(b Rahway, NJ, 12 July 1941). American draughtsman, sculptor and installation artist. He was a student at Trinity College, Hartford, CT (1959–63), and at the Cooper Union, New York (1963–4), and he worked for a time as assistant to Agnes Martin. His first works, small monochrome reliefs, were followed by such sculptural works as Paper Cubes (1963), comprising a group of small (72*72*72 mm) paper objects penetrated with geometric slots. These were followed in turn by a number of works in wood (e.g. Yellow Dancer, 1965; priv. col.; see 1975 exh. cat., p. 33) that have an almost calligraphic quality and by a series of works in which Tuttle experimented with irregularly shaped pieces of dyed cloth (e.g. Grey Extended Seven, 1967; New York, Whitney). These works demonstrated an interest in Minimalism that continued in the 1970s in numerous works that used lines created from pencil marks, wire and shadow effects to investigate three-dimensionality (e.g. 6th Wire Piece, 1972; artist’s col.). Tuttle’s interest in small, intimate works with relief-like qualities continued into the 1980s in such works as Silver Mercury (1986; New York, Whitney).

• Tuttle, Richard
  • Parsons, Betty