American Art Collaborative

Louise Nevelson began making assemblages from cast-off wooden debris during the 1940s, stacking objects and boxes to create imposing walls and installations. She often painted her assemblages black, claiming that black was “the most aristocratic color of all” because it contained all other colors and could never be the same twice. In Sky Totem, Nevelson transformed pieces of old plywood and a small wheel into a dramatic tower of dark shapes. The black paint unifies the different elements within the construction and sets up sharp contrasts between light and dark
“I began to see things, almost anything on the street, as art . . . that’s why I pick up old wood that had a life, that cars have gone over and the nails have been crushed . . . All [my] objects are retranslated---that’s the magic.” Louise Nevelson, The Washington Post, April 198