Angie Rizzo

The Linens are a groundbreaking series of forty-eight acrylic paintings on unstretched Belgian linen made from 1970 to 1977 by Ciel Bergman, begun at age thirty-two. Ranging from a starkly minimal aesthetic to representations that explore ideas of philosophy, The Linens began as a meditative practice to eradicate symbolic representation from Bergman's art. She called the process ""emptying out,"" and after a deeply affirming conversation with Georgia O'Keeffe in 1972, she wrote, ""I knew I had to become empty of the symbolism I had been using.""Although Bergman simultaneously struggled with and embraced symbols, they would appear again beside themes and philosophies that would remain in her work for the rest of her life: feminism, sexuality, and gender. The Linens established the success of Ciel Bergman as an artist-an artist remembered as vibrant, prolific, and tenacious, much like this series, which so well defines her.