$8,813
Louise Berliawsky Nevelson (American, 1900-1988) Black Cryptic LXV 1979. Unsigned. Painted wood, 7 1/4 x 9 1/2 x 3 3/4 in. (19.1 x 24.1 x 9.5 cm). Condition: Minor losses, mild nicks/abrasions. Provenance: Pace Gallery, New York, through to the collection of Anne Houston, Philadelphia. N.B. Louise Nevelson's interest in working with wood scraps began at the age of nine while visiting her father's lumberyard in Rockland, Maine. She started her career as an artist at the Art Students League in New York, where she was exposed to important works by artists such as Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso. She later went on to assist Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Nevelson is best known for her wood assemblages, structures or boxes created with wood scraps painted black. The assemblages were created to focus on shadows and space. She represented the United States in 1962 at the Venice Biennale and her work is included in major public and private collections worldwide. Nevelson created many of these boxes in the 1970s. She started with boxes acquired from antique shops or made for her by her son. She most often assembled the works with Elmer's® glue and used a spray paint to create the matte black. Nevelson termed the works "Dark Cryptic" and often differentiated them with roman numerals. We would like to thank Mike Nevelson for his kind assistance in cataloguing this work.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2007-09-07
