NARRATOR:
Wallace Berman used a Verifax—a predecessor of today’s photocopy machine—to create this collage. Each square contains an image of a hand holding a transistor radio. Various photos from advertising, sports and news, including images from the Vietnam War, are superimposed on the radio. Most of the photographs are unique, but some of them reappear. Look, for example, at the cut-off bicyclist in the fourth row from the top.
Several squares include notes or arrows, recalling edits of a photographic proof sheet. Other squares include Hebrew letters… Berman was very interested in the Kabbalah, a body of mystical Jewish teachings, but he chose the letters for purely aesthetic reasons. The images here were juxtaposed to convey social or political commentary, perhaps in response to the Vietnam War or the banality of American consumer culture.
Berman is considered the father of the assemblage movement that emerged in California in the 1950s... Innovative and provocative, Berman combined found everyday objects to create both sculptures and two-dimensional pieces, radically challenging conventional notions of beauty and originality.
Untitled
1967
Wallace Berman (American, 1926-1976)
Not on View
Berman is widely considered to be the father of the assemblage movement, which emerged in California during the late 1950s. Closely tied to the Beat culture, assemblage artists used found and discarded objects to create works of art. Berman is best known for his verifax collages, in which he used a predecessor of the copy machine to reproduce images from newspapers and magazines before placing them onto board. This sepia-toned collage is a carefully articulated grid that shows the image of a handheld transistor radio repeated in cinematic fashion. In the center of each of the radios are ghostly images and symbols including animals, Hebrew letters, and identifiable personalities from popular culture.
Details
- Artist Name: Wallace Berman (American, 1926-1976)
- Title: Untitled
- Date: 1967
- Medium: Verifax collage
- Dimensions: 48 x 45 1/2 in. (121.9 x 115.6 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Terbell, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Allen O. Smith, David H. Steinmetz III, Margaret T. Cunningham, and Mr. and Mrs. John S. Ferrier
- Accession Number: P.1967.11
- Copyright: © 2008 Estate of Wallace Berman
Object Information
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Terbell, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Allen O. Smith, David H. Steinmetz III, Margaret T. Cunningham, and Mr. and Mrs. John S. Ferrier, gift 1967 to;
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, 1967-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, 1975.
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, 1967-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, 1975.
Images of an Era
- Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1996-07-10 to 1997-06-29
[on loan]
- University of New Mexico, Art Museum, 1971-02-07 to 1971-03-21
[on loan]
- Rochester, New York, George Eastman House, 1971-05-14 to 1971-08-08
[on loan]
- Pasadena, Pacificulture Asia Museum, 1972-09-24 to 1972-11-15
Surrealism Is Alive and Well in the West
- Pasadena, California Institute of Technology, Baxter Art Gallery, 1972-02-24 to 1972-04-14
A Salute to the Ferus Gallery
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-09-23 to 1994-03-20
Made in America: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture from the Norton Simon Museum
- Norton Simon Museum, 1999-06-24 to 2000-03-26
Radical Past: Contemporary Art and Music in Pasadena, 1960-1974
- Norton Simon Museum, 1999-02-07 to 1999-06-06
- Armory Center for the Arts, 1999-02-07 to 1999-04-11
- Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, Calif.), 1999-02-07 to 1999-04-25
Permanent and Loan Collection, 1974
- Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, 1974-03-16 to 1974-06-06
Duchamp to Pop
- Norton Simon Museum, 2016-03-04 to 2016-08-29
West Coast Art
- Pasadena Art Museum, 1972-06-20 to 1972-09-03
Lost but Found: Assemblage, Collage and Sculpture, 1920-2002
- Norton Simon Museum, 2004-11-05 to 2005-03-28
Permanent and Loan Collection, 1973
- Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, 1973-01-30 to 1973-12-31
- Pasadena Weekly,
- Armory Center for the Arts/Art Center College of Design, Radical Past: Contemporary Art & Music in Pasadena, 1960-1974, 1999, p. 43
- Coagula: The Lowdown on High Art, 1999, p. 13
- Pasadena Weekly, 1999, p. 25
- Gloria WIlliams Sander, Thoughts on the Critical Fortune of Photogrpahy into Sculpture, 2015, Figure 8 pp. 46-49
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