Contemporary Art, Evening

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Lot 45
  • 45

Carl Andre

bidding is closed

Description

  • Carl Andre
  • The Way North, East and West (Uncarved Blocks, 1975.65)

  • 4 blocks of  western red cedar, 3 horizontal pointing west, north and east respectively, adjacent to base of 1 vertical

  • Each: 12 x 12 x 36 in. 30.5 x 30.5 x 91.4 cm.
  • Overall: 36 x 48 x 60 in. 91.5 x 122 x 152.5 cm.
  • Executed in Vancouver in 1975, this work (Uncarved Blocks, no. 1975.65) is accompanied by a certificate signed by the artist and dated New York 14 October 1990.

Provenance

Anne Walker McDonald, San Francisco (acquired directly from the artist)
Sotheby's, New York, October 26, 1989, Lot 228
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Lane, New York

Exhibited

Vancouver, Ace Gallery, Carl Andre: Uncarved Blocks, November - December 1975  (as part of the original Uncarved Blocks, no. 1975.67)
Venice, Ace Gallery, Carl Andre, June 1976 (as part of the original Uncarved Blocks, no. 1975.67)
Hamburg, Deichtorhallen, Einleuchten, November 1989 - February 1990 (Uncarved Blocks, no. 1975.67)
Wolfsburg, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Tuning-up, May - September 1994 (Uncarved Blocks, no. 1975.67)

Literature

Carl Andre and R.H. Fuchs, Carl Andre Wood, Eindhoven, 1978, p. 72, illustrated and p. 73, illustrated (installation of Uncarved Blocks, no. 1975.67 at Ace Gallery)
David Bourdon and Barbara Rose, Carl Andre Sculpture 1959-1977, New York, 1978, p. 34, illustrated (installation of Uncarved Blocks, no. 1975.67 at Ace Gallery)
Carl Andre, The Milky Way, Berlin 1985, p. 24, illustrated (installation of Uncarved Blocks, no. 1975.67 at Ace Gallery)
Exh. Cat.,  Eindhoven, Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Carl Andre, 1987, cat. no. 1975.65, p. 95, illustrated (installation of Uncarved Blocks, no. 1975.67 at Ace Gallery)
Exh. Cat, Wolfsburg, Kunstmuseum, Carl Andre Sculptor 1996, February - April 1996, p. 212 (Uncarved Blocks, no. 1975.65), p. 213, illustrated in color (installation of Uncarved Blocks, no. 1975.67 at Ace Gallery, which is also illustrated in color on the cover)




Catalogue Note

The present work is referenced as no. 1975.65 in the artist's archive and is one of 15 individual works that were originally part of Uncarved Blocks, no. 1975.67 which consisted of 47 identical wooden blocks distributed over a rectangular area 25 x 30 feet in a precisely determined configuration. The 47 unit work was created for a 1975 show at the Ace Gallery in Vancouver and was then divided up into fifteen separate works.  The 47 unit work now exists once more as an indivisible whole and is in the collection of the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (Uncarved Blocks, no. 1975.67)

"The 15 works in the series consist of 12" x 12" x 36" timbers, the same size as the wood units in his earlier Element Series.  Like the Elements, the Uncarved Blocks present the timbers in both vertical and horizontal axes, but never stacked.  All the works in the Uncarved Blocks series feature a single vertical element.  The variations occur in the number and position of the adjacent horizontal units.  The horizontal timbers refer to the four points of the compass, while the vertical element alludes to the fifth point of the Chinese compass: the location of the observer."  (David Bourdon, Carl Andre: Sculpture 1959-1977, New York, p. 62)