Beauty in simplicity

Realizing that works of art do not always need to be complicated or laboriously constructed, Richard Tuttle instead celebrates delicate slightness.

“Loose Leaf Notebook Drawings — Box 14, Group 4”, 1980–1982, Richard Tuttle, Watercolor on paper, 8 in. x 10 1/2 in. (20.32 cm x 26.67 cm), Gift of The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the National Gallery of Art, with generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2009.30.48 a-i

His “Loose Leaf Notebook Drawings” invite viewers to appreciate the openness granted by a sheet of paper, the gentle liquidity of watercolor, and the beauty of a single brushstroke.

The artist restricted himself to just a few dips into his watercolor paints per page, yielding results so light that they often fade away into the white of his paper.

Not everyone liked this approach. The art critic Hilton Kramer (countering the famous idea that “less is more”) once wrote that “in Mr. Tuttle’s work, less is unmistakably less… One is tempted to say, where art is concerned, less has never been as less than this.”

Do you agree with Tuttle’s idea that works of art can be beautiful even when the process behind them is very simple? Does extra effort always make art better, or do you think that it is possible for an artist to work too hard on a project?