Constructing Modernity: The Art and Career of Naum Gabo [Hardcover]

Mr. Martin Hammer (Author), Professor Christina Lodder (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 10, 2000

Naum Gabo (1890-1977), whose eventful life took him from his native Russia to Berlin, Paris, London, and finally the United States, achieved renown as one of the most inventive and controversial figures in twentieth-century sculpture. This book is the first comprehensive account of Gabo's life, career, and artistic theory and practice. Martin Hammer and Christina Lodder explore in detail the evolution of the artist's work and his aesthetic concerns, creative processes, assimilation of such new materials as plastic, and approach to public sculpture. The authors also examine his response to the scientific and political revolutions of his age and trace the origins and development of Gabo's utopian conviction that Constructivist art was profoundly in tune with modernity, social progress, and advances in science and technology. Drawing on Gabo's extensive and largely unpublished archives of letters, diaries, notebooks, models, and sketchbooks, Hammer and Lodder discuss the sculptor's work in the context of his relations with other avant-garde artists, architects, and critics, including his brother Antoine Pevsner. They also situate his aesthetic theory and practice within the Constructivist movement and the wider tradition of twentieth-century art, and they examine Gabo's accomplishments in each of the diverse milieus in which he worked.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A superb and much-needed book sure to be the standard reference work on this artist for some time to come." -- Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Martin Hammer is senior lecturer in the Department of Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh. Christina Lodder is professor, School of Art History, University of St. Andrews. She is the author of Russian Constructivism (ISBN 0 300 03406 7, pb. #19.95), published by Yale University Press.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 1ST edition (June 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300076886
• ISBN-13: 978-0300076882
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #412,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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