  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.
  
  
  Title
  Homage to the World
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1966
  
  Artist
  Louise Nevelson
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1899 - 1988
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  American
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
  ----------
  
  
  Medium
  Painted wood
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 108 inches × 392 inches
  
  
  Classification
  Sculpture
  
  
  Department
  Contemporary Art after 1950
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase, Friends of Modern Art Fund other Founders Society Funds
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  66.192
  
  
  Copyright
  © Estate of Louise Nevelson / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
