Sky Cathedral

Louise Nevelson, Sky Cathedral, 1982, painted wood, overall: 104 ³⁄₈ x 288 ³⁄₈ x 15 ³⁄₄ in. (265.1 x 732.5 x 40.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of an anonymous donor, 1994.85A-AA

Artwork Details

Title: Sky Cathedral
Artist: Louise Nevelson
Date: 1982
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum
/
3rd Floor
/
East Wing
Dimensions: overall: 104 ³⁄₈ x 288 ³⁄₈ x 15 ³⁄₄ in. (265.1 x 732.5 x 40.0 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of an anonymous donor
Mediums: wood
Mediums Description: painted wood
Classifications: Sculpture
Relief
Subjects: Abstract
Object Number: 1994.85A-AA
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1994.85A-AA

Artwork Description

Can you identify any of the everyday objects in the black field of Sky Cathedral?

Louise Nevelson was an avid collector of objects, and she assembled various found wooden scraps--table legs, bannisters, rolling pins, milk crates, moldings, and other architectural fragments--to create her sculptures.

Although it's possible to see the shapes and outlines of these elements, they are absorbed into the large, uniformly painted black wall. Nevelson aimed to create a spiritual experience out of everyday objects, transforming them from the material to the immaterial. Sky Cathedral evokes what Nevelson called "the heavenly spheres, the places between the land and the sea" that lie beyond our experience of ordinary things.