Wood work: Louise Nevelson’s monochrome sculptures fill Pace London
![London’s Pace Gallery launches a retrospective of prominent sculptor Louise Nevelson](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/r4ViZBXLZxz6EgRkvqEB7i-415-80.jpg)
In the flamboyant heyday that was post-war New York, a 60-year-old Russian expat with fake eyelashes and a passion for headscarves was the artist of the moment.
Photographed by Cecil Beaton and Robert Mapplethorpe, Louise Nevelson is now considered to be one of the most iconic and vital figures in the art world, regarded for her groundbreaking sculptural environments and her contribution to installation art, defying categorisation. Paving the way for the development of feminist art in the 1970s, Nevelson’s work challenged the taboo that only men’s work could be large-scale.
For the 26th time since 1963, and her Pace Gallery London debut, Nevelson's work will take over Pace Gallery with a show surveying her work from the mid-1950s until her death in 1988. Salvaging small pieces of scrap wood from old buildings and then nailing and gluing them together, Nevelson created sculptures which ranged from small assemblages to free-standing columns and monumental wall-based works, then painting them in a solid colour – most famously black or white. The artist purposefully selected wooden objects for their evocative potential, however after having risen to fame for her wooden sculptures, she also explored materials such as plexiglass, aluminium and steel.
In addition to the presentation of a collection of significant monochrome sculptures, the exhibition will also include steel maquettes the artist produced for public spaces, exhibited in Chicago and at Harvard University. Thames & Hudson will also be releasing a book about the artist next autumn called Louise Nevelson: Light and Shadow by Laurie Wilson.
During the mid-1950s she produced her first batch of black wood sculptures, which the Whitney Museum decided to acquire, leading to her big break
Despite the unconventional materials used in her art, Nevelson’s works established her reputation for sculptural bravado
Although primarily a sculptor, Nevelson shared with abstract expressionist painters an interest in creating large works that play with line, flatness and scale
Like her contemporaries Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman, Nevelson was interested in the sublime and spiritual transcendence
Outside of her influence on feminist art, her sculpture also heavily influenced the development of installation art of the late 1960s and 1970s
Nevelson’s work is fundamental to the history of feminist art, as it challenged the dominant stereotype of the macho, male sculptor
Untitled, c. late 1970s, wood painted black. Courtesy of Pace Gallery
INFORMATION
Louise Nevelson will be on view until 16 July. For more information visit Pace Gallery London’s website
Photography: Courtesy of Pace Gallery London
ADDRESS
6 Burlington Gardens, London W1S 3ET
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
-
Feel at home at Auberge, Château La Coste's new inn for culture lovers
Auberge La Coste sits at the heart of the art-filled estate, minutes away from the joyful town of Aix-en-Provence
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
This Nova Lima apartment is a Brazilian family oasis with striking Minas Gerais views
A Nova Lima apartment designed by Jacobsen Arquitetura celebrates its long, natural Minas Gerais vistas
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
Harlem-born artist Tschabalala Self’s colourful ode to the landscape of her childhood
Tschabalala Self’s new show at Finland's Espoo Museum of Modern Art evokes memories of her upbringing, in vibrant multi-dimensional vignettes
By Millen Brown-Ewens Published
-
Wanås Konst sculpture park merges art and nature in Sweden
Wanås Konst’s latest exhibition, 'The Ocean in the Forest', unites land and sea with watery-inspired art in the park’s woodland setting
By Alice Godwin Published
-
Pino Pascali’s brief and brilliant life celebrated at Fondazione Prada
Milan’s Fondazione Prada honours Italian artist Pino Pascali, dedicating four of its expansive main show spaces to an exhibition of his work
By Kasia Maciejowska Published
-
John Cage’s ‘now moments’ inspire Lismore Castle Arts’ group show
Lismore Castle Arts’ ‘Each now, is the time, the space’ takes its title from John Cage, and sees four artists embrace the moment through sculpture and found objects
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
Gerhard Richter unveils new sculpture at Serpentine South
Gerhard Richter revisits themes of pattern and repetition in ‘Strip-Tower’ at London’s Serpentine South
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Peter Blake’s sculptures spark joy at Waddington Custot in London
‘Peter Blake: Sculpture and Other Matters’, at London's Waddington Custot, spans six decades of the artist's career
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Oozing, squidgy, erupting forms come alive at Hayward Gallery
‘When Forms Come Alive: Sixty Years of Restless Sculpture’ at Hayward Gallery, London, is a group show full of twists and turns
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Paulina Olowska brings Slavic folklore and androgynous nymphs to London
Paulina Olowska explores magical mysticism in ‘Squelchy Garden Mules and Mamunas’ at London’s Pace Gallery
By Hannah Silver Published