© Estate of Louise Nevelson / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Currently not on view
Model for Atmosphere and Environment X,
1968
Louise Nevelson, 1899–1988; born Pereiaslav, Russian Empire (Ukraine); died New York, NY; active New York
y1969-8
Nevelson thought of sculpture as a way of organizing objects in space. This small maquette is the artist’s model for Atmosphere and Environment X (1970), the monumental steel sculpture installed outside Princeton University's Firestone Library. Composed of stacked geometric forms enclosed within an open framework, it recalls both architecture and a cabinet of found things, with a matte black surface that unifies diverse shapes into a rhythmic composition. Like a still life, the maquette invites attention to the relationships between positive and negative space, balance, and silhouette.
Information
Title
Model for Atmosphere and Environment X
Dates
1968
Maker
Medium
Black-painted Cor-Ten steel
Dimensions
36.3 cm x base 25.5 cm x 14.5 cm (14 5/16 x 10 1/16 x 5 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the artist
Object Number
y1969-8
Culture
Type
Materials
Louise Nevelson, New York, New York, gift; to Princeton University Art Museum, 1969.
- "Acquisitions 1969", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 29, no. 1 (1970): p. 16-27., p. 25
- Patrick Joseph Kelleher, Living with Modern Sculpture: the John B. Putnam, Jr., Memorial Collection, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 1982)., p. 78 (illus.)
- Allen Rosenbaum and Francis F. Jones, Selections from The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1986), p. 263
