(1:42)1932
Chaim Gross
birds-eye maple
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Renee and
Chaim Gross Foundation
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(1:42) |
Acrobatic Performers 1932 Chaim Gross
birds-eye maple |
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The composition of the two figures in the relief creates a
powerful sense of circular rhythm and motion. Yet a
complex, abstract interweaving of lines and planes holds the
figures in careful balance. Although the wood is only
one-and-one-quarter-inch thick, the illusionistic physicality of
the figures testifies to the artist's talent. Chisel marks are used
to distinguish the slippers, pants, and hair of the two
performers. The hardness of bird's-eye maple and its unusual graining must
have appealed to Gross, but this relief is only one of a few that he carved in this
variety of wood. At least two casts of this piece were made in bronze.
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