"Earth, Sky, and Sculpture" is at once a glorious celebration of natural beauty and a wide-ranging survey of the impressive international developments in sculpture since the advent of Modernism. What becomes extraordinarily clear is that most twentieth-century sculpture is seen at its best not in closed galleries but outdoors, under the sky. Works such as Isamu Noguchi's stone "Momo Taro" and David Smith's stainless-steel "XI Books III Apples" respond to changing light and weather as if they were alive.
The magnificent photographs of Jerry L. Thompson capture the landscape and the works of art in summer and snow, at sunrise and dusk, glistening in the rain and shimmering in the mist. The interplay between works of sculpture and billowing clouds, fields of spring flowers, and green golden, and scarlet foliage adds dimension to the experience of sculpture only equaled by many visits to the Storm King Art Center itself.
Essays by H. Peter Stern, chairman and president of Storm King; Peter Bienstock, specialist in land conservation and open space preservation; Irving Lavin, renowned art historian; and Joan Pachner, curator, enhance our appreciation of the land itself and of the Art Center's important collection.
