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Maker(s):Nevelson, Louise
Culture:American (1899 - 1988)
Title:Moving-Static-Moving
Date Made:1955
Type:Sculpture
Materials:terracotta painted flat black
Place Made:United States
Measurements:varied sizes; largest piece: 20 x 20 x 2 1/2 in.; 50.8 x 50.8 x 6.35 cm; smallest: 6 1/8 x 6 3/8 x 2 1/2 in.; 15.5575 x 16.1925 x 6.35 cm
Narrative Inscription:  unsigned, undated
Accession Number:  SC 1973.27.3
Credit Line:Gift of Louise Nevelson
Museum Collection:  Smith College Museum of Art
1973_27_3.jpg

Description:
21 pieces of matte black terra cotta of varied size and shape intended to be stacked whichever way the installer wants; abstract

Label Text:
Louise Nevelson's "Moving-Static-Moving" consists of twenty-one abstract shapes fired in clay, with no prescription for their arrangement. They are among hundreds which Nevelson and her assistants produced beginning in the late 1940s, always in her characteristic black which, as she once explained, helped her discern shape and form more easily. Their worn, pitted surfaces are perhaps inspired by the artist's interest in Aztec and Mayan ruins in Mexico, and her drive to produce an elemental, even "primitive" expression.

Nevelson gave this work to Smith College upon receiving her honorary degree in 1973, leaving no specific instructions on how the pieces should be displayed. Thus, the forms can be arranged in different configurations, ranging from dense and tightly interlocked to scattered and open. In this way, "Moving-Static-Moving" allows the viewer to explore the changing sculptural elements of shape, mass, texture, and silhouette.

Tags:
abstract; architecture

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1973.27.3

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

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