Generation

Currently not on view

Generation

1988

Martin Puryear (American, born 1941)

Generation is a poetic composite of a delicately handcrafted cedar loop and the readymade natural form of a gourd. At once graceful and improbable, it charts a path between art and artisanship. Martin Puryear's visual vocabulary was formed at the crossroads of cultural traditions: he learned woodworking in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone and studied furniture-making as an art student in Sweden. At a time when many American artists were turning to impersonal techniques of fabrication and repetitive process-based approaches, Puryear made craft the foundation of his art and adopted simplified organic shapes that employ a distinctive sculptural language, minimal yet evocative.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Generation

Date:

1988

Artist:

Martin Puryear (American, born 1941)

Medium:

Painted red cedar, gourd

Dimensions:

Approximately: 8 feet 11 1/4 inches × 4 feet × 1 feet 8 inches (272.4 × 121.9 × 50.8 cm)

Classification:

Sculpture

Credit Line:

125th Anniversary Acquisition. Gift of Jane and Leonard Korman, 2002

Accession Number:

2002-150-1

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Currently not on view