Gate V, from the Garden Gate Series

Copied Louise Nevelson, Gate V, from the Garden Gate Series, 1959-1960, cast bronze, 46 x 31 1⁄2 x 2 3⁄4 in. (116.9 x 80.0 x 7.0 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.84

Artwork Details

Title
Gate V, from the Garden Gate Series
Artist
Date
1959-1960
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
46 x 31 1⁄2 x 2 3⁄4 in. (116.9 x 80.0 x 7.0 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection
Mediums
Mediums Description
cast bronze
Classifications
Subjects
  • Abstract
Object Number
1980.137.84
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1980.137.84

Artwork Description

The illusion of timeworn wood conveyed by the cast bronze of Gate V suggests a once beautiful garden that is now overgrown and wild. It also creates an awareness of the past that is at the heart of Nevelson’s “resurrection” of discarded materials. Nevelson viewed gates and doorways as metaphors that suggest transition in nature and in life. As she explained it, “After a tree is cut down, it is assumed that the tree is dead. It may be the finish of that life as such. But even [then], there’s activity. . . .Patterns of life change, but life doesn’t change.”


Modern Masters: Midcentury Abstraction from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2008