Double act: Daniel Libeskind takes on modern masters of abstract sculpture
If there’s one thing abstract art is not, it’s straightforward. Packed with meaning, often beguilingly simple in design, the style has the power to simultaneously inspire and bewilder.
Some may think a series of seemingly arbitrary curves and lines are empty or over-simplified. But Daniella Luxembourg, art dealer and one half of New York gallery Luxembourg & Dayan, would argue the devil doesn’t always lie in the details — but sometimes in the lack thereof. ‘Abstract art was once one of the most radical and thought-provoking movements,’ says Luxembourg.
This month, she joined forces with friend and famed architect Daniel Libeskind (of Manchester’s Imperial War Museum) to release ‘Figures Toward Abstraction: Sculpture 1910 – 1940’ at Luxembourg’s gallery.
Inspired by a letter artist Alberto Giacometti wrote to Henri Matisse in 1947, which explained his unintentional decision to create abstract sculptures, the exhibition breathes life into an ongoing conversation between Luxembourg and Libeskind about abstraction in art, architecture, history, and life.
‘I think abstraction at the beginning of the century has to do with the pure essence of sculpture,’ Luxembourg explains. ‘You didn’t need the image to create the movement. You could make an abstract movement without putting details into where are the legs, or where is the head.’
Though Luxembourg credits Giacometti and Matisse as pillars of the exhibition, ‘Figures Toward Abstraction’ features an array of artists like Julio González, Henri Laurens, Jacques Lipchitz, and Jean Tinguely. Additionally, Rudolf Belling’s groundbreaking Dreiklang (1919) is on display for the first time in the US.
The show’s levels of abstraction range from Lauren’s tangible Femme accouchée (1927) to Lauren’s hard-to-decipher cubism and Gonzalez’s interpretable bronze works. In total, the exhibition features 13 sculptures surrounded by an installation designed by Libeskind, who's clean, minimalist aesthetic lets the sculptures do all the talking.
INFORMATION
‘Figures Toward Abstraction: Sculpture 1910 – 1940’ is on view until 1 July. For more information, visit the Luxembourg & Dayan website
ADDRESS
Luxembourg & Dayan
64 East 77th Street
New York, NY 10075
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
-
A new limited-edition Rhodes piano and Gibson doubleneck guitar aim for the stars
The new Rhodes Mk8 Earth Edition piano and Gibson Jimmy Page EDS-1275 Doubleneck guitar revisit classic instruments at a price
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
The new interior design trends we spotted at Salone del Mobile 2024
These are the interior design trends to look out for in 2024 and beyond, from soft upholstery to conversation pits and low dining
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Tiffany & Co nods to its theatrical history with a surreal new campaign
Tiffany & Co campaign ‘With Love, Since 1837’ sees Dan Tobin Smith and set designer Rachel Thomas create an offbeat set
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Surreal, uncanny, seductive: step into Graham Little’s world
Scottish artist Graham Little presents his first US retrospective at The FLAG Art Foundation in New York
By Hannah Silver Published
-
The cosmos meets art history in Vivian Greven’s New York exhibition
Vivian Greven’s ‘When the Sun Hits the Moon’, at Perrotin in New York City, is the artist’s first solo exhibition in the USA
By Emily McDermott Published
-
The Met’s ‘The Real Thing: Unpacking Product Photography’ dissects the avant-garde in early advertising
A new exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York explores the role of product photography and advertising in shaping the visual language of modernism
By Zoe Whitfield Published
-
Tony Notarberardino’s Chelsea Hotel Portraits preserve a slice of bygone New York life
‘Tony Notarberardino: Chelsea Hotel Portraits, 1994-2010’, on show at New York’s ACA Galleries, is the photographer’s ode to the storied hotel he calls home and its eclectic clientele
By Hannah Silver Published
-
‘LA Gun Club’: artist Jane Hilton on who’s shooting who
‘LA Gun Club’, an exhibition by Jane Hilton at New York’s Palo Gallery, explores American gun culture through a study of targets and shooters
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Detroit Institute of Arts celebrates Black cinema
‘Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971’ at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) brings lost or forgotten films, filmmakers and performers to a contemporary audience
By Anne Soward Published
-
BLUM marks 30 years of Japanese contemporary art in America
BLUM will take ‘Thirty Years: Written with a Splash of Blood’ to its New York space in September 2024, continuing its celebration of Japanese contemporary art in America
By Timothy Anscombe-Bell Published
-
Todd Gray’s sculptural photography collages defy dimension, linearity and narrative
In Todd Gray’s New York exhibition, he revisits his 40-year archive, fragmented into elaborated frames that open doors for new readings
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published