Getting to Know: Louise Nevelson

One of my favorite artists is innovative printmaker and sculptor Louise Nevelson (1899–1988). Whenever I see one of her imaginative sculptures, it always seems to command attention, no matter its size or the other works in the same gallery.

She was born in Kiev in 1899 and immigrated to Rockland, Maine, in 1905. She eventually made her way to New York City, where she not only filled her days with creating artworks, but also became a student of modern dance, combining the two in some of her works that represent dancers engaged in dynamic movement. “Modern dance certainly makes you aware of movement,” Nevelson recalled, “and that moving from the center of the being is where we generate and create our own energy . . . I became aware of every fiber, and it freed me.”

Nevelson is best known for her wall reliefs of all sizes created from found objects like the Amon Carter’s Lunar Landscape (1959–60).

Louise Nevelson (1899–1988), Lunar Landscape, 1959–60, painted wood, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, purchase with funds from the Ruth Carter Stevenson Acquisitions Endowment, 1999.3.A-J

She would roam the streets around her New York studio, searching for the perfect items to combine in monochromatic sculptures, upcycling long before the term became fashionable! Their signature colors are black, white, and gold—colors that transform her found object assemblages from a mixture of items like bedposts and chair seats to masterful displays of pure aesthetic form. Lunar Landscape, the Hirshhorn’s Silent Music IX, the Smithsonian’s Sky Cathedral, the Art Institute of Chicago’s America Dawn—Nevelson’s titles also reflect her idea that viewers should consider each work’s beauty of form and line instead of trying to determine the identities of the included objects.

To me, Nevelson’s works hold appeal because of her creativity and ability to transform a myriad of scavenged objects into a beautiful unified whole. Introduce your students to this great American artist and see how her works inspire them!

-Stacy Fuller