Sidney Gordin: Russian American Constructivist

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SIDNEY GORDIN: RUSSIAN AMERICAN CONSTRUCTIVIST [1918-1996]

ON EXHIBIT FEBRUARY 9 - APRIL 13, 2008

I n 1 9 1 5 , a r t i s t V l a d i m i r Ta t l i n h e r a l d e d t h e b i r t h of the Constructivist movement with the debut o f h i s c o r n e r c o u n t e r- re l i e f s . C o n s i d e re d t h e f a t h e r o f R u s s i a n C o n s t r u c t i v i s m , Ta t l i n , a m o n g fellow artists such as El Lissitzky and Aleksandr Rodchenko, promoted the use of industrialrelated materials and questioned the traditional representation of space in art.

Born on October 24, 1918—one year after the Bolshevik R e v o l u t i o n a n d R u s s i a ’s w i t h d r a w a l f r o m Wo r l d War I—in Chelyabinsk, Russia, Sidney Gordin (né Shura Aleksandr Gordin) would soon pick up where his predecessors left off.

At

the

age

of

4,

Gordin

came

to

the

United

S t a t e s a n d s e t t l e d w i t h h i s f a m i l y i n N e w Yo r k C i t y . W h i l e a t t e n d i n g B r o o k l y n Te c h n i c a l H i g h School, he studied draftsmanship and ironwork.

Upon graduation, he enrolled at the Cooper Union, devoting his class schedule to courses in drawing and painting.

W i t h t h e o n s e t o f W o r l d W a r I I , N e w Yo r k C i t y became a hotbed for the international avantgarde, allowing for an influx of European aesthetic movements. For the first time, Gordin turned his attention to the Constructivist art of his homeland. He created geometric abstractions that explored the ambiguous relationship between light and depth, and r e c a l l e d t h e a r c h i t e c t u r a l d e s i g n s o f Ta t l i n and the Suprematist compositions of Kasimir Malevich.

B y t h e e n d o f Wo r l d Wa r I I , t h e c e n t e r o f t h e a r t w o r l d s h i f t e d f r o m P a r i s t o N e w Yo r k a n d with it came the rise of Abstract Expressionism.

As a member of The Club and the American Abstract Artists group, Gordin produced work that reflected his close proximity to the Ab-Ex scene.

In his paintings and drawings of the 1940s and 1950s, he synthesized Cubist and Surrealist styles to create lyrical interpretations of movement.

In 1949, Gordin turned his attention to sculpture.

Combining his background in draftsmanship and welding, he worked in three sculptural styles: a geometric format of intersecting steel planes; a jagged style of hammered bronze; and an arabesque design of welded iron rods that seem to suggest drawings done in space.

Tr a n s f o r m i n g h i s s t e a d y i n k l i n e i n t o f r e e formed iron wires, these “air drawings” take on semi-representational forms in their acrobatic appearance.

Gordin began a lifelong relationship with the Whitney Museum of American Art when they acquired a metal construction for their permanent collection in 1953.

Following teaching stints at both Sarah Lawrence College and the New School for S o c i a l R e s e a r c h i n N e w Yo r k , G o r d i n a c c e p t e d a position within the Department of Art at the University of California, Berkeley in 1958.

INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS, c. 1939 20 x 16 inches | oil on canvas over board from the estate 1-42, 1942 24.75 x 20.75 inches | acrylic on board signed lower left

Coinciding

with

his

move

to

the

Bay

Area,

he began to employ wood in his sculptures, eventually leading to the creation of painted reliefs. Gordin used a predetermined group of shapes and a spontaneous color palette in order to wholly explore spatial relationships between forms. In both his three-dimensional reliefs and two-dimensional “flat paintings,” he united the crisp, disciplined line of his Constructivist heritage with the expressive brushwork that characterized Bay Area painting at that time.

From

his

humble

beginnings

at

Brooklyn

Te c h n i c a l H i g h S c h o o l t o h i s 2 8 y e a r s a s a p r o f e s s o r a t U C B e r k e l e y, G o r d i n l e d a s u p e r l a t i v e c a r e e r i n b o t h N e w Yo r k a n d S a n Francisco, with numerous museum and gallery exhibitions across the nation. Sullivan GossAn American Gallery is pleased to present a legacy of Russian art in America with the first r e t r o s p e c t i v e o f S i d n e y G o r d i n ’s C o n s t r u c t i v i s t career since his death in 1996.

-Danielle Peltakian, Art Historian

20-57, 1957 10 x 10 x 3 inches | welded bronze signed 19-57, 1957 10.25 x 9.5 x 4 inches | welded bronze signed

45-58, 1958 11.5 x 19.5 x 4 inches | welded steel wire signed

1-60, 1960

FEBRUARY 1964, 1964

13.5 x 12 x .25 inches | hammered bronze

36 x 22.5 x 2.5 inches | acrylic on wood with wood constructions

signed

signed lower right

NOVEMBER 1967, #4, 1967

NOVEMBER 1967, #1, 1967

39 x 39 inches | acrylic on board

60 x 48 inches | acrylic on wood with wood constructions

signed lower left

signed on back

JUNE 1968, 1968 42 x 36 inches | acrylic on board signed upper left

23-80, 1980 38 x 32 inches | acrylic on board signed lower left

8-81, 1981 32.5 x 24.5 x 3 inches | acrylic on wood with wood constructions signed lower left

1-86, 1986 32 x 38 x 6 inches | acrylic on wood with wood constructions signed on back

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS (selected) Art Institute of Chicago, IL

Oakland Museum, CA

Baltimore Museum of Art, OH

Provincetown Art Association and Museum, MA

Brooklyn Museum, NY

St. Louis Museum of Art, MO

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA

Newark Museum, NJ

Whitney Musuem of American Art, NY

EXHIBITION HISTORY (selected) 1951-52 Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

1959, 1961-63, 1965 Dilexi Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1951-58, 1960-65 Grace Borgenicht Gallery, NY

1959 Denver Art Museum, CO

1952, 1954, 1959-60 Museum of Modern Art, NY

1959 Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA

1952-63, ‘78, ‘80, ‘85, ‘89, 1991-93, ‘95 Whitney Museum of American Art, NY

1959-60 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

1954, 1962 Art Institute of Chicago, IL

1961 Scripps College, Claremont, CA

1954 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

1961 Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT

1955 Guggenheim Museum, NY

1962 Newark Museum, NJ

1955, 1959 Saint Louis Art Museum, MO

1962, 1968 M.H. DeYoung Memorial Museum, CA

1955-57, 1960-61 Riverside Art Museum, NY

1963, 1970-71, 1984-85 Oakland Museum, CA

1955, 1960, 1963-64, 1966-67, ‘69 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA

1967 Berkeley Art Center, CA

1956 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VI

1968, 1996 Portland Art Museum, OR

1957 Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX

1981, ‘84, ‘88, 1990-91, ‘94, 2000 Gallery Paule Anglim, CA

1957 Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

1988 Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, IL

1958 Brooklyn Museum, NY

1993-94 National Academy of Design, NY

1958-59, 1964-65, 1994 Provincetown Art Association and Museum, MA

1994 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

SIDNEY GORDIN: RUSSIAN AMERICAN CONSTRUCTIVIST ON EXHIBIT: FEBRUARY 9 - APRIL 13, 2008 RECEPTION: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9 | FROM 5-7PM 7 EAST ANAPAMU STREET | SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA PREVIEW ONLINE: www.sullivangoss.com/exhibits/sidney_gordin_2007.asp

Sullivan Goss A N A M E R I C A N G A L L E RY

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