The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 5, 2026

A plastic and painted wood sculpture features a slender white form, reminiscent of a blade, projecting upward from a vertical block. A translucent amber disk overlaps the middle, containing a small white hemispherical bowl. Two thin horizontal bronze bars with square attachments intersect the assembly near its poles. The minimalist composition is mounted on a larger white panel, casting a soft shadow, with a signature marking the block's lower right corner.

First Study for Vertical Construction

1939
sculptor

Theodore Roszak

(American, born Kingdom of Prussia [now Poland], 1907–1981)
America, New York
plastic and painted wood
Overall: 61.8 x 32.4 x 10.2 cm (24 5/16 x 12 3/4 x 4 in.)
Gift of the Cleveland Society for Contemporary Art in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Sherman E. Lee 1983.159
© Estate of Theodore Roszak / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

During the 1950s, Theodore Roszak created a one-ton aluminum eagle to surmount the US Embassy building in London, which is now a luxury hotel.

Description

Plastic was a relatively new material when Theodore Roszak incorporated it into this sculpture. The artist’s interest in precisely ordered geometric forms reflects his general stated aim to produce a “utopian symbol of perfection.” Later, in 1943, Roszak revisited this composition and made a larger version of it.
  • Turner, Evan H. “Year in Review for 1983.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 71, no. 2 (February 1984): 38–79. Mentioned: p. 72, no. 103; Reproduced: p. 64 www.jstor.org
    Sims, Lowery Stokes. The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 68, no. 77
  • Gallery One 2012. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 12, 2012-March 5, 2017).
    The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).
    MOCA Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art", no. 77, p. 120, color repr. p. 68.
    CMA 1984: "Year in Review 1983," Bulletin, LXXI (February 1984), p. 72, no. 103, repr. p. 64
  • {{cite web|title=First Study for Vertical Construction|url=false|author=Theodore Roszak|year=1939|access-date=05 October 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1983.159