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Lot Essay
Admired today as a visionary and innovator, Frederick Kiesler was one of the most dynamic promoters of modern art in America. Born in Romania in 1890, he was raised in Austria where he became familiar with the tenets of Secessionism and accomplished as a stage designer. Kiesler emigrated to the United States in 1926 and forged a forty year career in New York as an architect, artist, designer, sculptor, poet and philosopher. He developed intimate ties not only with cutting edge European artists like Leger, Arp, Miró and Mondrian, but with pioneering abstract artists working in the United States such as de Kooning, Calder, Noguchi, Graham, Duchamp and Gorky. Though at the time many of these men received little recognition beyond the small avante-garde circles, Kiesler was committed to their progressive ideas and served as a conduit between European high culture and American conservatism.
In addition to promoting what were then considered radical concepts, Kiesler was also preoccuppied with creating. Known primarily for his progressive architecture, startling department store windows, extraordinary stage sets and environmental sculptures, Kiesler also gained critical acclaim for his unorthodox gallery installations and furniture designs. With a passionate belief in the integral relationship between each object and its environment, he transformed a tailor shop on West 57th Street in Manhattan into one of the most talked-about galleries of its day. Peggy Guggenheim, a major collector and patron of modern art, commissioned Kiesler in 1942 to design her Art of This Century gallery, and the project afforded Kiesler the opportunity to realize his ideas about interactive art. The result was an amazing Surrealist environment that unified architecture, art, light, sound and motion. Miss Guggenheim's ambition was to showcase the works of Surrealist artists alongside emerging American talents, and the installation Kiesler created was nothing short of a provocative "correlation" between space, spectator and art object. Multi-purpose biomorphic units designed by Kiesler were artfully positioned around the exhibition spaces and could be used either as seats or pedestals. Ambiguity is always a core characteristic of Kiesler's constructions, and these ingenious sculptural seating/display units not only demonstrate the artist's concern for open-ended flexible design but evoke as much of a spellbinding effect on the viewer as does a great work of art. Kiesler traversed between Constructivism and Surrealism until his death in 1965, but because his work often took the form of installations, little of it survives.
cf. Peggy Guggenheim, Confessions of an Art Addict, 1960, p.100; Lisa Phillips, Frederick Kiesler, Whitney Museum, 1989, p.28 and p.61-62; for illustrations and discussion of this model.
In addition to promoting what were then considered radical concepts, Kiesler was also preoccuppied with creating. Known primarily for his progressive architecture, startling department store windows, extraordinary stage sets and environmental sculptures, Kiesler also gained critical acclaim for his unorthodox gallery installations and furniture designs. With a passionate belief in the integral relationship between each object and its environment, he transformed a tailor shop on West 57th Street in Manhattan into one of the most talked-about galleries of its day. Peggy Guggenheim, a major collector and patron of modern art, commissioned Kiesler in 1942 to design her Art of This Century gallery, and the project afforded Kiesler the opportunity to realize his ideas about interactive art. The result was an amazing Surrealist environment that unified architecture, art, light, sound and motion. Miss Guggenheim's ambition was to showcase the works of Surrealist artists alongside emerging American talents, and the installation Kiesler created was nothing short of a provocative "correlation" between space, spectator and art object. Multi-purpose biomorphic units designed by Kiesler were artfully positioned around the exhibition spaces and could be used either as seats or pedestals. Ambiguity is always a core characteristic of Kiesler's constructions, and these ingenious sculptural seating/display units not only demonstrate the artist's concern for open-ended flexible design but evoke as much of a spellbinding effect on the viewer as does a great work of art. Kiesler traversed between Constructivism and Surrealism until his death in 1965, but because his work often took the form of installations, little of it survives.
cf. Peggy Guggenheim, Confessions of an Art Addict, 1960, p.100; Lisa Phillips, Frederick Kiesler, Whitney Museum, 1989, p.28 and p.61-62; for illustrations and discussion of this model.