Sheldon Museum of Art
Date of this Version
1983
Citation
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University Of Nebraska- Lincoln, February 23-April 3,1983
Abstract
For years, the elusive qualities of Larry Bell's work have been challenging the descriptive abilities of critical writers. Here, for example, is Janet Kutner, writing in ARTS in January, 1976, about Bell's largest work, The Iceberg and Its Shadow:
The zigzag configuration of flat and peaked tips related visually to an iceberg's form and, additionally, lines and planes converged at unexpected points to create strange "apparitions" like the tips of icebergs ....
And this is Christopher Knight, writing in the June 14, 1981 Los Angeles Herald Examiner:
The translucent portions of the glass yield the sense of an almost tactile interior space within the glass cube, as if it were filled with fog. That. coupled with the endless maze of angled reflections of floor, walls, glass panels, and the viewer himself, generates both a perceptual and kinesthetic dialogue ....
However lucid and informative these-or other-descriptions might be, they cannot approach the extraordinary experience found in encountering the works included in this exhibition. Quite apart from the fact that Bell's work now has an established place in the history of modern sculpture, the quality of that experience alone would bring his work to the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.
In presenting this exhibition, I am personally indebted to many. I must express special gratitude to Norman Geske, the Sheldon's director; Helen Duven, the Sheldon's administrative assistant; preparator James Roberts; and museum assistant, Renee Anthone.
As is repeatedly the case, this exhibition could not have been planned without the support of the Nebraska Art Association - an organization which has thrived for nearly a century, and continues to draw to its membership men and women who effectively complete the dozens of tasks which attach to every important exhibition.
This catalog is made possible through the interest and generous support of both Martin Massengale, Chancellor of the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, and Ronald Roskens, President of the University of Nebraska. Finally, special thanks are owed to Larry Bell and his assistant. Arabella Bond. Both of them gave generously of their time and proved to be endlessly cooperative at every step in the development of this exhibition.
Comments
Copyright 1983, Nebraska Art Association, Lincoln, Nebraska