Climbing forms No. 1

Details

Robert Adams (1917-1984)
Climbing forms No. 1
bronzed steel, unique
68 in. high
Conceived in 1961.
The present work is recorded in the Hillman/Adams catalogue raisonné as 1961/20 and Opus 142A.

Provenance

with Gimpel Fils Gallery, London.
with Offer Waterman, London, where purchased by the present owner in August 2002.

Literature

A. Grieve, The Sculpture of Robert Adams, London, 1992, pp. 88-89, 200-201, no. 372, illustrated.

Exhibited

Venice, British Council British Pavilion, XXXI Biennale, June - October 1962, unnumbered: this exhibition travelled to Germany; Switzerland; Holland and France.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Discussing the XXXI Biennale, in Venice in 1962, Alastair Grieve comments, 'the most recent work in this gallery was Climbing forms No. 1, 1961, 68in. high, one of a new group of sculptures with flat shield-like planes, segments of ovals with subtly curved and straight profiles, angled in relation to each other and linked in a serpentine descent within a markedly contrasting rectilinear frame' (see A. Grieve, op. cit., p. 89).

A closely related work, Climbing forms No. 2, also from 1961, is in the collection of The British Council.

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