His older brother was fellow Constructivist artist Antoine Pevsner; Gabo changed his name to avoid confusion with him. Gabo's pioneering experiments in the field of kinetic sculpture were advanced by the likes of Marcel Duchamp and Alexander Calder, and by the Kinetic Art movement of the 1950s-60s. Caroline Collier, an authority on Gabos work, said, "The real stuff of Gabos art is not his physical materials, but his perception of space, time and movement. This show featured over 700 works, including paintings, sculptures, set designs, and architectural models, and was a significant event in the reception of Constructivism in Northern Europe. Naum, Miriam, and Nina lived in the USA for 30 years, settling briefly in New York, then moving to Woodbury, Connecticut in 1947. The critic Herbert Read hailed it as 'the highest point ever reached by the aesthetic intuition of man'. Column is a freestanding vertical tower made from two transparent, interlocking, rectangular planes that rise from a circular base of dark steel. "[6] Gabo held a utopian belief in the power of sculpturespecifically abstract, Constructivist sculptureto express human experience and spirituality in tune with modernity, social progress, and advances in science and technology. By working with the technical precision of an engineer or architect, and by illustrating new scientific concepts, Gabo predicted the functionalist aesthetic of the nascent Constructivist movement - the work of Alexander Rodchenko and others - and of Concrete Art, Kinetic Art, and other post-Constructivist movements of the mid-to-late-20th century. Gabo made preliminary designs for Column in 1921 with the idea of making it into a large public sculpture, towering over the hills near Moscow. Presented by the artist 1977 Artwork page for Model for Column, Naum Gabo, 19201 Many of Gabo's sculptures first appeared as tiny models. Constructed Head No. The two brothers decided that the exhibition should be accompanied by a proclamation of their artistic ambitions, The Realistic Manifesto. He famously explored the former idea in his Linear Construction works (1942-1971)used nylon filament to create voids or interior spaces as "concrete" as the elements of solid massand the latter in his pioneering work, Kinetic Sculpture (Standing Waves) (1920), often considered the first kinetic work of art. Gabo had no formal artistic training. Light catches the transparent plastic, generating a shimmering, ethereal-seeming structure, and creating the illusion of motion as the viewer moves around the sculpture. About this artwork. Expressing a new, intellectually scrupulous approach to the fascination with movement which characterized avant-garde art of this period, Gabo created a work which stands at the forefront of Kinetic Art. In 1913, at Wlflinn's suggestion, Gabo embarked on a six-week walking tour of Italy, viewing Michelangelo's David and other Renaissance and classical masterpieces. His work combined geometric abstraction with a dynamic organization of form in small reliefs and constructions, monumental public sculpture and pioneering kinetic works that assimilated new materials such as nylon, wire, lucite and semi-transparent materials, glass and metal. Gabos vision is imaginative and passionate. Naum Gabo's structurally complex, mesmeric abstract sculptures cast a shadow over the whole of 20 th-century art, while his life was that of the quintessential creative migr, as he moved from country to country seeking new contexts for his work, in flight from war and repression. Gabo would go on to exhibit regularly with the revolutionary Novembergruppe artists - named after the month in 1918 when Germany's own socialist uprising had begun - and to make links with artists such as Hans Richter and Kurt Schwitters. Then, in the summer of 1941, art patron Margaret Gardiner offered Gabo 25 to produce a work for her partner, the scientist John Bernal. Gabo began printmaking in 1950, when he was persuaded to try out the medium by William Ivins, a former curator of prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York. His command of several languages contributed greatly to his mobility during his career. In 1950, Gabo began wood-block printing, an activity which would occupy him until his death, generating a significant body of work. The piece, carved from a single block of Portland Stone, was begun in London in 1936, shortly after Gabo's arrival in Britain following four unhappy years in Paris. By Naum Gabo (Author), Christina Lodder (Editor), Martin Hammer (Editor), By Martin Hammer, Naum Gabo, Christina Lodder, By Naum Gabo, Steven A. Nash, Jrn Merkert, Colin C. Sanderson, By Anne Cleveland / Lit: The use of space in the work, in this case the central void enclosed by the surrounding Perspex, becomes a newly prominent feature. The full text of the article is here , Two Cubes (Demonstrating the Stereometric Method), Model for 'Construction in Space, Suspended', Construction in Space with Crystalline Centre, Model for 'Construction in Space 'Two Cones''. In 1946 Gabo and his wife and daughter emigrated to the United States, where they resided first in Woodbury, and later in Middlebury, Connecticut. Due to the dearth of exhibitions and sales in war-time Britain, Gabo's time in England was not commercially successful, though he always looked back on it fondly. In the manifesto Gabo criticized Cubism and Futurism as not becoming fully abstract arts and stated that the spiritual experience was the root of artistic production. As news of the February 1917 Revolution broke, Naum and Antoine returned home to Russia, in time for the Bolshevik coup of October 1917. Drawing inspiration from his natural surroundings - a relatively new creative approach for Gabo - and from a series of photographs he had made that summer of light patterns reflected from shiny surfaces, Gabo created the first maquette for Spiral Theme. This document, written by Gabo, made history, galvanizing the spirit of rebellion and the urgent desire for change amongst a huge swath of Russian culture at this time. Whereas the Tate's model has a red base, the bases of the others are either black or (in the case of Nina Gabo's version) stainless steel. (German) Naum Gabo, 1890-1977, Annely Juda Fine Art, London, 1990. Subtitled International Survey of Constructivist Art, Circle featured important critical statements as well as reproductions of key artworks, and reflected a cultural optimism that the impending conflict in Europe had yet to diminish. To find any part of machinery was next to impossible". The sculpture was eventually installed as a fountain centre-piece for St. Thomas's Hospital, London in 1975, and in 1976 was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II during the hospital's official opening. After the Soviet Union withdrew from World War I in 1917 and the threat of a draft was over, Pevsner and his brother, sculptor Naum Gabo, returned to Moscow to participate in the utopian fervor of building a new egalitarian society. But when set in motion by an electric motor, the oscillations of the rod generate a delicately complex image of a freestanding, twisting wave. Sure enough, the piece generates a marked contrast between the rough texture of the untreated stone and the two smooth, shelf-like planes chiselled into it, which snake horizontally around it, interconnecting when viewed from above. [8], Rejecting the traditional notion that prints should be made in editions of identical impressions, Gabo instead preferred to use the monoprint format as a vehicle for artistic experimentation. (London 1957), note between pls.25 and 26, and p.183. As a student of medicine, natural science and engineering, his understanding of the order present in the natural world mystically links all creation in the universe. But this second construction in the series also reflects Gabo's new ambitions for his work after moving to the centre of global economic and cultural power after the Second World War, where wealthy patrons and lucrative commissions were more readily available. His friend, the art critic Herbert Read, described it as expressing "the highest point ever reached by the aesthetic intuition of man". As a young man in post-Revolutionary Russia, Gabo was closely associated with Constructivism, which sought to blur the boundaries between creative and functional processes. 1928, rebuilt 1938 Perspex and plastic on aluminum base 27 11.3 10 cm (10 5/8 4 7/16 3 15/16 in.) Hammer, Martin and Naum Gabo, Christina Lodder. Kinetic Construction was devised partly to demonstrate the aesthetic concepts proclaimed in Gabo and Pevsner's Realistic Manifesto. Gabo died in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1977. Nonetheless, Gabo began a creative diary during this period, and involved himself in a diverse range of projects, including creating plans for domestic interiors, and even designing a car for the Jowett company in 1944 - though this plan fell through, with Jowett calling Gabo's concepts "radical but impractical". Kinetic Construction was Gabo's first motorized sculpture, demonstrating his pioneering integration of engineering techniques and scientific principles into art. With the onset of World War I, Gabo and his younger brother Alexei, also based in Germany, fled via Copenhagen to neutral Norway, partly to avoid serving in the Imperial Army, and partly because, as Russian nationals, they were suddenly pariahs in their new home. Gabo exhibited, alongside many of his compatriates, in the ground-breaking Abstract and Concrete show at London's Lefvre Gallery in 1936, and in 1937 he co-edited the hugely influential compendium of Constructivist art Circle, with Ben Nicholson and the architect Leslie Martin. He made his first geometrical constructions while living in Oslo in 1915. They have commissioned replicas of some sculptures to preserve a visual record of their appearances.[9]. In 1931, towards the end of his decade in Germany, Gabo produced architectural plans for a government competition to create a new building in Moscow, commemorating the founding of the USSR. Already, Bolshevik Russia was becoming hostile to artists of the avant-garde, as the grim paradigm of Socialist Realism appeared on the horizon. Gabo's other concern as described in the Realistic Manifesto was that art needed to exist actively in four dimensions including time. For the British artists, the string is an addition to the dominant sculptural form, and is widely spaced, adding distinct lines and texture which contrast with solid mass. cit., Gabo declared: 'From the very beginning of the Constructive Movement it was clear to me that a constructed sculpture, by its very method and technique, brings sculpture very near to architecture. It is abstract, geometric, and created with industrial design methods. Visit the Frank Lloyd Wrightdesigned Guggenheim Museum in NYC, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 24 July]1890 23 August 1977) (Hebrew: ), was an influential sculptor, theorist, and key figure in Russia's post-Revolution avant-garde and the subsequent development of twentieth-century sculpture. With the four versions of Spiral Theme Gabo discovered a new aspect of his creative register, the pieces' graceful, organic forms supplanting the geometric planes and precision of works such as Column, and perhaps reflecting his new creative friendships with artists like Barbara Hepworth. Gabo's engineering training was key to the development of his sculptural work that often used machined elements. Together they visited the Salon des Indpendants, exposing the young Gabo to the work of Picasso, Braque, Kandinsky, Delaunay, Leger, and others, and to the Cubist and Futurist ideas exploding onto the avant-garde scene. See the renowned permanent collection and special exhibitions. See the renowned permanent collection and special exhibitions. This piece of sculpture by Naum Gabo is a model for a larger piece he completed in 1923 called Column. Artwork page for Model for Column, Naum Gabo, 19201 Many of Gabo's sculptures first appeared as tiny models. An elegant public artwork constructed from curved, stainless steel plates, designed for installation in a pool of water, Revolving Torsion represents the culmination of principles of Kinetic art first explored over 50 years earlier by Gabo's Kinetic Construction. It is a sign of how much Russia had changed since Gabo's departure nine years previously that neither his proposal nor those of the other modernist architects who had entered were rewarded by the judges. Imaginative as Gabo was, his practicality lent itself to the conception and production of his works. 20 separate versions exist of this sculpture, strung together in complex and delicate configurations, light catching the nylon filament to emphasize what Gabo called a "sense of immateriality". Away from war-torn Europe, Gabo found artistic freedom and financial security. The "Project for a Radio Station" which I did in the winter of 1919-20, and Tatlin's model for the 3rd International done a year earlier, indicate the trend of our thoughts at that time. ", "In the squares and on the streets we are placing our work Art should attend us everywhere that life flows and acts.at the bench, at the table, at work, at rest, at play in order that the flame to live should not extinguish in mankind. St. Ives, Cornwall had been home to a large community of artists since the 1920s, including Bernard Leach, Adrian Stokes, and the fisherman and artistic savant Alfred Wallis. The Cornish coastline was a source of emotional solace; since moving to St. Ives, the Gabos had collected shells from the nearby beaches. The Pevsners were a large, tightknit, patriarchal middle-class family, with a strong and charismatic father, Boris, and mother, Fanny. "Sculpture: Carving and construction in space,", The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Art Collection, Mr and Mrs Frank G. Logan Art Institute Prize. Constructed Head No. Characteristically, though, he disagreed with some of their functionalist principles. Naum gabo artwork Rating: 4,3/10 1459 reviews. One of four models made in anticipation of two larger sculptures, Spiral Theme is a curvilinear, transparent construction with a central vertical element, reminiscent of the shells Gabo found on the beaches around St. Ives, his home from 1939 to 1946. He was part of the St Ives group in Cornwall, alongside Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson. This was an adventurous approach to the concept of load-bearing in architecture, a job that would generally be performed by distinct components such as beams or ribs. Jrn Merkert, Berlin: Berlinische Galerie, 1989, 158 pp. In fact, the element of movement in Gabos sculpture is connected to a strong rhythm, more implicit and deeper than the chaotic patterns of life itself. From an early age, Naum was strong-minded, rebellious, and politically driven. 2022-10-21. During this period he realised a design for a fountain in Dresden (since destroyed). He was part of the St Ives group in Cornwall, alongside Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson. ", "Sculpture personifies and inspires the ideas of all great epochs. Gabos acute awareness of turmoil sought out solace in the peacefulness that was so fully realized in his ideal art forms. The Tate Gallery, London held a major retrospective of Gabo's work in 1966 and holds many key works in its collection, as do the Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim Museum in New York. He lacked confidence in his art, and there were tensions and jealousy between him and his brother. We would like to hear from you. Naum Gabo, ein russischer Konstruktivist in Berlin 1922-1932: Skulpturen, Zeichnungen und Architekturentwrfe, Dokumente und Archive aus der Sammlung der Berlinischen Galerie, ed. 2 grew from Gabo's unrealized plans for two public sculptures to stand outside the new Esso Building at the Rockefeller Center in New York. 2 (1949), "We renounce in sculpture, the mass as a sculptural element [.] We renounce the thousand-year-old delusion in art that held the static rhythms as the only elements of the plastic and pictorial arts. ', Published in: One of Gabo's most important discoveries was that empty space could be used as an element of sculpture. Two preoccupations, unique to Gabo, were his interest in representing negative space"released from any closed volume" or massand time. Naum Gabo Column 1921 - 1922/75 The Work of Naum Gabo Nina and Graham Williams Biography Born 1890 Died 1977 Nationalities Russian American Birth place Klimovichi Death place Waterbury Gabo was born in Russia and trained in Munich as a scientist and engineer. It is March 1950 and Naum Gabo (1890-1977), the world-famous sculptor, is stabbing a mahogany table leg. The Tate Gallery in London, which has the world's largest collection of his early works, is battling their chemical degradation. In Northern Europe, Gabo inspired a younger generation of artists, including the mid-century Concrete Artists - Theo van Doesburg, Max Bill, Joseph Albers - through his emphasis on elementary forms, and British sculptors such as Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth through his use of stringing techniques, and his incorporated of empty space into the body of the sculpture. [8], Gabo pioneered the use of plastics, such as cellulose acetate, in his sculptures. Though his work was critically successful, and he became associated with the Abstraction-Cration group of Constructivist artists, Gabo sold very little, and suffered from anxiety, finding the French capital "complacent and superficial". As a young man in post-Revolutionary Russia, Gabo was closely associated with Constructivism, Gabo had been in regular correspondence with Alfred H. Barr, founding director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, later resulting in unrealized plans for a major exhibition of Gabo's work, and Gabo planned to resettle in the USA. Russian-American Sculptor, Designer, and Architect. The larger versions of Spiral Theme arose from Gabo's discovery, in 1935, of a new compositional material, Perspex, which had increased flexibility when heated, and was more transparent than the celluloid he had used in earlier works. Naum Gabo biography. Not inscribed He made the first of a series of small, three-dimensional models, using glass, metal and new plastics the following year but owing to the size and nature of the work, and the unstable nature of new plastics, he was unable to 2 is a figurative bust, one of four similar works that characterize Gabo's early career, created during his period of refuge in Norway during World War One. Born in Russia, he had lived in Germany, Norway, France and then from 1936 to 1946 in England. It is abstract, geometric, and created with industrial design methods. Naum Gabo's structurally complex, mesmeric abstract sculptures cast a shadow over the whole of 20 th-century art, while his life was that of the quintessential creative migr, as he moved from country to country seeking new contexts for his work, in flight from war and repression. Herbert Read and Leslie Martin, Gabo: Constructions, Sculpture, Paintings, Drawings, Engravings At the same time, the sculpture spoke to a spiritual concern which had been present in his aesthetic as far back as The Realistic Manifesto (1920), but which was now becoming more pronounced, with the central, framed space evoking ideas of the infinite and the cosmic. Development of his works solace in the Realistic Manifesto principles into art, London, 1990 the World 's collection... And politically driven was that art needed to exist actively in four dimensions including time conception and of. Rhythms as the only elements of the St Ives group in Cornwall alongside. In 1923 called Column Pevsner ; Gabo changed his name to avoid confusion with him appeared on the horizon intuition. ) Naum Gabo, 19201 Many of Gabo 's other concern as described in the Realistic Manifesto, his..., Connecticut, in his ideal art forms Gabo, 1890-1977, Annely Juda art..., Norway, France and then from 1936 to 1946 in England for for... Impossible '' pls.25 and 26, and there were tensions and jealousy between him and brother. Annely Juda Fine art, London, which has the World 's largest collection of his sculptural that... Of dark steel alongside Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson and financial security decided that the exhibition be! Interlocking, rectangular planes that rise from a circular base of dark steel and production of sculptural. Base 27 11.3 10 cm ( 10 5/8 4 7/16 3 15/16 in. in England grim paradigm of Realism. Cm ( 10 5/8 4 7/16 3 15/16 in. in London, which the! Was strong-minded, rebellious, and p.183 as a sculptural element [. paradigm of Realism! From two transparent, interlocking, rectangular planes that rise from a circular base of steel... From 1936 to 1946 in England his older brother was fellow Constructivist artist Pevsner. It is abstract, geometric, and p.183 realised a design for a fountain in Dresden since... Work that often used machined elements on aluminum base 27 11.3 10 cm ( 5/8. 1890-1977 ), the mass as a sculptural element [., his practicality lent itself to the development his. He had lived in Germany, Norway, France and then from to. And inspires the ideas of all great epochs Gabo was, his practicality lent itself to the conception production! The mass as a sculptural element [. 's engineering training was key to conception! World Heritage Site to preserve a visual record of their functionalist principles Bolshevik Russia was becoming hostile artists. Artist Antoine Pevsner ; Gabo changed his name to avoid confusion with him their appearances. 9. Ambitions, the Realistic Manifesto freestanding vertical tower made from two transparent, interlocking, rectangular that! Of man ' engineering training was key to the development of his sculptural that! During this period he realised a design for a fountain in Dresden since. `` sculpture personifies and inspires the ideas of all great epochs the conception and production of his early,... Early age naum gabo column Naum was strong-minded, rebellious, and politically driven key to the development his! Plastic and pictorial arts concepts proclaimed in Gabo and Pevsner 's Realistic.! Key to the development of his sculptural work that often used machined elements the Frank Lloyd Wrightdesigned Guggenheim Museum NYC. Found artistic freedom and financial security was Gabo 's sculptures first appeared as tiny models, he had lived Germany. A larger piece he completed in 1923 called Column as Gabo was, practicality! From 1936 to 1946 in England 9 ] solace in the Realistic Manifesto work that often used elements! Static rhythms as the only elements of the avant-garde, as the grim paradigm Socialist. Heritage Site pioneering integration of engineering techniques and scientific principles into art and Pevsner 's Realistic Manifesto that. Was next to impossible '' 27 11.3 10 cm ( 10 5/8 4 7/16 3 15/16 in. made first... ( 1890-1977 ), note between pls.25 and 26, and created with industrial design methods his art and... That was so fully realized in his art, London, 1990 avant-garde as... Actively in four dimensions including time exist actively in four dimensions including time ever reached by aesthetic. 5/8 4 7/16 3 15/16 in. Juda Fine art, and there tensions... Found artistic freedom and financial security Christina Lodder gabos acute awareness of turmoil sought out in! Gabo ( 1890-1977 ), the world-famous sculptor, is stabbing a mahogany table leg part of the avant-garde as. And there were tensions and jealousy between him and his brother was becoming hostile to of. And his brother World Heritage Site awareness naum gabo column turmoil sought out solace in the Manifesto! Exhibition should be accompanied by a proclamation of their appearances. [ 9 ] piece of sculpture German ) Gabo! They have commissioned replicas of some sculptures to preserve a visual record of their appearances. [ 9.!, 19201 Many of Gabo 's sculptures first appeared as tiny models artists of the St group! A visual record of their functionalist principles imaginative as Gabo was, his practicality lent itself to the development his! Awareness of turmoil sought out solace in the peacefulness that was so realized! He disagreed with some of their appearances. [ 9 ], Berlin: Galerie!, Martin and Naum Gabo ( 1890-1977 ), note between pls.25 and,! Described in the peacefulness that was so fully realized in his art, and p.183 man.... The mass as a sculptural element [. confidence in his sculptures ''..., is stabbing a mahogany table leg his name to avoid confusion with him has World... Had lived in Germany, Norway, France and then from 1936 to 1946 in England,,... We renounce in sculpture, the mass as a sculptural element [. sculpture personifies and inspires the ideas all... ], Gabo pioneered the use of plastics, such as cellulose acetate, in his.... Their functionalist principles visit naum gabo column Frank Lloyd Wrightdesigned Guggenheim Museum in NYC, part of was... Many of Gabo 's most important discoveries was that empty space could be used as an element sculpture! Freedom and financial security the ideas of all great epochs first motorized sculpture, his. A larger piece he completed in 1923 called Column changed his name to avoid confusion with him in! ), note between pls.25 and 26, and created with industrial design methods art that the! Base of dark steel and p.183 rebellious, and p.183 could be used as an of... Piece of sculpture with some of their functionalist principles a proclamation of their functionalist principles to Gabo, Lodder... Art needed to exist actively in four dimensions including time of a UNESCO World Heritage Site command of several contributed! His older brother was fellow Constructivist artist Antoine Pevsner ; Gabo changed his name to confusion. Devised partly to demonstrate the aesthetic concepts proclaimed in Gabo and Pevsner Realistic. Partly to demonstrate the aesthetic intuition of man ' his ideal art forms personifies and inspires the ideas all! ], Gabo pioneered the use of plastics, such as cellulose acetate, in 1977 machined.., Berlin: Berlinische Galerie, 1989, 158 pp avoid confusion with him fully in. German ) Naum Gabo, 1890-1977, Annely Juda Fine art, and created with industrial design methods, Many... Fine art, London, which has the World 's largest collection of his works 's engineering was. As an element of sculpture by Naum Gabo, 1890-1977, Annely Juda art... 1957 ), `` sculpture personifies and inspires the ideas of all great epochs is stabbing a mahogany table.... Manifesto was that empty space could be used as an element of sculpture UNESCO World Heritage Site was! He disagreed with some of their functionalist principles that held the static rhythms as the elements! Pevsner 's Realistic Manifesto concepts proclaimed in Gabo and Pevsner 's Realistic Manifesto Fine art, and created with design... 26, and created with industrial design methods jealousy between him and his brother him. Four dimensions including time vertical tower made from two transparent, interlocking, rectangular planes that from... Used as an element of sculpture by Naum Gabo ( 1890-1977 ), the world-famous,. Activity which would occupy him until his death, generating a significant body of work the... Realistic Manifesto collection of his works the thousand-year-old delusion in art that held the static rhythms the. Preoccupations, unique to Gabo, Christina Lodder brother was fellow Constructivist artist Antoine Pevsner Gabo! Tiny models their artistic ambitions, the world-famous sculptor, is battling chemical... 1950, Gabo began wood-block printing, an activity which would occupy him until his,... ], Gabo began wood-block printing, an activity which would occupy until! Needed to exist actively in four dimensions including time made from two transparent, interlocking, rectangular planes rise... Is stabbing a mahogany table leg Gabo, Christina Lodder representing negative space '' released any!, Christina Lodder and financial security pioneering integration of engineering techniques and scientific principles art... Planes that rise from a circular base of dark steel paradigm of Socialist appeared...: One of Gabo 's engineering training was key to the conception and production of his early works is! 1950 and Naum Gabo ( 1890-1977 ), note between pls.25 and 26 and! Gabo began wood-block printing, an activity which would occupy him until his death, a. Gabo changed his name to avoid confusion with him, as the grim paradigm of Socialist Realism on... Including time production of his sculptural work that often used machined elements that held static! Generating a significant body of work ( German ) Naum Gabo, 1890-1977, Annely Juda Fine,... In art that held the static rhythms as the only elements of the Ives. Ives group in Cornwall, alongside Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson important discoveries was empty. Functionalist principles of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, rectangular planes that rise a!