Louise Nevelson was one of the leading American female sculptors of the 20th century, and she did it on her own terms. She was a pioneer of installation art and created large-scale monochromatic sculptures that are today known for their provocative, compartmentalized forms. While her assemblages involved a range of materials, she is best known for her wooden sculptures. Working in a single color was her signature, and all-encompassing color demanded an all-encompassing focus for this artist — she even kept separate studios for work in black, white and gold.
Nevelson was born in what is now Ukraine in 1899 and emigrated to the United States with her family in 1905. She moved to New York City as a young woman in 1920 to study at the Art Students League. In the 1930s, Nevelson traveled around Europe, came into contact with the works of Picasso, studied with Hans Hofmann and assisted Diego Rivera in New York City.
Nevelson had her first solo show in 1941 at the Nierendorf Gallery in New York. In the late 1940s, she studied with Stanley William Hayter and worked as a ceramicist in the workshop of revered furniture designer Vladimir Kagan, who let her take scraps from the factory to use in her sculptures. (As a child, Nevelson had also worked with discarded wood from her father's lumber yard.)
By the early 1950s, Nevelson had traveled to Guatemala and Mexico. She was inspired by pre-Columbian art and the totemic works of ancient cultures. Nevelson began creating the first of her iconic wood sculptures and later participated in the legendary “Sixteen Americans” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Her work was acquired by prominent institutions in the years that followed.
Nevelson made reliefs in shadow boxes and was for a time affiliated with New York City’s Sidney Janis Gallery as its first female Abstract Expressionist artist (her work was abstract but she also drew on the Cubist and Constructivist movements). In the early 1960s, Nevelson showed her art in Chicago, Manhattan, Paris and West Germany. It was around this time that she exhibited at Pace Gallery in Boston and New York. The gallery represented her for the duration of her career.
Nevelson died in 1988, but her legacy is immense. Her work is held in virtually every major American art museum, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art. Her permanent large-scale public sculptures are installed all over the country, including in Louise Nevelson Plaza in New York City's Financial District.
On 1stDibs, find original Louise Nevelson sculptures, prints and drawings.
Louise Nevelson "Untitled" Ebonized Wall Relief Sculpture
By Louise Nevelson
Located in New York, NY
This "Untitled" ebonized wall relief sculpture by Louise Nevelson stands as a quintessential example of the artist's groundbreaking approach to assemblage. Created circa 1960, Nevels...
Wood
Fortini Cast Bronze Figural Relief Sculpture
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Cast hollow bronze figural sculpture carved in relief (ca. early 20th Century Italy). No chips or losses; light patina throughout. Masterful work and appealing subject matter. Can be...
Bronze
$2,520Sale Price|30% Off
H 13 in W 12.5 in D 4 in
Vintage Ron Fritts Pop Art Shadow Box Wall Sculpture, Ebonized Wood, Plexi, 1960
By Ron Fritts
Located in North Miami, FL
This eye-catching and rare vintage Ron Fritts Pop Art shadow box wall sculpture has suspended resin or lucite balls floating in four different window vignettes that change. The background is black Mylar plexiglass and the exterior wood is newly ebonized. The original labels on the back that says RF studios Inc. and a number. The silver interior balls jump around as you pick it up and rotate it and even turn it upside down. The components of the resin have slightly yellowed from age and sun exposure. There is also glue residue from age and coming apart. It is what it is...
Aluminum, Chrome
$995
H 60 in W 21.5 in D 3 in
Large Vintage Molded Semi-Nude Neoclassical Styled Female Relief Wall Sculpture
Located in Hamilton, Ontario
This mid-century era molded fiberglass wall sculpture is unsigned, but presumed to have been made in Canada in approximately 1960 in a Neoclassical Revival style. The relief depicts ...
Fiberglass
$2,818
H 28.75 in W 27.56 in D 7.88 in
Large Mid-Century Mermaid Wall Relief Sculpture Hand-Painted Polychrome Gilt
Located in Hannover, DE
An exceptional and highly decorative large-scale wall relief depicting a mythological mermaid, executed in the 1940s to 1950s with remarkable artistic presence and craftsmanship. Thi...
Gold Leaf
1970s Vintage Geometric Wood Wall Sculpture, Brutalist Relief Panel
Located in La Mesa, CA
Handcrafted in the 1970s and sourced from a Southern California estate, this sculptural wood wall panel showcases a bold geometric relief design, meticulously assembled from richly g...
Wood
French Petrified Limestone Bas Relief Sculpture
Located in Norton, MA
France 20th Century Bas relief depicts a young woman carrying fowl and a young man with a sheep. The relief was created by dissolved limestone in water running from stalactites int...
Limestone
$1,440Sale Price / item|20% Off
H 18.88 in W 8.5 in D 1.75 in
1800s Carved Drapery Trompe l'oeil Panel Wall Relief Sculpture Memento Mori
Located in Hyattsville, MD
Late 19th century decorative wood panel, hand carved curtain relief.
Oak
$95,000 / set
H 84.25 in W 24 in D 2.25 in
Incredible Pair of Found Objects Sculpture Panels After Louise Nevelson
Located in Atlanta, GA
A dramatic pair of sculptural Found Objects panels, circa 1970. Cream painted wood frame construction with a heavy plywood back. Varying sections comprised of intricately arranged vintage furniture parts, architectural salvage and wood letters...
Wood, Plywood
Africanist low relief round wooden wall sculpture, 1970s.
Located in Lisboa, PT
Africanist tondo wall panel sculpture in carved wood with a woman's profile and a necklace. France, 1970s.
Wood
$1,059
H 13.3 in W 8.5 in D 5.6 in
Antique Terracotta Religious Wall Plaque / Sculpture of Christ in Deep Relief
Located in Lisse, NL
Impressive and all handcrafted, early 1900s sculpture of Christ suffering. Just like in the days when Christ lived on our planet, the truth (about who we are and how to best live o...
Terracotta
Painted Wood Floor Sculpture Style of Louise Nevelson, USA, 1970s
Located in Fort Lauderdale, FL
Painted Wood Floor Sculpture Style of Louise Nevelson, USA, 1970s Large wooden Industrial found objects art sculpture after Louise Nevelson, 1970s. This piece - entitled "Marilyn" af...
Wood
$2,550
H 68 in W 15 in D 19 in
Abstract Modernist Sculpture 68"H Louise Nevelson Style Gabrielle Davis Modern
By Louise Nevelson
Located in Atlanta, GA
Large Scale Modernist Sculpture, entitled Les Passages, by Gabrielle Davis, American, circa 2021. It measures an impressive 68" height x 19"depth x 15" width. It is made of various m...
Metal
Sold
H 14 in W 6.75 in D 6.75 in
Louise Nevelson Abstract Modern Patinated Bronze Sculpture on Wood Base
By Louise Nevelson
Located in Keego Harbor, MI
A unique abstract modern bronze sculpture by Louise Nevelson. On a wooden base with the name plaque. Original gallery and auction stickers on bottom of the base. The sculpture has a unique textural effect with small markings and a patina that is consistent with age. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, Nevelson had traveled to Guatemala and Mexico to view Pre-Colombian art and there is a tribal or animal-like quality to this sculpture which could have been inspired by her travels. The composition has a transcendent quality which provides a visual interplay of object and space. An extraordinary sculpture for collectors of modern art. From a private collection. Dimensions: 14”h x 6.75”w x 6.75”d. In very good condition. Louise Nevelson (1899-1988) was an American sculptor known for her monumental, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures. For her brilliant compositions in varied mediums critics hailed her as the leading sculptor of the twentieth century. A pioneering grand dame of the art world, Nevelson's iconic persona was characterized by her skilled mixing and matching of ethnic clothing...
Bronze
Louise Nevelson "Full Moon"
By Louise Nevelson
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Louise Nevelson wall sculpture "Full Moon" pace edition 66/125.
Resin
Louise Nevelson "Full Moon"
By Louise Nevelson
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Louise Nevelson wall sculpture "Full Moon" pace edition 48/125.
Resin
Louise Nevelson "City-Sunscape" Sculpture
By Louise Nevelson
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Louise Nevelson sculpture "City-Sunscape" for the Benefit of Sloane Kettering Institute. Signed and dated. Edition of 150 123/150.
Resin
Nevelson, "Dawns + Dusks" Signed by Artist and Author
By Louise Nevelson, Diana MacKown
Located in Rochester, NY
Dawns + Dusks - Louise Nevelson - taped conversations with Diana MacKown - Charles Scribner's Sons - New York - 1976 - ink signed on two title pages in 1977 with personal notes to t...
Louise Nevelson Bronze Sculpture, Signed and Date with Brown Patina
By Louise Nevelson
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This is a very well documented sculpture, edition of 150, this is signed and dated 68 as shown in picture. The bronze itself is approximately 4 inches, the whole high is approximatel...
Bronze
Louise Nevelson "Sun-Set"
By Louise Nevelson
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Louise Nevelson"Sun-Set" 1981 by Pace Editions ,NY 6/125 Signed and numbered