Naum Gabo (1890–1977)

Catalogue Raisonné
Dieses Buch entstand anläßlich der Ausstellung "Naum Gabo: Sechzig Jahre Konstruktivismus" im Dallas Museum of Art (29. September - 17. November 1985), der Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (13. Dezember 1985 - 9. Februar 1986), dem Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (6. März - 27. April 1985), der Akademie der Künste, Berlin-West (7. September - 19. Oktober 1986), der Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (28. November 1986 - 4. Januar 1987) und der Tate Gallery, London ( 11. Februar - 20. April 1987).… (mehr)

Outdoor Sculpture Fountain Construction - Naum Gabo

Naum Gabo (1890 - 1977), leading early 20th century art theorist and modernist sculptor born in Russian and migrating to Paris and then to the US, isn’t as well-known as Picasso, Duchamp or Henry Moore but his essays and manifestos had a huge influence at the time of publication. This fine book includes 48 essays by and about the artist as well as articles and interviews. There is also an informative introduction providing biographical material along with historical and cultural context. For the purposes of my review, I will focus on one key essay, perhaps the artist’s most well-known and influential essay, written and published by Naum Gabo in 1937 – The Constructive Idea of Art. Here are several direct quotes coupled with my modest comments:

“Revolution and disintegration had already begun at the end of the last century and proceeded in ours with unusual speed, until there was no stable point left in either the material or the ideal structure of our life.” ---------- The mechanical and technical landscape of Europe changed more in 50 years, between 1880 and 1930, then it did in the preceding 500 years, from 1280 to 1880. Accordingly, the world of science and the world of art were dramatically and even shockingly transformed.

“Access to the realm of Art is open to every man. And he judges about Art with unconstrained ease; he never relinquishes his right to judge and decide, to accept or reject; in a word, he takes up an attitude which he would never allow himself to take with Science. He is convinced that on his judgements depend the value and the existence of the work of art.” ---------- A revolution in the arts has taken place, a revolution demanding a completely new way of seeing and experiencing the arts, however, as Gabo notes, one thing that has not changed since the early 1800s: the prevailing idea that art is a matter of personal taste and individual judgement, that everyone can cling to the notion they are the sole authority of what constitutes good art.

Naum Gabo - Head of a Woman

“The Cubistic ideology has a highly differentiated character and its manifestations could only be possible in the atmosphere of a refined culture.” --------- Gabo provides detail on how Cubism was the artistic counterpart to the new physics and how both Cubism and modern physics express in their respective ways the same fundamental shift in comprehending the structure of the universe.

“The borderline which separated the external world from the artist and distinguished it in forms of objects disappeared; the objects themselves disintegrated into their component parts and a picture ceased to be an image of the visible forms of an object as a unit, a world in itself, but appeared as a mere picture analysis of the inner mechanism of its cells.” ----------- Take a look at this cubist painting by Picasso below. Can you see the guitar player and his guitar? I myself see traces of a hand and guitar strings dissolving into separate cells while imagining my eyes and entire body dissolving into comparable Cubist cells.

Pablo Picasso - Guitar Player

“Although the Cubists still regarded the external world as the point of departure for their Art, they did not see and did not want to see any difference between, say, a violin, a tree, a human body, etc. All those objects were for them only one extended matter with a unique structure and only this structure was of importance for their analytic task.” ---------- Gabo goes on to liken this artistic task of portraying underlying structure to the way in which the new Relativity Theory destroyed boundaries between matter and energy, between space and time, between the mysterious world of atoms and the larger mystery of the cosmos.

“The basis of the Constructive idea in Art lies in an entirely new approach to the nature of Art and its functions in life. In it lies a complete reconstruction of the means in the different domains of Art, in the relations between them, in their methods, and in their aims.” ---------- Below is a Gabo sculpture. For me, this artwork is a clear example of the influence mathematics and physics had on the artist. And, for Naum Gabo, it is the linking of artistic creativity with the discoveries of science that serve as a cornerstone in what is termed the Constructive idea in Art.

Naum Gabo - Sculpture Construction

“The Constructive idea sees and values Art only as a creative act. In the light of the Constructive idea the creative mind of Man has the last and decisive word in the definite construction of the whole of our culture.” --------- And there you have it: according to Naum Gabo, knowledge and a deep understanding of the universe provide the foundation but the real action ultimately expands into the realm of art and imagination.

“The way of the creative mind is always positive, it always asserts; it does not know the doubts which are so characteristic of the scientific mind.” ---------- On this point I do not entirely agree with the artist. There are many examples of creative minds working in the fields of the visual arts, dramatic arts and literature where the tone of the work and the vision of the artist is anything but positive. Jean-Paul Sartre’s novel Nausea and a number of painting by Francis Bacon come immediately to mind. I am quite sure anybody reading this could list a few of their own examples.… (mehr)

Outdoor Sculpture Fountain Construction - Naum Gabo

Naum Gabo (1890 - 1977), leading early 20th century art theorist and modernist sculptor born in Russian and migrating to Paris and then to the US, isn’t as well-known as Picasso, Duchamp or Henry Moore but his essays and manifestos had a huge influence at the time of publication. This fine book includes 48 essays by and about the artist as well as articles and interviews. There is also an informative introduction providing biographical material along with historical and cultural context. For the purposes of my review, I will focus on one key essay, perhaps the artist’s most well-known and influential essay, written and published by Naum Gabo in 1937 – The Constructive Idea of Art. Here are several direct quotes coupled with my modest comments:

“Revolution and disintegration had already begun at the end of the last century and proceeded in ours with unusual speed, until there was no stable point left in either the material or the ideal structure of our life.” ---------- The mechanical and technical landscape of Europe changed more in 50 years, between 1880 and 1930, then it did in the preceding 500 years, from 1280 to 1880. Accordingly, the world of science and the world of art were dramatically and even shockingly transformed.

“Access to the realm of Art is open to every man. And he judges about Art with unconstrained ease; he never relinquishes his right to judge and decide, to accept or reject; in a word, he takes up an attitude which he would never allow himself to take with Science. He is convinced that on his judgements depend the value and the existence of the work of art.” ---------- A revolution in the arts has taken place, a revolution demanding a completely new way of seeing and experiencing the arts, however, as Gabo notes, one thing that has not changed since the early 1800s: the prevailing idea that art is a matter of personal taste and individual judgement, that everyone can cling to the notion they are the sole authority of what constitutes good art.

Naum Gabo - Head of a Woman

“The Cubistic ideology has a highly differentiated character and its manifestations could only be possible in the atmosphere of a refined culture.” --------- Gabo provides detail on how Cubism was the artistic counterpart to the new physics and how both Cubism and modern physics express in their respective ways the same fundamental shift in comprehending the structure of the universe.

“The borderline which separated the external world from the artist and distinguished it in forms of objects disappeared; the objects themselves disintegrated into their component parts and a picture ceased to be an image of the visible forms of an object as a unit, a world in itself, but appeared as a mere picture analysis of the inner mechanism of its cells.” ----------- Take a look at this cubist painting by Picasso below. Can you see the guitar player and his guitar? I myself see traces of a hand and guitar strings dissolving into separate cells while imagining my eyes and entire body dissolving into comparable Cubist cells.

Pablo Picasso - Guitar Player

“Although the Cubists still regarded the external world as the point of departure for their Art, they did not see and did not want to see any difference between, say, a violin, a tree, a human body, etc. All those objects were for them only one extended matter with a unique structure and only this structure was of importance for their analytic task.” ---------- Gabo goes on to liken this artistic task of portraying underlying structure to the way in which the new Relativity Theory destroyed boundaries between matter and energy, between space and time, between the mysterious world of atoms and the larger mystery of the cosmos.

“The basis of the Constructive idea in Art lies in an entirely new approach to the nature of Art and its functions in life. In it lies a complete reconstruction of the means in the different domains of Art, in the relations between them, in their methods, and in their aims.” ---------- Below is a Gabo sculpture. For me, this artwork is a clear example of the influence mathematics and physics had on the artist. And, for Naum Gabo, it is the linking of artistic creativity with the discoveries of science that serve as a cornerstone in what is termed the Constructive idea in Art.

Naum Gabo - Sculpture Construction

“The Constructive idea sees and values Art only as a creative act. In the light of the Constructive idea the creative mind of Man has the last and decisive word in the definite construction of the whole of our culture.” --------- And there you have it: according to Naum Gabo, knowledge and a deep understanding of the universe provide the foundation but the real action ultimately expands into the realm of art and imagination.

“The way of the creative mind is always positive, it always asserts; it does not know the doubts which are so characteristic of the scientific mind.” ---------- On this point I do not entirely agree with the artist. There are many examples of creative minds working in the fields of the visual arts, dramatic arts and literature where the tone of the work and the vision of the artist is anything but positive. Jean-Paul Sartre’s novel Nausea and a number of painting by Francis Bacon come immediately to mind. I am quite sure anybody reading this could list a few of their own examples.… (mehr)