PROVENANCE: Ensign Bickford Aerospace Corp, Simsbury, CT
Threnody (1973-74) is a 250-foot-wide site-specific painting created by Cleve Gray for the opening of the Neuberger Museum of Art. 
At that time, college students across the country were demonstrating against the conflict in Vietnam, a war that they felt to be unjust and inhumane. Gray, an anti-war supporter, saw this as an opportunity to express his hope for humanity’s spiritual and emotional healing. Threnody is a lament for the dead on both sides of the war. Although the theme of Threnody was conditioned by current events, Gray sought a more reconciliatory image and mood. Somber grounds of red, black, green and violet delineate the four walls in the space that he envisioned as a cathedral.  Tall vertical forms engaged in a “dance of death and life” draw the eye upward, taking full advantage of the monumentality of the gallery. 
Purchase College, State University of New York website