Louise Nevelson “Multiples in Depth”

Pace Prints Gallery

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Pace Prints presents Louise Nevelson: Multiples in Depth, an exhibition of cast paper reliefs and three-dimensional multiples.

Louise Nevelson: Multiples in Depth will highlight non-traditional multiples made in the 1970s by Louise Nevelson and published by Pace Prints. Among these works are Nevelson’s cast-resin multiples, which resemble her iconic “Boxes,” cast paper pulp works that have the sculptural appearance of a frieze, and the lead intaglio works which use embossed metal sheets to create a metallic relief.

Nevelson employed methods of collage to assemble her works from found objects, usually made of wood. She would piece together sculptures that would be painted in a monochrome, to unify all the disparate elements. Her works Full Moon, Symphony Three and Sunset are all cast-resin multiples created by the artist, by making a mold as one would for a bronze sculpture. These cast resin works, from a body of work generally referred to as “boxes”, are the closest approximation of a wooden sculptural work by Nevelson that exits in the form of a multiple.

Dawn’s Clouds, 1977, featured in The Jewish Museum’s “The Sculpture of Louise Nevelson: Constructing a Legend” (2007), is a cast paper pulp work. These works are created by pressing wet pulp into a mold, to create a three-dimensional image. These seemingly embossed paper friezes are both print and sculpture. Coinciding with her work on her room sized installation of white wooden sculpture “Chapel of the Good Shepherd” at St. Peter’s Church in Manhattan, Nevelson’s paper multiples use the softer edges of the type found in this space.

The Great Wall, 1970, recently featured in The Whitney Museum of America Art’s exhibition “The Face in the Moon: Drawings and Prints of Louise Nevelson” (2018) is described as a lead intaglio print. There are 6 compositions in this series which incorporate thin embossed metal plates. These works, which were executed in Italy, are unique in that the print has individual sculptural elements applied, rather than being printed in ink on a metal plate. This unique print style was a singular experiment. As with so many of our collaborations with Louise Nevelson, these works pushed the limits of what had been traditionally been thought of as a print or multiple.