Move pays tribute to the famed trumpeter, bandleader, and composer Miles Davis. It is named after the first track on his 1956 album Birth of the Cool, which was ground-breaking for its smooth, velvety sound in contrast to the fast staccato rhythms of bebop. Snow’s blue, blocky forms appear to be morphing and disintegrating as they encounter an invisible, dynamic force. The gestural style of this painting, which recalls the work of American Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline, may signal the movement of Snow’s art in a new direction, or his admiration for Davis’s fresh style of jazz.
Early Snow: Michael Snow 1947-1962
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Michael Snow, Move, 1957
Oil on canvas, 152.2 x 101.6 cm, Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Gift of Ms. Georgine Strathy, Montreal, Quebec, 2003 (2004/67). © Michael Snow, Photo © Art Gallery of Ontario.