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Louise Nevelson , (Sept 23, 1899–April 17, 1988)

Untitled

1958
30 1/8 in. x 23 3/8 in. (76.52 cm x 59.37 cm)

Medium and Support: Painted wood

Credit Line: Museum purchase, in honor of Esther Cohn Elson

Accession Number: 2000.78

Commentary

As a budding artist, Louise Nevelson was exposed, through the instruction of Hans Hofmann, to various types of art and techniques—Cubism, collage, Surrealism, and indigenous art forms from various parts of the world—that would ultimately inform her mature work. Starting in 1941, Nevelson began to exhibit her avant-garde sculptural environments, which often included found objects painted black to obscure their origin, function, and meaning. By the late 1950s, the artist had developed what is now identified as her signature style: all-black, box-like relief wood sculptures, ranging in scale from singular units—often in diptych format like this one—to modular pieces occupying entire walls. Despite the sheer blackness of the sculpture, the play between light and shadow caused by the topography of the surface is visually intriguing, thus encouraging the close observation of detail.

Kelley Tialiou
Charles H. Sawyer Curatorial Assistant | Librarian | Archivist

Exhibition List

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

New Work: Recent Additions to the Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 4/21/2001 - 7/31/2001
Defying Distinction: Works from the Addison Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/12/2002 - 4/14/2002
Toward Abstraction Addison Gallery of American Art , 12/23/2005 - 3/26/2006
Then and Now Addison Gallery of American Art , 5/10/2008 - 7/13/2008
Inside, Outside, Upstairs, Downstairs: The Addison Anew Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/7/2010 - 3/27/2011
80 @ 80 Addison Gallery of American Art , 10/15/2011 - 12/31/2011
Eye on the Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/19/2013 - 3/10/2013
Light/Dark, White/Black Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/17/2015 - 7/31/2015
Taking Shape: Sculpture at the Addison Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/17/2016 - 3/19/2017
Eye on the Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 4/1/2017 - 7/30/2017
A Dark Place of Dreams: Louise Nevelson with Chakaia Booker, Lauren Fensterstock, and Kate Gilmore The Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville , 4/28/2018 - 1/6/2019
Learning to Look: The Addison at 90 Addison Gallery of American Art , 5/8/2021 - 2/6/2022
Women and Abstraction: 1741- Now Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/28/2023 - 7/31/2023
The World Outside: Louise Nevelson at Midcentury Amon Carter Museum of American Art , 8/26/2023 - 6/9/2024

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