John Chamberlain

Martha Jackson Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 1956

New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, John Chamberlain: A Retrospective Exhibition, December 1971 - February 1972, cat. no. 3, p. 22, illustrated
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art; Fort Worth Art Museum; The Cleveland Museum of Art; Newport Harbor Art Museum, The Third Dimension, December 1984 - January 1986, p. 63, illustrated and illustrated on the cover
Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art, John Chamberlain: Sculpture, 1954- 1985, July - October 1986
Baden-Baden, Staatliche Kunsthalle; Dresden- Albertinum, Staatlliche Kunstsammlungen, John Chamberlain, May - July 1991, cat. no. 3, p. 48, illustrated in color
New York, Allan Stone Gallery, John Chamberlain: Early Works, October - December 2003, fig. 1 and cat. no. 7, illustrated in color

Elizabeth C. Baker, "The Chamberlain Crunch," Art News, vol. 7, no. 10, February 1972, p. 28, illustrated
Julie Sylvester, John Chamberlain: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Sculpture, 1954- 1985, New York, 1986, cat. no. 13, p. 45, illustrated

This work is in very good and sound condition overall. All elements appear stable and secure. There are scattered areas of oxidation, visible in the catalogue illustration and scattered dust accretions in the welded joins. Please note this work has been requested by the Solomon R. Guggenheim for inclusion in the John Chamberlain: Choices exhibition to be held from February 24 – May 13, 2012.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

At first glance, Cord endorses a byzantine superiority of the twisted steel, further corroborating John Chamberlain's stylistic aesthetic over a sculpturally contracted impetuosity.  Chamberlain's post-war American art has not only solidified his position as a ringleader of the Abstract Expressionist movement, but as one of its pioneers.  In 1960, Chamberlain set the tone by landing his first major solo show at Martha Jackson Gallery.  In the subsequent years, he earned high regards for his bohemian metal ware, resulting in a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 1966 and another in 1970.  The works fashioned from these fellowships were later showcased in John Chamberlain: A Retrospective Exhibition, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 1971.

Chamberlain's masterful ingenuity provided a perfect three-dimensional equivalent to the two-dimensional paintings of his contemporaries.  Through characteristics, stretching from serrated edges to crude paint hues, Chamberlain was able to sculpturally capture the impetuous brushstroke of the Abstract Expressionists.  In much of his early work, Chamberlain compressed and twisted flat bands of steel, similar to the style of David Smith, a clear influence.  However, by the time of production of Cord, that "Smith-esq" flatness quickly fades into a transient murmur. In the present work, Chamberlain turns to volume and roundness, emphasizing his use of increasingly dense steel rods and ample metallic drapery.

Cord's electric bravado of coaxing various steel forms into an industrial lands of swoops and folds, harkens to a signature motif of Abstract Expressionism; spontaneity.  As if innately intertwined, the sculpture's flecked metals effortlessly grow into one another, at once bonding and freeing the composition with a natural harmony. During a series of tape-recorded interviews, conducted between 1981 and 1985, Chamberlain spoke of his premature departure from art school.  He spoke of a professor's unfavorable criticism towards a paper he had written; a paper describing a region in India, where chiseled columns of clustered, bare-skinned persons lay: "I was talking about fit, how it all fit together.  No one went anywhere in that part of India in those years, no one left town; there was no transportation.  So their spirits and whatever they felt life was about had to be contained right there.  They carved their art in that spirit, and it showed when you looked at it." (John Chamberlain, John Chamberlain: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Sculpture 1954-1985, Hudson Hill Press, 1986). The elements of Cord achieve a similar "fit" and confirm the great success of this curvy sculpture from Chamberlain's oeuvre.