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Jack by Paul Feeley / American Art
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Jack

1966 Paul Feeley Born: Des Moines, Iowa 1910 Died: New York, New York 1966 formed and gilded fiberglass on steel base 79 x 79 x 79 in. (200.7 x 200.7 x 200.7 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of the Feeley Grandchildren's Trust 1985.12 Smithsonian American Art Museum
3rd Floor, Luce Foundation Center



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Jack



"He was full of vitality, open to everything . . . very giving and very alert . . . and a terrific teacher." Artist Helen Frankenthaler on Paul Feeley, quoted in Brockway, "Personalities of Painters in the '40s: Feeley, Knaths & Holt," Bennington Quadrille, February 1985


Paul Feeley believed that art was "the translation of three dimensions into two and of two into three." Jack is an abstract sculpture derived from Feeley's brightly colored paintings of undulating, symmetrical forms. It evokes a human figure standing on tiptoe and reaching out into all dimensions of space, like a ballerina on point or a little girl flinging her arms out and twirling "just for the fun of it." The points and curves in the sculpture create new shapes from the spaces around them, making us see the room in a new way. Jack embodies Feeley's conviction that art should be playful, imaginative, and accessible to people of all ages. The sculptor hoped that his works would encourage viewers to "ease off" and take life less seriously (Brockway, "Personalities of Painters in the '40s: Feeley, Knaths & Holt," Bennington Quadrille, February 1985).

For more information about this work visit the Luce Foundation Center.


Keywords

Abstract

sculpture

glass - fiberglass

metal - steel

About Paul Feeley

Born: Des Moines, Iowa 1910 Died: New York, New York 1966

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