Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Preview image of work. ink marker on paper, Untitled 13041

2003.11.31

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Untitled

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Artist

Claire Falkenstein (1908 - )

Title

Untitled

Creation Date

1957

Century

mid-20th century

Dimensions

17 13/16 in. x 13 3/8 in. (45.24 cm x 33.97 cm)

Object Type

drawing

Creation Place

North America, United States

Medium and Support

ink marker on paper

Credit Line

Bequest of William H. Alexander

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

2003.11.31

The experimental sculptor Claire Falkenstein, who grew up on the Oregon coast and in the San Francisco area, spent almost a decade in Europe, starting in 1950. This drawing dates to the period of Falkenstein’s first major commission, gates for a grotto by the sea that architect Luigi Moretti built in the vicinity of Rome for the Italian socialite Princess Pignatelli. The widely publicized design combined a dynamic structure of curved metal rods with chunks of vitreous material. After learning about the project, Peggy Guggenheim promptly commissioned Falkenstein to create gates for her Venetian palace as well. The interlocked curved lines of this drawing, accentuated by hatching, form a relief-like structure that only loosely relates to the Pignatelli project. It captures the mind of the sculptor at work, as she solidified on paper her spontaneous gestures into a set of dynamic spatial relations.