 × 11 in.)
Art Institute of Chicago
WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture
John McCracken
1934–2011
SculptureMinimalism
Representation
None documented
9
Institutional Exhibitions
3
Works in Collection
42
Assets Indexed
16
Authority-backed Facts
0
Publications Referenced
100%
Profile Completeness
Cultural Positioning
Movements
- • Minimalism
Related Artists
Influence Graph
No influence edges encoded yet.
Selected Institutional Exhibitions
View all exhibitions →No image
Flavin, Judd, McCracken, Ryman, Sandback
David Zwirner
2026
No image
Contemporary Works from the Collection
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1987–1988
No image
Contemporary Sculpture: Selections from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1979
No image
Ways of Looking
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1971
No image
Five Recent Acquisitions
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1969
About
Why this artist matters now
John McCracken is best known for his planks, monochromatic slabs of wood and fiberglass coated in deeply lustrous polyester resin that lean against the wall at a slight angle, occupying the threshold between painting and sculpture. Working primarily in California and New Mexico, he became a key figure in the West Coast Minimalist movement, his surfaces polished to a near-liquid finish that absorbs and reflects light with unusual intensity. His signature forms, simple rectangles and later geometric solids, carry a quiet metaphysical charge at odds with their industrial materials.
Source: Zwirner · Trust score: 100% · Updated 2mo ago
Graph relationships
Taste overlap and adjacency
Movement
Minimalism
Medium
Sculpture
Related Artists
12 in graph
Institutional
Museum Collections
Canonical record
Artworks (3)
Record
Images
Related artists
Adjacent in the graph
Robert Ryman
Exhibited alongside
Dan Flavin
Exhibited alongside
Jason Rhoades
Exhibited alongside
Yayoi Kusama
Shared movement
Stanley Whitney
Shared movement
Agnes Martin
Shared movement
Keith Sonnier
Shared movement
Frank Stella
Shared movement
Jeff Koons
Also sculpture
Louise Nevelson
Also sculpture
Ruth Asawa
Also sculpture
Isa Genzken
Also sculpture
Record
Movements and affiliations
Institutional
Representation & Collections
Gallery
David Zwirner
In collection
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
In collection
Art Institute of Chicago
In collection
Museum of Modern Art
New York, US
Market
Auction sale history
Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction
Background
Education
California College of the Arts
Visual Arts
Network
Related Artists
Record