Night Leaf

Media - 1976.108.90 - SAAM-1976.108.90_1 - 61404
Copied Louise Nevelson, Night Leaf, 1969, plexiglas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Woodward Foundation, 1976.108.90

Artwork Details

Title
Night Leaf
Artist
Date
1969
Location
Dimensions
12 3⁄4 x 12 3⁄4 x 2 1⁄4 in. (32.3 x 32.3 x 5.6 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Woodward Foundation
Mediums
Mediums Description
plexiglas
Classifications
Highlights
Keywords
  • Abstract
Object Number
1976.108.90
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1976.108.90

Artwork Description

In the late 1960s, Louise Nevelson experimented with new techniques and materials, developing work in Plexiglas and Cor-Ten steel. Night Leaf displays an arrangement of opaque black boxes that contain variations of a simple leaf shape. Nevelson emphasized the contrast between nature and technology by using industrial techniques to illustrate an organic form. The rigid plastic transforms the leaf into a geometric and uniform shape, highlighted by the use of black.

Luce Object Quote

“Sometimes it’s the material that takes over; sometimes it’s me that takes over. I permit them to play, like a seesaw. I use action and counteraction, like in music, all the time . . .” Louise Nevelson, “American Artists on Art,” 1982