PROVENANCE Collection of Dr Alan G Menchor (1925 - 2021) by descent

Louise Nevelson was known as a leading sculptor of the twentieth century who pioneered site-specific and installation art with her monochromatic sculptures. Born in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine) she emigrated with her family to the United States in 1905. Nevelson studied with abstract painter Hans Hofmann in Munich and later New York. She participated in several group shows throughout the 1930s, the first of which was organised by the Secession Gallery and held at the Brooklyn Museum in 1935. Her first one-person exhibition was held at the Nierendorf Gallery, New York in 1941.

Nevelson experimented with early conceptual art using found objects and dabbled in painting and printing before dedicating her lifework to sculpture. Usually created out of wood, her sculptures appear puzzle-like with multiple intricately cut pieces placed into wall sculptures or independently standing pieces. A prominent figure in the international art scene Nevelson participated in the 31st Venice Biennale. In 2018 the exhibition The Face in the Moon was mounted at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Louise Nevelson remains one of the most important figures in 20th-century American sculpture.