Souvenirs of Time

Famous above all for his large works in which he used the calligraphic technique of graffiti, Cy Twombly is one of the best known and most appreciated artists of the twentieth century, with his own peculiar expressive language. From the early 1950s, when he was a student at Black Mountain College in North Carolina and until his death in 2011, he was also active as a photographer, capturing studies of his daily life and motifs that held his interest.

On view at Gagosian Rome, Souvenirs of Time brings together some of the shots that Twombly took throughout his long career. Made over a sixty-year period across locations in the United States and Italy, these images chronicle locations that were central to the artist’s life and work, such as his 1950s studio on New York’s Fulton Street, his ateliers in Rome, Bassano in Teverina, and Gaeta in Italy, and in Lexington, Virginia.

The photos show his paintings and sculpture in situ and in varying states of completion, offering insight into his working process. Additional images depict domestic interiors and details of classical sculptures, presenting views of the spaces and forms that inspired him.