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Mary Martin
1907–69
Perspex Group on Orange (B)
1969
Perspex and wood
Presented by Tate Members, 2005
T12028

Mary Martin PERSPEX GROUP ON ORANGE (B)

© The estate of Mary Martin

Mary Martin was a member of the post-war British Constructionist group that included her husband Kenneth Martin, Victor Pasmore and Anthony Hill, among others. Their work was in the tradition of European Constructivism and was characterised by a rigorously abstract aesthetic based on mathematical principles. While Tate has good holdings of Mary Martin’s work, this late coloured construction is of a type not previously represented in the Collection. The piece is based on an opened out cube, with the six Perspex planes equating to the six sides of the cube (a seventh plane of fluorescent Perspex is introduced to enhance the colour and strengthen the structure). The size of each plane is determined by a mathematical series known as the Fibonacci series.

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