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Wendell Castle, Ghost Clock, 1985, bleached Honduras mahogany, 86 1⁄4 x 24 1⁄2 x 15 in. (219.0 x 62.2 x 38.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, 1989.68, © 1985, Wendell Castle
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Ghost Clock
- Artist
- Date
- 1985
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 86 1⁄4 x 24 1⁄2 x 15 in. (219.0 x 62.2 x 38.1 cm)
- Copyright
- © 1985, Wendell Castle
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- bleached Honduras mahogany
- Classifications
- Highlights
- Subjects
- Object — other — linens
- Fantasy — ghost
- Object — furniture — clock
- Object Number
- 1989.68
Artwork Description
At first glance Ghost Clock appears to be a grandfather clock hidden under a white sheet. However, a closer look reveals a masterful deception: this entire sculpture was hand-carved from a single block of laminated mahogany. With its meticulous detail, Castle re-created in wood the contours of soft, supple cloth, then completed the illusion by bleaching the "drapery" white and staining the base of the "clock" a walnut brown. This work is the last in a series of thirteen clocks the artist created in the 1980s; unlike the others, it lacks an inner mechanism. Its haunting stillness and silence suggest eternity--the absence of time.
Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery, 2019
Exhibitions
November 13, 2015–March 6, 2022
Connections is the Renwick Gallery’s dynamic ongoing permanent collection presentation, featuring more than 80 objects celebrating craft as a discipline and an approach to living differently in the modern world.