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Lot Essay
This work will be included in the Robert Indiana catalogue raisonné being prepared by Simon Salama-Caro.
Hub, 1962 is from Robert Indiana's first mature body of work, a series of totem-like sculptures referred to as "herms," after the Greek god Hermes. While scavenging for materials for his assemblages around his Coenties Slip neighborhood, Indiana lucked upon a group of wooden structural beams. The slabs, with their suggestive haunched tenon at the top and life-size proportions inspired Indiana to make these breakthrough works between 1960-1962. For the very first time, Indiana would use text, numbers, bright flat color and create the "contemporary signs" for which he is best known.
Hermes (who became Mercury in Roman mythology) is a Greek god with an expansive number of traits and mythological roles. He was both a messenger to the gods, as well a phallic god attached to fertility and good fortune, which proved to be an irresistible subject for the artist. Hermes was also a god who looked over travelers and as a result, scattered throughout ancient Greece were rectangular slabs or pillars that functioned as road markers, with a bust of Hermes at the top and with a phallus towards the bottom. Indiana's Herms sculptures are surprisingly true to the original source; with similar proportions, staunch verticality, phallus and their function as a kind of contemporary sign post.
Resting on a plain, painted wood base and adorned with an iron wheel, Hub is rich with meaning and subject matter. Using objects dripping with nostalgia and an age-worn patina allowed Indiana to "incorporate reality into his sculpture without imitating it" (W. Katz, Robert Indiana Early Sculpture 1960-1962, London, 1991, p. 13). From this time forward, Indiana would become a painter of signs, and his poetic sensibility combined with his personal numerology philosophy have provided him with endless possibilities. Using 19th Century metal stencils, Indiana painted the sculptures in bright, primary colors and adorned then with various objects. In Hub, Indiana used the wheel as a brilliant compositional device, placing a number within each spoke, creating an abbreviated clock, suggesting the passing of time.
The Museum of Modern Art included (and later purchased) the Herm titled Moon in the landmark The Art of Assemblage show in 1961, providing an instant validation to his new series and marking the artist's first inclusion in an important museum exhibition. Incredibly rare, Indiana created only 20 of these sculptures in the early 1960s and this is only the third to ever be offered at auction.
The last five years have seen a renaissance in interest in Indiana's oeuvre and will be the subject of a large-scale monograph to be released next year. Indiana's compelling mix of Pop Art, sexual themes and contemporary issues are increasingly being seen as some of the most crucial works of their time.
Hub, 1962 is from Robert Indiana's first mature body of work, a series of totem-like sculptures referred to as "herms," after the Greek god Hermes. While scavenging for materials for his assemblages around his Coenties Slip neighborhood, Indiana lucked upon a group of wooden structural beams. The slabs, with their suggestive haunched tenon at the top and life-size proportions inspired Indiana to make these breakthrough works between 1960-1962. For the very first time, Indiana would use text, numbers, bright flat color and create the "contemporary signs" for which he is best known.
Hermes (who became Mercury in Roman mythology) is a Greek god with an expansive number of traits and mythological roles. He was both a messenger to the gods, as well a phallic god attached to fertility and good fortune, which proved to be an irresistible subject for the artist. Hermes was also a god who looked over travelers and as a result, scattered throughout ancient Greece were rectangular slabs or pillars that functioned as road markers, with a bust of Hermes at the top and with a phallus towards the bottom. Indiana's Herms sculptures are surprisingly true to the original source; with similar proportions, staunch verticality, phallus and their function as a kind of contemporary sign post.
Resting on a plain, painted wood base and adorned with an iron wheel, Hub is rich with meaning and subject matter. Using objects dripping with nostalgia and an age-worn patina allowed Indiana to "incorporate reality into his sculpture without imitating it" (W. Katz, Robert Indiana Early Sculpture 1960-1962, London, 1991, p. 13). From this time forward, Indiana would become a painter of signs, and his poetic sensibility combined with his personal numerology philosophy have provided him with endless possibilities. Using 19th Century metal stencils, Indiana painted the sculptures in bright, primary colors and adorned then with various objects. In Hub, Indiana used the wheel as a brilliant compositional device, placing a number within each spoke, creating an abbreviated clock, suggesting the passing of time.
The Museum of Modern Art included (and later purchased) the Herm titled Moon in the landmark The Art of Assemblage show in 1961, providing an instant validation to his new series and marking the artist's first inclusion in an important museum exhibition. Incredibly rare, Indiana created only 20 of these sculptures in the early 1960s and this is only the third to ever be offered at auction.
The last five years have seen a renaissance in interest in Indiana's oeuvre and will be the subject of a large-scale monograph to be released next year. Indiana's compelling mix of Pop Art, sexual themes and contemporary issues are increasingly being seen as some of the most crucial works of their time.