Currier Museum of Art Acquires Monumental Sculpture by Artist Mark di Suvero

Tuesday, 11 September 2007 00:47

MANCHESTER, NH – When the Currier Museum reopens in April 2008, an impressive sight will greet visitors: Origins, a 35-foot high vibrant orange and black painted steel sculpture by internationally acclaimed artist Mark di Suvero. As the building construction draws to a close, Origins will become the centerpiece of the museum’s new entrance court. It was be installed on Thursday, September 6 by the artist.

The selection of Origins is the result of over a year of research and travel to find a major outdoor sculpture that would serve as a significant addition to the museum’s modern and contemporary collection. A committee made up of staff and community members considered the work of over thirty artists and viewed several sculptures by di Suvero before finally selecting Origins. One of the most important acquisitions in the museum’s history, Origins will create a dramatic and engaging art experience for visitors as they enter the museum.

“We believe it is important to bring great art to the region by acquiring works by artists like Mark di Suvero—an artist of international stature whose sculptures are in private and public collections around the world,” noted Currier director Susan Strickler. “In our search for a sculpture for the new outdoor court, we wanted a piece that is distinctive, celebratory, and one that will captivate and intrigue viewers as they arrive at the museum. We found what we were looking for in Origins.”

Origins, which was begun in 2001 in his California studio and completed in 2004 in New York, demonstrates di Suvero’s impact on twentieth-century art with its impressive scale, minimal, abstract form, and use of non-traditional materials. He revolutionized sculpture in the 1960s by vastly increasing the scale of his abstract sculptures. Adopting industrial steel and its fabrication techniques, he developed a distinct vocabulary of open, geometric constructions that he has continued to explore in recent works such as Origins. Its tri-pod frame and central knot are classic components of his sculptures and the unique curving element crowning the sculpture spins delicately with the wind, endlessly altering one’s view of the work. Before arriving in New Hampshire, Origins was on display in London and New York.

Born in 1933 in Shanghai, China to Italian expatriates, Mark di Suvero moved with his family to San Francisco in 1941. He studied at San Francisco City College and UC Santa Barbara before earning a degree in philosophy at UC Berkeley in 1956. It was during these early years that he first discovered his interest in art, especially sculpture. Mark di Suvero is one of the most celebrated and influential American sculptors working today, influenced by the heroic gesture of Abstract Expressionism and the geometry of Constructivism. His early sculptures suggest the impact of Julio Gonzalez, Alexander Calder, and David Smith.

Di Suvero had his first major one-person exhibition at New York’s Green Gallery in 1960. That same year, he was critically injured in a freight elevator accident while working construction to support his art career. While in rehabilitation over the next two years, he learned to work with an arc welder and began fabricating works in steel. He later mastered the use of the crane to create monumental outdoor sculptures.

Since the 1960s, di Suvero’s work has been highly sought after by both museums and private collectors. His outdoor sculptures are in major public collections around the world including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, New York; and the Rijksmuseum Kroller-Muller, Otterlo, The Netherlands. Locally he has sculptures at MIT and the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.

His large-scale works also have been the focus of major city-wide exhibitions in The Netherlands (1971-72) and New York (1975). He was the first living artist whose work was shown in Le Jardin des Tuileries in Paris in 1975 and, most recently, the first to be selected for a solo exhibition in Chicago’s Millennium Park (2007-08). He has demonstrated a strong commitment to supporting emerging artists through the Athena Foundation and Socrates Sculpture Park in New York which he founded over twenty years ago and has since launched the careers of many important sculptors. He currently divides his time between studios in New York, California, and Chalon-sur-Saône, France.

Di Suvero’s Origins will be a permanent part of the newly expanded Currier Museum of Art and will serve as an inspiration for visitors who pass through the Currier’s doors for years to come.

About the Currier Museum of Art
The Currier Museum of Art, opened in 1929, serves an average of 47,000 visitors annually and is an internationally renowned art museum featuring European and American paintings, decorative arts, photographs and sculpture. The permanent collection, with over 11,000 objects, includes works by Picasso, Matisse, Monet, O'Keeffe, Calder and Wyeth. A lively schedule of exhibitions complements the Currier’s commitment to regional art. The Currier also owns and offers tours of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1950 Zimmerman House, complete with the original furnishings and the owners' original fine art collection. The Currier Museum is temporarily closed for expansion.

During construction, public programming is offered at Currier Downtown and across the state with Currier on the Move. Significant portions of the Currier’s collection are currently on view at the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, ME and at the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. Visit : www.currier.org