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Lot Essay
Widely known for his singular approach to painting, Cy Twombly maintained a robust sculptural practice throughout his career that existed in tandem with his innovations in two dimensions. Untitled is an intimate example of the artist’s work in cast bronze, and maintains the same intellectual rigor and attention to history that brought him such acclaim. On the occasion of a rare exhibition of Twombly’s three-dimensional works, Edward Albee noted, "Among the US painters of the second half of the 20th century (and through to now) one stands out to me as painter who redefined sculpture (Robert Rauschenberg), and one emerges that rare artist equally important in both fields, equally exciting as painter and sculptor: Cy Twombly” (E. Albee, “Cy Twombly”, in Cy Twombly: Sculptures 1992 – 2005, exh. cat., Munich, Alta Pinakothek, 2006, p. 9). Viewed together as part of Twombly’s robust oeuvre, but recognized as separate threads in a complex conversation, both painting and sculpture alike illustrate the dynamic inquiries of form and history that are pivotal to an understanding of the artist’s practice.
Perched atop a rectangular base, an amorphous element seems to slowly melt into, or grow out of, the more structural section. The weight of the bronze is discernible, and the entire work forms an optically cohesive piece. Finished in a mottled gray, Untitled exudes an air similar to an historical artifact from some ancient ruin. Earlier in his career, Twombly frequently utilized materials like cardboard, cloth, wood, and various paints that were not meant to be archival. The ephemerality of these elements, and their fragility when combined as sculpture, prompted the artist to begin casting in bronze in the early 1980s. Twombly described the process of casting as a way to "unify the thing. It abstracts the forms from the material. People want to know about what the material constituents are; it helps them identify the work with something. But I want each sculpture to be seen as a whole, as a sculpture" (C. Twombly. quoted in: D. Sylvester, "The World is Light," in N. del Roscio ed., Writings on Twombly, Munich, 2002, p. 276). By uniting the disparate elements in one material, he was able to create a more tangible unity of form.
Throughout his oeuvre, Twombly exhibits a keen interest in the art, artifacts, and mythology of ancient cultures. He often included allusions to the Greek and Roman pantheons in his paintings, and would make reference to Homeric legends and literature amidst his marks on canvas. After moving to the Mediterranean in 1957, this interest was only further bolstered as he came into direct contact with the origins of Western civilization. It was also here that he began to create sculptural constructions more earnestly. Following both modes of inquiry in parallel, his work in three dimensions evolved separately from his painting practice but retained the same level of historical influence. Art critic Roberta Smith noted that “Twombly’s sculptures exist outside the real-time and on-going metamorphosis of his two dimensional work… they inform, and are informed by, his paintings and drawings, providing a constant distillation of his sensibility, one that is full of keys and signals” (R. Smith, “The Great Mediator” in H. Szeeman, Cy Twombly, Munich, 1987, p. 20). Neither creative paths were undertaken in service of the other, and pieces like Untitled exist as full-fledged ideas in their own right. More so than the paintings even, the sculptures act as touchstones for a larger discourse that exist in a perplexingly timeless state. By bringing the past to bear in our own era, Twombly conflates what has happened with what is occurring now.
Twombly’s sculptural practice began in the 1940s and continued unabated for the entirety of his career. The early works took cues from European Dadaists and Surrealists like Kurt Schwitters as he gathered cast off materials from daily life and juxtaposed various elements in order to strike a visual chord. However, unlike his fellow artists, Twombly began to look less at modern life and instead turned to the realm of ancient happenings and implements. As Nicholas Cullinan intoned, “To encounter the past is to put into question the present. This sense of awe and perplexity at overlaid tenses and times and encountering places only previously known in the imagination... offered for Twombly a palimpsest of past, present and future; layered, intertwined and interpenetrating each other like archaeological strata” (N. Cullinan, in Cy Twombly: Cycles and Seasons, exh. cat., London, Tate Modern, 2008, p. 74). Subverting the white marble of weather-worn artifacts, Twombly’s use of thickly-applied white paint and bronze make reference to Greek statuary while also existing in a purposefully abstract state. By melding the present with the distant past, works like Untitled ask for a reevaluation of our perception of time and history.
Perched atop a rectangular base, an amorphous element seems to slowly melt into, or grow out of, the more structural section. The weight of the bronze is discernible, and the entire work forms an optically cohesive piece. Finished in a mottled gray, Untitled exudes an air similar to an historical artifact from some ancient ruin. Earlier in his career, Twombly frequently utilized materials like cardboard, cloth, wood, and various paints that were not meant to be archival. The ephemerality of these elements, and their fragility when combined as sculpture, prompted the artist to begin casting in bronze in the early 1980s. Twombly described the process of casting as a way to "unify the thing. It abstracts the forms from the material. People want to know about what the material constituents are; it helps them identify the work with something. But I want each sculpture to be seen as a whole, as a sculpture" (C. Twombly. quoted in: D. Sylvester, "The World is Light," in N. del Roscio ed., Writings on Twombly, Munich, 2002, p. 276). By uniting the disparate elements in one material, he was able to create a more tangible unity of form.
Throughout his oeuvre, Twombly exhibits a keen interest in the art, artifacts, and mythology of ancient cultures. He often included allusions to the Greek and Roman pantheons in his paintings, and would make reference to Homeric legends and literature amidst his marks on canvas. After moving to the Mediterranean in 1957, this interest was only further bolstered as he came into direct contact with the origins of Western civilization. It was also here that he began to create sculptural constructions more earnestly. Following both modes of inquiry in parallel, his work in three dimensions evolved separately from his painting practice but retained the same level of historical influence. Art critic Roberta Smith noted that “Twombly’s sculptures exist outside the real-time and on-going metamorphosis of his two dimensional work… they inform, and are informed by, his paintings and drawings, providing a constant distillation of his sensibility, one that is full of keys and signals” (R. Smith, “The Great Mediator” in H. Szeeman, Cy Twombly, Munich, 1987, p. 20). Neither creative paths were undertaken in service of the other, and pieces like Untitled exist as full-fledged ideas in their own right. More so than the paintings even, the sculptures act as touchstones for a larger discourse that exist in a perplexingly timeless state. By bringing the past to bear in our own era, Twombly conflates what has happened with what is occurring now.
Twombly’s sculptural practice began in the 1940s and continued unabated for the entirety of his career. The early works took cues from European Dadaists and Surrealists like Kurt Schwitters as he gathered cast off materials from daily life and juxtaposed various elements in order to strike a visual chord. However, unlike his fellow artists, Twombly began to look less at modern life and instead turned to the realm of ancient happenings and implements. As Nicholas Cullinan intoned, “To encounter the past is to put into question the present. This sense of awe and perplexity at overlaid tenses and times and encountering places only previously known in the imagination... offered for Twombly a palimpsest of past, present and future; layered, intertwined and interpenetrating each other like archaeological strata” (N. Cullinan, in Cy Twombly: Cycles and Seasons, exh. cat., London, Tate Modern, 2008, p. 74). Subverting the white marble of weather-worn artifacts, Twombly’s use of thickly-applied white paint and bronze make reference to Greek statuary while also existing in a purposefully abstract state. By melding the present with the distant past, works like Untitled ask for a reevaluation of our perception of time and history.