
Grey Diamond
<p>A devotee of Neo-Plasticism—the geometric, nonobjective style espoused by Piet Mondrian—Ilya Bolotowsky began to include the diamond shape in his art in 1947. Bolotowsky believed that this unusual means of presentation created a more spacious composition compared to a square canvas of the same size. <em>Grey Diamond</em> contains many principles of Neo-Plasticism: a lack of depth, the elimination of all representational forms, and carefully balanced color. In embracing the movement, Bolotowsky explained, “Nowadays, when paintings torture the retina, when music gradually destroys the eardrum, there must, all the more, be a need for an art that searches for new ways to achieve harmony and equilibrium.”</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1955
- Dimensions
- 129.5 × 129.5 cm (51 × 51 in.); At center: W.: 182.9 cm (72 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Ilya Bolotowsky
Artist

Painting
Ilya Bolotowsky was a Russian-born abstract painter and sculptor who worked predominantly in geometric abstraction and neoplasticism from the 1930s onward. He developed a rigorous vocabulary of primary colors, straight lines, and rectangular forms influenced by Mondrian and the De Stijl movement. Bolotowsky lived and worked in New York from 1923, becoming a founding member of the American Abstract Artists group and a key figure in establishing geometric abstraction in postwar America. His paintings and wall-sized murals reduced composition to essential relationships between color and form, executed with technical precision across canvas, panel, and architectural commissions.
Full artist profile →More
More by Ilya Bolotowsky
Red Tondo
1979 · Screenprint
Blue Diamond
1979 · Screenprint
Blue Diamond, from 1776 USA 1976: Bicentennial Prints
1975 · Color screenprint on paper
Blue and Black Vertical
1971 · Felt-tip pen and ink on paper
White Circle
1958 · Oil on canvas
Oval Painting
1955 · Oil on canvas
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Ilya Bolotowsky
- Year
- 1955
- Dimensions
- 129.5 × 129.5 cm (51 × 51 in.); At center: W.: 182.9 cm (72 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1955-016637
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified





