Suzanne P. Hudson · 2016 · PDF · Calibre ID 13363
Resurfaced in The Ruled Thread (2026-10-21).
Role in the triad
The test case: a grid of scored, gilded lines ruled with threads from Tawney’s loom; the ‘visual tremolo’ as Ingold’s risk; after 1963 Martin linearizes her own practice.
Why this book
Material evidence for both theories in one painting; its lines fall under all four of Ingold’s classes (thread, trace, cut, ghostly). Printed page = PDF page − 1.
Quotations
Verified against the book’s own text on the day of the reading.
- “scored and sometimes gilded, they generate pattern in and as surface.” (p. 13) | “the six-foot span – Martin’s standard canvas size as of 1960 – measures the reach of her own arms.” (p. 16) | “Near the top right corner, the main lines veer off track to the right, and the horizontal bands dip ever so slightly. The slopes show how her implementation of markings was keyed to her movement.” (p. 16) | “Accident betrays her.” (p. 17) | “these marks positively evidence what Annette Michelson once characterised as a distinctively human ‘visual tremolo’, which is to say, that they are aleatory and minutely flawed.” (p. 17) | “she could not conceal the journey of her hand across the page, or the systems she put in place to attempt regulation.” (p. 18) | “in addition to a T-square and ruler, Martin used threads to track vertical and horizontal coordinates, a trick assimilated from watching Tawney dress her loom” (Sachs, quoted p. 36) | “Well, when I first made a grid I happened to be thinking of the innocence of trees” (Martin, quoted p. 45)
Themes
Agnes Martin · classicism · Coenties Slip · grid · Kraus · Lenore Tawney · loom · Night Sea · process · scored line · thread · visual tremolo