Beverly Pepper

London, Marlborough Fine Art, Beverly Pepper, 2014

Beverly Pepper began her artistic career as a painter. Having studied under Fernand Léger and André Lhote at the Academie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris in the 1940s her style was heavily influenced by the ideals of modernism and cubism (Wall Street Journal 2013). However, following a visit to Angkor Wat in 1960 and being over-awed by the way in which temple and earth seemingly grew from the ground together she turned her attention to sculpture. Her debut show in 1962 took place in Rome; it consisted of various carved tree trunks. At the time the art critic Rosalind Krauss commented that ‘traditional carving was closed to Pepper who instead attacked the wood with electric drills and saws.’ She would later apply her craft to more durable materials.

After a number of exhibitions in the early 1960s Pepper was one of ten artists - including Alexander Calder, Lynn Chadwick, Arnaldo Pomodoro and David Smith - invited by the great critic and patron Giovanni Carandente to fabricate monumental steel sculptures in Rome. It was during this time that Pepper began to develop the style that would come to define her career, creating pieces such as The Gift of Icarus, Leda and Spring Landscape (all 1962).

Since the beginning of her career Pepper’s sculpture has always been intended for the outdoors. The introduction of Cor-ten steel and cement into Pepper’s output allowed her to develop the concept of ‘earthbound sculpture’ -  these monumental pieces were designed to rise out of the ground and sit both naturally, and paradoxically, in stark contrast to their environment. The seminal work Amphisculpture (1974-75) in Bedminster, New Jersey encapsulates this ideal absolutely.

Pepper was the first artist to incorporate Cor-ten steel into sculpture and remains today the leading exponent of this material. Relishing in the exposed rusted surfaces, Pepper worked from Pennsylvania throughout the 1970s honing her skill and experimenting with texture and various forms of fabrication. Palengenesis (1993) is one of the definitive examples of her oeuvre and was the centrepiece for her recent retrospective at the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

One can see in the colour, curve and texture of Crispina Senior I every element that is demonstrative of Pepper’s most important creations. Executed only months after she was awarded the International Sculpture Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013 as an acknowledgement of her significant and continuing contribution to sculpture. Previous recipients of the prize include Louise Bourgeois, Frank Stella and Anthony Caro. Pepper lives and works in Todi, Italy