American Art Collaborative

This work (and several others on view in this gallery) were shown at Langlais’s 1961 solo exhibition at Leo Castelli Gallery. A well-respected gallerist and authority on contemporary art, Castelli had already discovered artists Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Cy Twombly when he agreed to represent Langlais in 1960. Castelli’s endorsement transformed Langlais into something of a celebrity, although he later denounced the artist as “much too primitive.” Langlais’s use of found materials and his playfully impulsive approach to making his wood images brought him considerable attention. Nevertheless, his handworked style, reflective of his rustic sensibilities, prompted criticism when a slicker aesthetic became the hallmark of the 1960s Pop art movement.