Marcia Hafif is among the pioneers of the 1970s who fundamentally broadened con­ceptions of the practice of painting and under­standing of art per se. Since the 1980s, terms like "radical" have been used to describe Hafif’s work with monochrome painting. The pencil on paper drawings, vertical pencil marks cover­ ing a surface, begun in 1972, led to the ver­tical stroke in paint. Her work in both mediums still continues, fitting within what she calls "The Inventory". Each series included in "The Inventory" develops a single medium using tra­ditional methods and materials for making paint and preparing a ground.
Individual works in a series can be larger or smaller, and usually are made with vertical brush­strokes, with which the effects of unmixed colours on a suit­able painting ground are sounded out. The catalogue was published on occasion of the exhibitions at the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen and Kunsthaus Baselland.