HOSPITAL BOUQUET #2 7/03/09 10 X 10 INCHES
HOSPITAL BOUQUET #2 7/03/09 10 X 10 INCHES
MICHAEL MAZUR LATE DRAWINGS
HOSPITAL BOUQUET #2 7/03/09 10 X 10 INCHES
In the spring and summer of 2009, as his physical energy ebbed during the last weeks of his life, Michael Mazur produced 134 ink drawings of plants and flowers. Most of the flowers depicted were chosen with his wife, the poet Gail Mazur, or brought to him by friends during hospital stays. The landscape drawings were inspired by the couple’s backyard gardens in Cambridge and Provincetown, Massachusetts, and by the artist’s visits to the restored 19th century gardens of the Longfellow House in Cambridge. Drawn from life and executed in black ink, each image explores the possibility of line drawing, tender or explosive, to convey a myriad of plant forms and textures. Mazur attentively renders the soft petals of hyacinths, the gentle wilting of a peony or the layering of a Monterey pine cone, often revisiting the same subjects to experiment with new angles and marks. Individually or in their totality, these intimately scaled drawings are a testament to the artist’s relentless drive to create, understand and reinvent. This book contains each of Mazur’s late drawings in chronological order and is presented in conjunction with Late Work, Rain and Flowers, an exhibition of Rain paintings and selected drawings at RYAN LEE Gallery in New York (on view October 25 through December 22, 2018).
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Michael Mazur (1935 New York, NY – 2009 Boston, MA) is an internationally recognized artist known for his fluidity between paintings, drawings and prints as well as between abstract and representational imagery. Born and raised in New York City, Mazur moved to Massachusetts in 1953 and received his BA from Amherst College. He received his BFA and MFA from Yale University in 1959 and 1961, respectively, and he was later heralded by The Boston Globe as one of the greatest painters and printmakers that New England produced in the second half of the 20th century. Mazur first exhibited in 1960 and quickly earned acclaim, receiving a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant, John Simon Guggenheim Foundation award and an American Academy of Arts and Letters fellowship in just two years. Mazur was invited to represent the United States in the 1975 Venice Biennale, but he declined to participate in protest of the Vientam War. Over the next 50 years, he was the subject of more than 80 solo exhibitions and included in numerous group shows. In 2000, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston held a retrospective which traveled to Stanford University Art Museum, the Jane Vorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Mazur’s work is held in several prominent collections, including the British Museum, London; Cincinnati Art Museum; Cleveland Museum of Art; de Cordova Museum, Lincoln; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Art Institute of Chicago; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; and Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
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Untitled 6/15/09 11 3/4 x 14 1/2 inches
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Untitled (#2) 6/15/09 11 3/4 x 14 1/2 inches
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Untitled (#3) 6/15/09 11 1/4 x 12 1/8 inches
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Untitled 6/16/09 10 1/2 x 13 inches
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Untitled 6/17/09 15 X 11 3/4 inches
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Untitled 6/18/09 13 x 13 inches
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Untitled (#2) 6/18/09 13 x 13 inches
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Untitled 6/19/09 12 x 11 inches
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Untitled (#2) 6/19/09 12 x 11 inches
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Untitled (#3) 6/19/09 12 x 11 inches
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Untitled (#4) 6/19/09 13 x 13 inches
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Untitled 6/20/09 14 x 17 inches
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K’s & J’s Lilies 6/21/09 10 7/8 x 13 inches
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Untitled 6/21/09 10 x 10 inches
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Untitled 6/22/09 10 7/8 x 13 inches
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Untitled (#2) 6/22/09 10 x 16 3/4 inches
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Untitled 6/23/09 10 3/4 x 13 inches
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Untitled 6/24/09 12 3/4 x 13 inches
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Untitled (#2) 6/24/09 12 3/4 x 13 inches
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Untitled (#3) 6/24/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 Inches
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Untitled (#4) 6/24/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 inches
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Untitled (#5) 6/24/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 inches
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Some Roses 6/25/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 inches
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Untitled 6/25/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 Inches
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Roses + Lilies 6/26/09 10 3/4 x 13 inches
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Untitled 6/26/09 13 7/8 x 16 7/8 Inches
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Untitled 6/27/09 13 7/8 x 16 7/8 Inches
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Untitled 6/28/09 10 1/8 x 16 7/8 Inches
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Some Ferns 6/29/09 13 7/8 X 16 7/8 Inches
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Untitled 6/29/09 13 7/8 X 16 7/8 inches
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Young + old 6/30/09 12 1/2 x 13 1/8 inches
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Untitled 6/30/09 13 1/8 x 12 3/4 Inches
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Untitled (#2) 6/30/09 13 1/4 x 12 5/8 inches
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Early Spring 7/02/09 15 x 22 1/2 inches
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Fantasy 7/02/09 12 x 10 inches
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Hospital Bouquet #2 7/03/09 13 x 13 inches
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Hospital Bouquet #3 7/03/09 13 x 13 inches
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Hospital Bouquet #4 7/03/09 13 x 13 inches
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Hospital Bouquet #6 7/03/09 13 x 13 inches
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Untitled 7/04/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches
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Untitled (#2) 7/09/09 10 1/4 X 11 7/8 Inches
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Two Arrangements 7/05/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 Inches
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Untitled 7/06/09 11 7/8 X 10 1/4 inches
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Untitled (#2) 7/06/09 11 7/8 X 10 1/4 Inches
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Untitled (#3) 7/06/09 11 7/8 X 10 1/4 inches
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Hydrangea 7/06/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches
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Untitled 7/07/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches
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3 Sunflowers 7/07/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 Inches
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Hydrangea, Lily, + Mum 7/07/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches
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Two Hydrangea 7/07/09 9 x 11 inches
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Hydrangea Fireworks 7/08/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/8 inches
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Wysterea 7/08/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/8 inches
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Flowers as Fireworks 7/08/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/8 inches
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Flowers with the effect of Fireworks 7/08/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/8 inches
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Fragments of Cape Garden 7/10/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
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Untitled 7/10/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
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Garden Fragment 7/10/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
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Untitled (#2) 7/10/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
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Untitled 7/11/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 Inches
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Untitled (#2) 7/11/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 Inches
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Untitled (#3) 7/11/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
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S + E’s Orchid 7/13/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches
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Orchid from Eliz and Sean 7/13/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches
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Orchid Roots (Bulbs) 7/13/09 11 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches
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Fragments of the Garden 7/14/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
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Rhododendrum 7/14/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
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Untitled 7/14/09 10 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches
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Climbing Roses - On My Deck 7/15/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 inches
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Queen Ann’s Lace 7/16/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 inches
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Cape Garden 7/16/09 11 3/4 x 17 inches
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Gail’s Arrangement 7/16/09 11 3/4 x 17 Inches
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Dried Alum CC 7/16/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 inches
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Lilies etc. CC 7/16/09 11 3/4 x 17 inches
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Towards the garden entrance 7/18/09 14 x 17 inches
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Untitled 7/18/09 14 x 14 inches
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Untitled 7/20/09 10 x 12 inches
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Old Tree 7/20/09 12 x 10 inches
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Untitled (#2) 7/20/18 10 x 12 Inches
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Tree 7/20/18 12 x 10 inches
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Viburnum 7/20/18 12 x 10 inches
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Untitled 7/21/09 12 5/8 x 13 1/4 inches
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Some Roses 7/21/09 12 x 10 inches
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Untitled (#2) 7/21/09 14 x 13 inches
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Longfellow garden 7/22/09 14 x 17 inches
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Untitled 7/22/09 14 x 13 inches
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Some Hollyhocks at Longfellow Garden 7/22/09 12 x 10 inches
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Untitled 7/25/09 12 x 10 inches
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Untitled (#2) 7/25/09 13 1/4 x 12 3/4 inches
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Snapdragons 7/25/09 12 3/4 x 13 inches
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Roses + Snapdragons 7/25/09 13 x 13 Inches
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Hydrangia 7/26/09 12 x 10 inches
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Mary Ann’s Lace Hydrangea 7/26/09 12 x 10 inches
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Hydrangia, Roses, Snapdragons 7/27/09 12 x 10 Inches
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A bucket of Yellow Hydrangia 7/27/09 14 x 17 Inches
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Untitled 7/28/09 14 x 17 Inches
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Yellow Hydrangea 7/28/09 10 x 12 Inches
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Two Pine Cones 7/29/09 8 1/4 x 10 Inches
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Untitled 7/29/09 7 1/2 x 7 1/4 Inches
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2 Pine Cones 7/29/09 7 3/8 x 8 1/4 Inches
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Two Studies of Pine Cones 7/31/09 10 x 12 Inches
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Pine Cone (#1) 7/31/09 8 1/4 x 10 Inches
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Pine Cone (#2) 7/31/09 8 1/4 x 10 Inches
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Untitled 8/03/09 14 x 17 Inches
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Hosta 8/03/09 14 x 17 Inches
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Cape Cod Garden 8/03/09 14 x 17 Inches
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Untitled 8/04/09 14 x 17 Inches
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Cape Cod Garden From Doorway 8/04/09 14 x 17 Inches
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Untitled (#2) 8/04/09 17 X 14 Inches
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Trumpet Vine 8/06/09 13 X 13 Inches
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Untitled 8/06/09 13 x 13 Inches
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Untitled 8/08/09 13 x 13 7/8 Inches
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Untitled (#2) 8/08/09 13 x 13 7/8 Inches
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Untitled (#3) 8/08/09 13 x 14 Inches
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Garden Fragment 8/08/09 12 7/8 x 12 7/8 Inches
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Gloxinea 8/11/09 13 7/8 x 12 7/8 Inches
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Glox, Glads, Sunflowers 8/11/09 17 x 14 Inches
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Sunflowers + Glads + Gloxenia 8/12/09 17 X 14 Inches
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Sunflowers + Gloxenia 8/12/09 13 x 13 Inches
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Three Sunflowers 8/12/09 14 x 13 Inches
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Dahlias 8/13/09 17 x 14 Inches
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3 Dahlias 8/13/09 12 x 10 Inches
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Drawing Mums Outside on the Deck 8/13/09 17 x 14 Inches
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Sunflowers 8/15/09 13 x 13 Inches
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alone 8/16/09 13 x 13 Inches
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Untitled 8/16/09 13 x 13 Inches
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Untitled (#2) 8/16/09 13 X 13 Inches
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Untitled (#3) 8/16/09 17 x 13 7/8 Inches
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Untitled (#4) 8/16/09 17 x 13 7/8 Inches
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Untitled (#5) 8/16/09 17 x 13 7/8 Inches
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Untitled (#6) 8/16/09 17 x 13 7/8 Inches
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Untitled (#7) 8/16/09 17 x 13 7/8 Inches
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Untitled (#8) 8/16/09 12 x 10 inches
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Untitled 8/17/09 14 x 13 Inches
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