Naum Gabo (1890-1977) - photo 1

Naum Gabo (1890-1977)

Lot 127
21.10.2022 14:00UTC +01:00
Classic
Sold
€ 88 200
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationFrance, Paris
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Archive
ID 832379
Lot 127 | Naum Gabo (1890-1977)
Estimate value
€ 70 000 – 100 000
Naum Gabo (1890-1977)

Bas-relief on a circular surface, semi-spheric

signé, daté et inscrit 'N. gabo Luly 38' (sur la base)

assemblage de plastique et de nitrate de celluloïd

Diamètre: 44.6 cm.

Hauteur de la spirale: 12.5 cm.

Exécuté en 1938; cette œuvre est unique



signed, dated and inscribed 'N. gabo Luly 38' (on the base)

assemblage of plastic and celluloid nitrate

Diameter: 17 5/8 in.

Height of spiral: 5 in.

Executed in 1938; this work is unique





Provenance

Wallace K. Harrison, New York (probablement acquis auprès de l’artiste avant 1948 et jusqu'à au moins 1958).

Alain Tarica, Paris.

Acquis auprès de celui-ci par la famille du propriétaire actuel avant 1982.



Literature

S. Chermayeff, 'Naum Gabo', in Magazine of Art, Vol. 41, No. 2, Washington D. C., février 1948, p. 56 (illustré; titré 'Spirit Relief Construction'; daté '1937').

N. Gabo, Gabo, Constructions, sculpture, paintings, drawings, engravings, Londres, 1957, p. 183 (illustré, pl. 65-66; daté '1937').

S. Moholy-Nagy, 'Constructivism from Kasimir Malevich to Laszlo Moholy-Nagy', in Arts & Architecture, Vol. 83, No. 5, Los Angeles, juin 1966 (illustré, fig. 17; titré 'Spheric relief construction'; daté '1937').

C. C. Sanderson et C. Lodder, Catalogue Raisonné of the Constructions and Sculptures of Naum Gabo in S. A. Nash et J. Merkert, éds., Naum Gabo, Sixty Years of Constructivism, Dallas, 1985, p. 227, no. 44 (illustré).

M. Hammer et C. Lodder, Constructing Modernity, The Art & Career of Naum Gabo, New Haven et Londres, 2000, p. 259, no. 178 (illustré; titré 'Spheric Theme Relief Variant').



Exhibited

New York, Museum of Modern Art, Naum Gabo-Antoine Pevsner, février-avril 1948, p. 47 (illustré, p. 42; titré 'Spheric relief construction'; daté '1937').

Rotterdam, Museum Boymans et Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Gabo, avril-juin 1958, p. 35, no. 9 (illustré; titré 'Relief'; daté '1937').

Munster, Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte et Paris, Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris, Abstraction-Création, 1931-1936, avril-septembre 1978, p. 153, no. 1 (illustré, p. 155; titré 'Construction'; daté '1937').



Special Notice


Artist's Resale Right ("droit de Suite").
If the Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer also agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.



Post Lot Text

« Le Thème sphérique est le fruit de nombreuses années de recherche quant à un moyen constructif de transposer ma perception de l'espace à une expérience visuelle de celui-ci. La structure angulaire du cube stéréométrique que j'ai employée dans mes constructions précédentes depuis 1915, je l'ai trouvée dans la stéréométrie élémentaire. Elle s'est très vite montrée insuffisante pour de nombreuses images qui mûrissaient en moi, où la vision de l'espace comme élément sculpté devait jouer un rôle plus important que dans mes œuvres antérieures […] J'avais l'impression que le caractère visuel de l'espace n'était pas angulaire : que pour traduire la perception de l'espace à un langage sculpté, il devait être sphérique. J'étais à la recherche de pistes dans le monde scientifique pour trouver, peut-être, un système de structure sphérique ».
« Je n'ai trouvé auprès de la science aucune réponse satisfaisante, en termes graphiques, à l'expression de ma vision de l'espace. J'estime que cette œuvre que j'ai conçue propose une solution satisfaisante à ce problème. Plutôt que d'indiquer l'espace à travers l'intersection angulaire de différents plans, je le contiens à l'intérieur même d'une surface incurvée et continue. J'élimine les formes anguleuses dans la construction de l'espace et je le dote de la forme courbe qu'il possède dans mon esprit. J'utilise ce système depuis 1936. »
« J'ai réalisé plusieurs variations sur ce thème afin de révéler ses possibilités en termes de structure. Il y a toute une panoplie d'images qu'un sculpteur constructiviste puisse imaginer qui peuvent être exécutées à l'aide de cette méthode. Certains considèrent mon « thème sphérique » comme une représentation de l'infini. À mes yeux, la représentation de l'infini ne peut guère être une image qui se retourne sur elle-même. Ce « thème sphérique » m'évoque la continuité plutôt que l'infini. » (Cette déclaration est d'abord parue dans H. Read et L. Martin, Gabo, Constructions, Sculpture, Paintings, Drawings, Engravings, Londres, 1957, pls. 64-65).
Paru dans Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Londres, 1981, p. 247-248.

'The Spheric Theme is the result of many years' research for a constructive method of transferring my perception of space in terms of visual experience of it. The angular structure of the stereometric cube which I applied in my previous constructions since 1915, I found in elementary stereometry. It very soon proved insufficient to many an image which was growing in me where the vision of space as a sculptural element had to play a greater role than in my previous images (....) I felt that the visual character of space is not angular: that to transfer the perception of space into sculptural terms, it has to be spheric.
I was looking for some kind of an indication in the scientific world, where a method of spheric structure could perhaps be found.
I found no answer in graphic terms in science which would satisfy my vision of space. I consider that in this work of mine there is a satisfactory solution to that problem. Instead of indicating space by an angular intersection of planes, I enclose the space in one curved continuous surface. I eliminate angularity in space construction and give space the curved character which it has to my perception. I have used this system since 1936.
I have made several variations on this theme in order to show its structural possibilities. There is an immense variety of images which a constructive sculptor may conceive which can be executed with the help of this system. There are some who consider my "Spheric Theme" as an image of infinity. To my mind the image of infinity could not be an image which turns back on itself. I feel in this Spheric Theme continuity rather than infinity.' (This statement was first published in H. Read & L. Martin, Gabo, Constructions, Sculpture, Paintings, Drawings, Engravings, London, 1957, pls. 64-65).
Published in R. Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, London, 1981, p. 247-248.
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