The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 31, 2023

Untitled

c. 1958–59

John Chamberlain

(American, 1927–2011)

America, 20th century

Painted and welded metal

Overall: 82.4 x 67.3 x 61 cm (32 7/16 x 26 1/2 x 24 in.)

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1973.27

© Fairweather & Fairweather LTD / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Location

227 Abstract Expressionism

Fun Fact

Chamberlain once quipped, “I think of my art materials not as junk, but as garbage.”

Description

Throughout his career, Chamberlain was fascinated by the radical notion that consumer waste could be reconstituted into art. Most often he made sculpture by variously bending, twisting, crushing, and welding pieces of discarded car parts. Through both their junkyard material and atypical methods of construction, these works upended traditional sculpture created from carved marble or cast bronze.

Provenance
(Allan Stone Galleries, Inc.)
Citations
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 251 archive.org
Exhibition history

CMA 1974: "Year in Review 1973," CMA Bulletin LXI (February, 1974), no. 141, p. 77, reproduced p. 57

Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art (1/25/2007 - 5/13/2007): "CMA@MOCA"

The Cleveland Museum of Art, “Albert Oehlen: Woods near Oehle” (12/4/2016-3/12/2017)

Year in Review: 1973. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 30-March 17, 1974).

CMA@MOCA (rotation 2). Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 25-May 13, 2007).

Albert Oehlen: Woods Near Oehle. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (December 4, 2016-March 12, 2017).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1973.27