Monumental Leroy Setziol 1963 16 Foot Architectural Douglas Fir Wall Sculpture
By Leroy Setziol
Located in Camden, ME
Leroy Setziol Monumental Carved Douglas Fir Wall Sculpture, National Bank of Portland, 1963 This monumental wall sculpture by Leroy Setziol (1915–2005) was commissioned in 1963 for the National Bank of Portland, Oregon. Measuring nearly sixteen feet in length (191" x 31" x 7"), the work represents one of Setziol's earliest large-scale architectural commissions and demonstrates the development of the deeply carved geometric language that became central to his mature work. Constructed from multiple panels of hand-carved solid Douglas fir, some reaching nearly seven inches in thickness, the sculpture displays Setziol’s intuitive approach to carving. A self-taught artist, he used a grid-like structure as an underlying framework for complex patterns of abstract forms that draw upon the rhythms of nature and the traditions of woodcraft associated with the Pacific Northwest. The sculpture was included in the December 1963 exhibition A Bank as Art Patron at the Museum of Art at the University of Oregon in Eugene. The exhibition presented more than 150 works by regional artists from the National Bank of Portland's collection, assembled from artworks installed throughout its thirty branches for the enjoyment and enrichment of its customers and communities. The National Bank of Portland’s commitment to collecting regional art reflected a broader movement among American corporations and financial institutions during the postwar period to support contemporary art. A notable influence was David Rockefeller’s advocacy in the 1950s for corporate patronage of the arts through the example of the Chase Manhattan Bank collection. The following year, Setziol received wider architectural recognition through his major commission for the Salishan Lodge in Gleneden Beach...
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Leroy Setziol Furniture
Fir
