HONOLULU MUSEUM OF ART. PREVIOUS PAGE, FROM LEFT: THE EASTON FOUNDATION; NORA ECCLES HARRISON MUSEUM OF ART, UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY, LOGAN, UTAH, AND KATHRYN C. WANLASS FOUNDATION GIFTART+AUCTION MARCH 2016 (^) | BLOUINARTINFO.COM
Starting as a sculptor, Bontecou
increasingly moved into a body of work
that consists of dramatic bas-relief
forms made with a series of planes and
voids using wire armatures and canvas.
Untitled, 1964, anticipated the move to
shaped canvases and the use of positive
and negative space, with which artists
like Frank Stella are most often credited.
The void, the breaking through of the
homogeneity of the canvas surface into
these black spaces, places her works
right between painting and sculpture. In
LEE
BONTECOU
1958–59, she returned from Italy when
Alberto Burri, who was a great influence
on her, encouraged Leo Castelli to repre-
sent her just as he opened his gallery
in New York. From early in her career (and
again now) she was very highly regarded,
but she chose, like others in this exhibi-
tion, to step back from the art world.
She’s among the oldest generation in
the exhibition, and her legacy is present
throughout the show in the work of
younger artists like Lara Schnitger,
Kaari Upson, and Shinique Smith. –PS