Martin Puryear has produced an expertly handcrafted body of sculpture characterized by extreme elegance of form and organic simplicity. Influenced by his travels through Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States, Puryear fuses modern traditions—his work pays homage to Constantin Brâncusi, Jean Arp, and Scandinavian furniture designers—with non-Western architecture, sculpture, and craft. Consisting of a tall, narrow, wood vessel and a dramatically arched top flap that seems poised to slam down upon it, Lever #1 exemplifies the artist’s ongoing exploration of the relationship between interior space, form, and volume. The sculpture suggests an array of possible associations, including a deep-hulled boat, a coffin, or sexual themes. It also reflects some of the most celebrated methods of avant-garde art, notably Constructivism and assemblage. While the sculpture alludes to recognizable forms and subjects, Puryear intended for it to remain independent of specific interpretations. The surface is alive with the remnants of glue, staples, and other marks of construction; these residual effects serve as a reminder that, above all else, the work is about the process of making sculpture.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
Kellie Jones and Robert Storr, Martin Puryear: 20th International São Paulo Bienal, exh. cat. (Jamaica, N.Y: Jamaica Arts Center, 1989), 2 (color ill.), 15, 49, as Lever.
Alan G. Artner, “Shaping Up,” Chicago Tribune, Oct. 1, 1989, 14, as Lever.
Michael Brenson, “A Sculptor’s Struggle to Fuse Culture and Art,” The New York Times, Oct. 29, 1989, H37 (ill.), H39, as Lever.
Terry Y. Allen, “The Unconventional Eye,” Amherst Magazine (Summer 1990): 16 (ill.).
Nany Princenthal, “Intuition’s Disciplinarian,” Art in America 78, no. 1 (Jan. 1990): 130 (ill.), 132, 135 (ill.).
Neal Benezra, Robert Storr, and James N. Wood, Martin Puryear, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1991), 48-49, 51 (ills.), 120, 121 (color ill.), 131, 137, cat. 38, 146-147.
Suzanne Muchnic, “The Handyman: Martin Puryear Stays in Touch with His Sculptures, Bending, Splitting, Molding and Joining His Materials with a Craftsman’s Skills,” Los Angeles Times, Aug 02, 1992, F77, as Lever.
James N. Wood, T. J Edelstein, and Sally Ruth May, The Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1993), 285 (color ill.).
Larry Silver, Art in History (New York: Abbeville Press, 1993), 455, fig. 10.30 (ill.), as Lever no. 1.
Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jane Fairfax Jordan, The Sculptor’s Eye: Looking at Contemporary American Art (New York: Delacorte Press, 1993), 66 (color ill), 67, 122.
Charles F. Stuckey, “Selected Recent Acquisitions of Twentieth-Century Art at The Art Institute of Chicago: Supplement,” The Burlington Magazine 135, no. 1087 (Oct. 1993): 728 (ill.).
Michael Brenson and Enrique Juncosa, Martin Puryear, exh. cat. (Madrid: Fundación “La Caixa,” 1997), 16 (color ill.), fig. 1, as Palanca n.° 1 / Lever #1
John Elderfield, Michael Auping, Elizabeth Reede, Richard J. Powell, and Jennifer Field, Martin Puryear, exh. cat. (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2007), 38, 40, 143 (color ill.), 166, cat. 29, 183 (color ill., install), 184.
General Reference:
Marlena Donohue, “The Galleries: La Cienega Area,” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 21, 1989, 115.
Christopher Knight, “Sculptures with a Touch of Nature” Los Angeles Herald Examiner, May 12, 1989, 4.
Los Angeles, Margo Leavin Gallery, Martin Puryear, Apr. 15–May 20, 1989, no cat, as Lever.
São Paulo, 20th International São Paulo Bienal, Oct. 14–Dec. 10, 1989, no cat. no., as Lever.
Art Institute of Chicago, Martin Puryear, Nov. 2, 1991–Jan. 5, 1992, cat. 38; Washington D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Feb. 5-May 10, 1992; Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art, July 26–Oct. 4, 1992; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Nov. 8, 1992–Jan. 3, 1993.
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Puryear, Nov. 4, 2007–Jan. 14, 2008, cat. 29; Fort Worth, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Feb. 24–May 18, 2008, Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, June 22–Sept. 28, 2008; San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Nov. 8, 2008–Jan, 25, 2009.
The artist; sold through Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, to the Art Institute of Chicago, July 13, 1989.
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