Martin Puryear

Authors:Neal David Benezra, Robert Storr (Writer of added commentary), James N. Wood, Martin Puryear, Art Institute of Chicago

Abstract:"In the past ten years, Martin Puryear has been hailed as one of the most important sculptors working in America today. His sculpture can be found in the collections of virtually every major museum in the country, and in 1989 he won first prize at the São Paulo Bienal. Born in Washington, D.C., in 1941, Martin Puryear studied art and biology at Catholic University. Following graduation in 1963, he spent two years in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, where he learned techniques of traditional woodworking. He then lived in Stockholm, where he attended the Swedish Royal Academy of Art and studied Scandinavian furniture design. Since 1968, Puryear has worked in New York, Washington, and Chicago, while teaching and exhibiting widely. He was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1989. In his work, Puryear combines a keen sense of form with a love and knowledge of a wide range of materials and crafts, non-Western architecture, and other forms not often explored by contemporary sculptors. Like Brancusi before him, Puryear combines folk and modern tradition, creating a body of sculpture of striking originality and richness. The profound, organic simplicity of his sculpture is expressed in both wall-mounted and freestanding works. Whereas much of today's art takes the form of a commentary on social, cultural, and intellectual issues that are specific to our time and place, Puryear's sculpture touches on more universal elements of human existence and experience. This catalogue is published on the occasion of a major retrospective exhibition of Martin Puryear's work, organized by The Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition spans his entire career, demonstrating the range of influences, techniques, and materials employed by this internationally recognized sculptor." -- Dust Jacket