Linear Construction in Space No.1 (Variation)

Naum Gabo

1942–43

On View in Gertrude Bernoudy Gallery, Room 3

In the immediate aftermath of the Russian Revolution, Russian Constructivists sought to align their artistic practices with the revolutionary government that was engendering hope for a more just society. Excited by industrialization and new technologies, avant-garde artists began to think of art and artistic production as a way of constructing new worlds. Much emphasis was put on objects that shape architectural space and, by extension, societal conventions. Antoine Pevsner’s Bas-relief en creux (Sunken Bas Relief) (WU 3776) and Naum Gabo’s Linear Construction in Space No. 1 (Variation) are rooted in this tradition. These artists, who were also brothers, understood time, space, light, and movement to be integral elements of modern sculpture. Pevsner’s structure is reminiscent of an engine or a mechanical apparatus. Inside the brass and bronze box intersecting axes of two folded metallic sheets culminate in a center cross with a dynamic forward thrust. Gabo’s work is also conceived around a central opening, incorporating the void as a material element of the sculpture. The ultramodern, translucent materials he employs—Perspex acrylic for the frame supporting stretched nylon monofilaments—work to dematerialize mass and surface while also underscoring the artist’s utopian ideal of providing a conduit to a “new reality”—a universal one. [Permanent collection label, 2017]

Artist Naum Gabo (American, b. Russia, 1890–1977)
Title Linear Construction in Space No.1 (Variation)
Date 1942–43
Medium Plexiglas with nylon monofilament
Dimensions unframed | 24 1/8 x 24 1/8 x 9 7/8 in.
Credit line Gift of Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., 1965
Object number WU 4285

Work type sculpture
Theme Abstraction

Currently on View Gertrude Bernoudy Gallery, Room 3

From Picasso to Fontana: Collecting Modern and Postwar Art in the Eisendrath Years, 1960–1968
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/23/2015 - 04/19/2015

Art and the Mind-Brain
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/27/2012 - 04/16/2012

European and American Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/08/1998 - 10/12/1998

Cubism and Abstraction
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/12/1998 - 04/05/1998

A Gallery of Modern Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/09/1994 - 10/16/1994

Works of Art of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Collected by Louise and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr.
Saint Louis Art Museum, 01/23/1968 - 03/24/1968

Works of Art from the Collections of the Harvard Class of 1936
Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museums, 06/11/1961 - 08/25/1961

A Galaxy of Treasures from St. Louis Collections
Saint Louis Art Museum, 01/18/1961 - 02/13/1961

December 9, 1959–December 16, 1965
Mr. Joseph Pulitzer, Jr.

This artwork record may be incomplete or need refinement. Our staff actively researches the collection and revises records when new information is available. If you have questions or comments about this record, please contact us.