Larry Bell’s colored-glass cubes embody the quiet, simplified geometric patterns of Minimalism and likewise declare the use of unconventional materials seen throughout these galleries. In addition, Bell’s choice of colored, coated glass allowed the artist to introduce an element of illusionistic play into his work, which Donald Judd, too, had been experimenting with in his own contemporaneous sculptures. Judd, in fact, very much admired Bell’s use of glass, and the New York–based artist’s solo exhibition held at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1971 was dedicated to Bell. Bell’s elegant cubes—with one side an impenetrable mirror, and the other a hazy reflection—introduced issues of illusionism and perception that were taken up far more actively by some of his fellow Southern Californians. Further, the handmade aspect of a highly finished surface was not far from Brancusi’s modus operandi, in terms of creating works that not only stand in the world but also reflect it.
Details
- Artist Name: Larry Bell (American, 1939-)
- Title: Untitled
- Date: 1969
- Medium: Gray glass cube coated with Inconel
- Dimensions: 40 x 40 x 40 in. (101.6 x 101.6 x 101.6 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, Gift of the Artist
- Accession Number: P.1969.102
- Copyright: © Larry Bell
Object Information
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, 1969-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena.
Phenomenal: California Light, Space, Surface
- Museum of Contemporary Art (San Diego, Calif.), 2011-09-25 to 2012-01-22
Larry Bell
- Pasadena Art Museum, 1972-04-11 to 1972-06-11
Beyond Brancusi: The Space of Sculpture
- Norton Simon Museum, 2013-04-26 to 2014-01-06
Translucence: Southern California Art from the 1960s & 1970s
- Norton Simon Museum, 2006-05-12 to 2006-08-28
Made in America: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture from the Norton Simon Museum
- Norton Simon Museum, 1999-06-24 to 2000-03-26
American Art of the 1950s and 1960s from the Collection of the Norton Simon Museum
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1988-08-11 to 1994-04-03
- Pasadena Art Museum, Larry Bell, 1972,
- Humblet, Claudine, La Nouvelle Abstraction Américaine 1950-1970, 2003, Vol. II p. 1155
Additional Artwork by Artist
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