Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 10

Lila Katzen
"Golden Wave" Minimalist Vertical Fluid Sculpture by Lila Katzen

1970s

About the Item

Lila Katzen said, "I feel marvelous when my works find a home. They are like my children. They are my links to the past. They are what I am." The sculpture proposed here consists of a thick and flat, straight metal length, which, when manipulated, resembles a minimalist coiled snake. The beauty of abstraction emerges in transforming this cold and stiff material into a vibrant structure. The copper-bronze from which this work is created is the first man-made metal fusion. From its initial rigid state to its final curves, Lila Katzen offers us a unique subjectivity of perception. The convolution of the form indicates movement, giving the inert metal an illusion of life and observing how it interacts with light both inside and out, right side up and upside down. The enchantment of non-objective art is found in its finished form and the journey of its making. This process, which reflects the transformation of an industrial raw material into a voluptuous ribbon, demonstrates the transformative power of the human imagination. This technique of stretching metals explores their previously unnoticed flexibility. The process requires instant and precise manipulation of the material, with an exact understanding of the desired result. In her own words: "There's no room for error. You can't restart it. It will lose its elasticity." This indoor sculpture's abstract quality and poetic aspect evoke a sensory fusion of the tangible and intangible, heightening its beauty, which lies in the intriguing transformation of an inanimate piece of metal into a seemingly living structure. We can see the traces of a patina, Katzen’s hands' intervention, and the tools used to bend and manipulate the material as if the metal had been brushed, infusing the cold alloy with a human sensuality. Even in its static state, the sculpture seems to move, thanks to its undulatory characteristics and the reflection of light that becomes part of the artwork. Born in 1932, in Brooklyn, Lila Katzen began studying painting at the Art Students League. She continued her studies and earned a BFA at The Cooper Union, New York City. Katzen later attended the Hans Hoffman School of Art in New York and Provincetown, MA. An accomplished painter, in 1955, Katzen had her first solo exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art. An encounter with renowned sculptor George Segal in 1964 prompted Katzen to focus on sculpture and became interested in Minimalism. Her sculpture, Liquid Tunnel, comprised light and fluorescent liquid, and the 1970 Sao Paulo Biennale won her international attention. During the early 1970s, Katzen moved away from the philosophies of Minimalism and instead chose to create works that encouraged human interaction. This decision led Katzen to push stainless steel and aluminum to creative heights in the 1980s and 1990s, resulting in aesthetically striking works that were laden with meaningful content relevant to society and humanity. Katzen passed away on September 20, 1998, in New York City. During her prolific career as an artist, Katzen was awarded many solo exhibitions, including shows at the Montgomery Museum of Art in Alabama (1996) and Lila Katzen: Force I at Wichita State University’s Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Kansas (1995)—her participation in group exhibitions is equally extensive. Her works are in collections at the De Cordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA; Baltimore Museum of Art, MD; the Birmingham Museum of Art, AL; the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Santa Monica, CA; and Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT.
  • Creator:
    Lila Katzen (1932 - 1998, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1970s
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 27 in (68.58 cm)Diameter: 13 in (33.02 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Pasadena, CA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU654314286672
More From This SellerView All
  • Abstract Expressionist Bronze Sculpture Signed by Joan Strauss Carl
    Located in Pasadena, CA
    The artwork is a patinated bronze on a marble base. It features a dancing couple. The bronze itself is 10"25 H. It is signed in the cast: S. Carl Overall excellent condition with minor scuffs and oxidation to bronze commensurate with age. Joan Strauss Carl...
    Category

    1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • "Doubles" Large Wall Sculpture by Craig French
    Located in Pasadena, CA
    Craig French is a contemporary pop-Constructivist sculptor, whose brilliant, lyrical wall pieces have gained an international audience. Cast resins, acryl...
    Category

    Early 2000s Constructivist Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Copper, Steel

  • Wall Mounted Sculpture in the style of Stephen Chun
    By Stephen Chun
    Located in Pasadena, CA
    This Brutalist wall sculpture was made in 1970 by assembling and folding patinated and hammered copper and brass sheets mounted on plywood. Stephen Chun...
    Category

    1970s Abstract Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Brass, Copper

  • "Fishermen Houses" Landscape Horizontal Oil Painting by Edgar Kiechle 1911-1946
    Located in Pasadena, CA
    This oil painting made in 1958 expresses perfectly the 1950s period, very minimalist with a vigorous and colorful layering of paint. Edgar O. Kiechle was born in 1911. He was a movie illustrator and a painter. Edgar studied landscape painting with Jean Mannheim, and architecture, and became an excellent watercolorist. After studying at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, he interned with leading architects and designers in the area. He worked at most major studios but his career as an illustrator saw him primarily at the Universal Studio Art department. In 1933, Edgar joined Lwerks as a background artist and worked on many films produced by Animated Picture Corporation through 1935. In the summer of 1941, Ed Kiechle joined the Universal Studio Art Department as an illustrator for motion pictures. His career as an illustrator saw him primarily at Universal. He also produced hundreds of oil paintings. His first public showing was in an exhibition of motion picture artists in 1945, His work came to the attention of the motion picture colony and many purchases were made by such notables of his day as Ida Lupino, Hedy Lamar...
    Category

    1950s Minimalist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Abstract Minimalist Beige and Grey Block and Lines Drawing
    Located in Pasadena, CA
    This minimalist drawing features an interesting combination of red, black, and grey lines and blocks. The main grey block on the right part shows a fabric-like area topped...
    Category

    1970s Minimalist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

    Materials

    Pencil, Color Pencil

  • Nude Drawing of a Woman Blowing a Kiss by Albert Radoczy
    By Albert Radoczy
    Located in Pasadena, CA
    This drawing by Radoczy features a delicate and minimalist portrayal of a nude figure rendered in a profile stance. The figure emerges effortlessly from the subdued lines as if each ...
    Category

    1950s Minimalist Nude Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper

You May Also Like
  • Black Beauty
    By Osvaldo Mariscotti
    Located in New York, NY
    Painted bronze 12 (d) x 23.7 (w) x 18.1 (h) in. (30.5 x 60.2 x 46 cm) Edition of 20 Signed, dated and numbered on base
    Category

    2010s Minimalist Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • Spar
    By Osvaldo Mariscotti
    Located in New York, NY
    Spar, 2021 Bronze 18 x 11 x 18 1/2 inches Signed and dated, lower right
    Category

    2010s Minimalist Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • "Swing" minimalist bronze sculpture
    By Clement Meadmore
    Located in Glen Ellen, CA
    "Swing" is a minimalist abstract sculpture in fabricated bronze that was conceived in 1969 and can be considered a Mid-Century Modern artwork. It is finished with Clement Meadmore's ...
    Category

    1960s Minimalist Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • "Offshoot" minimalist bronze sculpture
    By Clement Meadmore
    Located in Glen Ellen, CA
    "Offshoot" is a horizontal pedestal sculpture by renowned Australian artist Clement Meadmore. It is an elegantly simple form with a beautiful dark brown patina. "Offshoot" balances o...
    Category

    1980s Minimalist Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • "Upright" minimalist bronze sculpture
    By Clement Meadmore
    Located in Glen Ellen, CA
    "Upright" is a minimalist, vertical pedestal sculpture by celebrated Australian artist Clement Meadmore. The sculpture does balance on its own but should be secured to a table or bas...
    Category

    Early 2000s Minimalist Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • Minimalist Abstract Bronze Sculpture
    By Ruth Vollmer
    Located in Surfside, FL
    In this abstract sculpture by Ruth Vollmer, the fusion between contrasting concepts: mathematical precision and natural "organicism", materials in both raw and manipulated states are evident. Signed by the artist. Ruth Vollmer (1903 - 1982 New York City), was a German artist born in Munich. She was born in 1903 and named Ruth Landshoff. Her father, Ludwig Landshoff, was a musicologist and conductor and her mother, Phillipine Landshoff, was an opera singer. Their family was Jewish. At age 19 she began to work as an artist and took the advice of her father to draw every day. She also had many connections to the teachers and students at the Bauhaus. In 1930 she married a pediatrician named Hermann Vollmer, whom she met in Berlin. Ruth and Hermann move from Germany to New York in 1935. Ruth begins work designing window displays for Bonwit Teller, Tiffany's, Lord & Taylor, and other department stores. Her displays experimented with wire, steel, and copper mesh to create figural forms. In 1943, Vollmer becomes a U.S. citizen. In 1944 she receives a commission from the Museum of Modern Art for its fifteenth anniversary exhibition, "Art in Progress." Vollumer continues to work with wire mesh and shows her work Composition in Space at the Museum of Modern Art's 1948 exhibition "Elements of Stage Design." In 1950, she was commissioned to create a mural for the lobby of 575 Madison, where Vollmer created a large wall relief that used wire rods and wire mesh to play with light, texture, and transparency. Vollumer visits Giacometti for a second time during the summer of 1951. During the 1950s she begins to works with clay as well. Additionally, in 1954 she begins to teach at the Children's Art Center at the Fieldston School in Riverdale and continued to teach until the mid-sixties. In 1960, Vollmer participates in the NYU discussion series "Artists on Art" with her friend Robert Motherwell. 1960 is an important year because she also has her first one-person exhibition at Betty Parson's Section Eleven gallery space. Throughout the 1960s Vollmer works with bronze and as well as showing at Betty Parson's gallery several times. In 1963, she joins the group American Abstract Artists (AAA) and includes her work in their exhibitions from 1963 on. By 1970 Vollmer's art is working with complex geometrical forms and mathematical concepts, particularly spirals and platonic solids. Sol LeWitt wrote a short essay on Vollmer's work for Studio International titled "Ruth Vollmer: Mathematical Forms." Vollmer protests the cancellation of the Hans Haacke at The Solomon R. Guggenheim exhibition by writing a letter to the director, Thomas Messer, in 1971. In 1976, she had a large one-person exhibition at the Neuberger Museum of Art. In 1982, Ruth Vollmer dies after a long battle with Alzheimer's. A majority of her large personal art collection of over one hundred sculptures, paintings, and drawings is donated to MoMA. Her art collection included works by Carl Andre, Mel Bochner, Eva Hesse, Sol LeWitt, Ad Reinhardt, Frank Stella, Agnes Martin, and Vardea Chryssa. Exhibitions 1977, Group Exhibition, Betty Parsons Gallery. Mino Argento...
    Category

    20th Century Minimalist Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

Recently Viewed

View All