About the Artwork
Nevelson built her "wall" sculptures from prefabricated wooden boxes, stocking them with objects that she found around her: in the case of Homage to the World, she used hat stands and table legs. In her use of the "found object," she extended the legacy of the wood constructions and collages of Picasso and his circle after World War I, but pushed this idea to an architectural scale. Her "walls" also owe a debt to the iconoclastic innovations of American painters in the 1950s—notably Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, and Barnett Newman—for the increased scale, use of non-traditional materials, and interest in creating an engulfing, sensuous environment. In these works, Nevelson sought to create her own universe, perhaps as a shelter from her personal loneliness. The uniform coat of matte black paint that covers the "wall" suggests infinite space, distance, mystery, and shadow.
Homage to the World
1966
Louise Nevelson
1899 - 1988
American
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Painted wood
Overall: 108 inches × 392 inches
Sculpture
Contemporary Art after 1950
Founders Society Purchase, Friends of Modern Art Fund other Founders Society Funds
66.192
Restricted
Markings
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Provenance
1966-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)For more information on provenance, please visit:
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Art News 65, no. 6 (Oct. 1966): 58, 61.
Louise Nevelson. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1967, no. 94 (ill.).
Bazin, Germain. The History of World Sculpture. New York, 1970, pl. 1021, p. 447, (ill.). (Error, titled as "Homage to 6,000,000", on extended loan to Jewish Museum from the Albert A. List family).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
© Estate of Louise Nevelson / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Louise Nevelson, Homage to the World, 1966, painted wood. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Friends of Modern Art Fund other Founders Society Funds, 66.192.
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