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Wing Column

Louise Nevelson American, born Ukraine
1959
Not on view
A tall, columnar structure, Wing Column is comprised of pieces of wood Nevelson scavenged from streets, businesses, and scrap heaps and covered with a layer of black spray paint, creating a uniformity of color and surface. Some of the elements she reused without significantly altering them, but others she cut and shaped into the form of geometricized crescent moons. They have been attached, in layers, to all four of the sculpture’s sides, giving them a kinesthetic quality. Overall, Wing Column appears like a three-dimensional shadow that evokes those "in-between" places and experiences, the "dawns and the dusks," the artist sought. Nevelson was an avid student of ancient American art, and Wing Column, likewise the other works that appeared in her 1959 exhibition at Martha Jackson Gallery, Sky Columns Presence, reflects the influence of Mayan art in particular.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Wing Column
  • Artist: Louise Nevelson (American (born Ukraine), Kiev 1899–1988 New York)
  • Date: 1959
  • Medium: Painted black wood column
  • Dimensions: 96 7/8 × 13 3/4 × 11 13/16 in. (246 × 35 × 30 cm)
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Gift of Mireille and James Levy, 2021
  • Object Number: 2021.2.12a, b
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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