Sepia Ink Drawing on Paper, Leda and the Swan

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Reuben Nakian
Sepia Ink Drawing on Paper, Leda and the Swan
late 20th century

About the Item

This is a minimalist yet beautiful sepia ink on paper drawing of Leda and the Swan. Unframed. Signed lower right. Framing options available upon request. In his obituary, The NY Times called Reuben Nakian “one of the most distinguished American sculptors of the 20th century.” He was born to Armenian immigrants in Long Island in1897 and grew up in New York City and suburban New Jersey. At the age of 13, encouraged by his parents, he began to take drawing lessons and to model in clay. He studied briefly at the Art Students League and several other New York academies, but his primary early training came from an apprenticeship to the sculptor Paul Manship and his assistant, Gaston Lachaise. Manship was known for his classical, mythology based works (such as his large statue of Prometheus at Rockefeller Center) and may have sparked Nakian’s own sustained interest in mythological themes. Other influences on Nakian were Cezanne and Brancusi and, in the 1930s, fellow Armenain Achille Gorky, who introduced him to Willem de Kooning. According to the NY Times, “Mr. Nakian's discussions with these artists led him to reconsider his own work. For a while he turned away from sculpture to develop new ideas in drawings, pushing toward a freer style that could incorporate the new expressionistic mode coming into American painting while at the same time preserving the heroic themes of past tradition.” In the 1940s he rubbed shoulders with Marsden Hartley and Marcel Duchamp. His bust of Marcel Duchamp, displaying Nakian’s newfound energy and emotional expressionism, is today considered one of his masterpieces. After promising shows at the Whitney Studio Club (precursor to the Whitney Museum), MOMA, and a Guggenheim Fellowship in France and Italy, his career really began to take off in the 1950s. At that time, working figuratively, The NY Times writes that “Mr. Nakian saw himself as a legatee of ancient Mediterranean tradition. His subject matter was heroic, largely drawn from Greek and Roman mythology, particularly the aspects that dealt with the erotic exploits of the gods”, such as the story of Leda and the Swan. In 1951, a selection of 58 of his works represented the United States at the important Sao Paulo Bienal in Brazil, and despite being somewhat out of step with the new Pop Art and Minimalist trends, he was chosen in 1968 to represent the United States in the 34th Venice Biennale. During that period he was also awarded a series of important commissions including his bronze ''Voyage to Crete,’' that stands in the foyer of the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center; his only religious work, a 10-foot-high ''Descent From the Cross,'' bronze statue placed outside St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral in New York City; and''Hiroshima,'' a nine-foot-high bronze owned by the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). Another major monumental piece, ''Garden of the Gods I,'' is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Major solo shows have included the 1966 MOMA retrospective of his work curated by noted poet Frank O’Hara and a retrospective organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum in 1985. Nakian was also the subject of a half-hour television documentary made by the Smithsonian Institution in 1984. How work is in the collections of the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, the Fogg Art Museum, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, The Whitney, LACMA, MOMA, the Met, and the Guggenheim, among others. He died in 1986 in Stamford, CT.

Creator:
Reuben Nakian (1897-1986, American)
Creation Year:
late 20th century
Dimensions:
Height: 22.25 in (56.52 cm)Width: 30 in (76.2 cm)Depth: 0.013 in (0.32 mm)
Medium:
Paper,Ink
Movement & Style:
American Modern
Period:
Late 20th Century
Framing:
Framing Options Available
Condition:
Very good. No defects to note.
Gallery Location:
Providence, RI
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU136427099042