Antonio Berni
La sordidez

La sordidez

© José Antonio Berni, Argentina

La sordidez
La sordidez
ArtistArgentinean, 1905–1981
CultureArgentinean
Titles
  • La sordidez
  • Sordidness
Datec. 1964
PlaceArgentina
MediumPolymateric construction composed of wood, cardboard, plastic, roots, nails, enamel, and metals including steel, iron, and aluminum bottle caps
DimensionsOverall: 50 13/16 × 47 1/4 × 157 1/2 in. (129 × 120 × 400 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Foundation
Object number2004.1536
Current Location
The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building
Atrium Floor 2
Exposé

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Object Type
Description

One of Antonio Berni's driving fundamental philosophies for art making derived from his insistence that art address the social and political realities from which it stemmed. To that end, his choice of materials alluded to the economic conditions and disparities in Argentinean society.


Berni experimented in various directions by combining a hodgepodge of elements: industrial refuse, scraps from the sewing basket, domestic objects of daily life. He subsequently transferred these ideas and working strategies into magnificent large-scale works made out of myriad collaged materials on board. He developed a series of sculptures in a similar vein around two primary themes: sordidness and voracity. This sculpture epitomizes the series of "Cosmic Monsters" Berni produced in response to the painful and troubled sociopolitical realities of his country's history.


ProvenanceThe artist; by descent to his son, José Antonio Berni; sold to MFAH, 2004.
Exhibition History"The Passionate Adventure of the Real: Collage, Assemblage, and the Object in 20th Century Art," Museum of Fine Arts Houston, October 18, 2003–February 8, 2004.

"Inverted Utopias: The Avant-Garde in Latin America, 1920-1970," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 20–September 12, 2004.

"Acquisitions of the Last Five Years: Selections of Modern and Contemporary Art," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 15, 2005–October 15, 2005.

"North Looks South: Building the Latin American Art Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 7–September 27, 2009.

"Modern and Contemporary Masterworks from Malba - Fundación Costantini," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 22–August 5, 2012.

“Antonio Berni: Juanito and Ramona,” Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 10, 2013–January 26, 2014; Phoenix Art Museum, June 28–September 28, 2014; Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, October 29, 2014–February 25, 2015.

"Between Play and Grief: Selections from the Latino American Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 16–September 8, 2019.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Tony Feher
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36 Absolut vodka bottles with aluminum screw caps, water, and food coloring
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Antonio Berni
1962
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Antonio Berni
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Mensaje
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1958–1962
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He had offered it, though without expectation
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1987
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2016.102.A,.B
Cometa (objeto mágico)
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1992
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2017.473
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Joaquín Torres-García
1929
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2002.59
Columbarium I
Gonzalo Fonseca
1966
Scaffolding wood, nails, strings, and paint
2009.573
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Wood and iron nails
91.1925
Pressed
Alison Saar
1997
Wood, tin, wire, irons, and nails
2008.420
Twin Figure (ere ibeji) with Garment
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Wood, cowry shells, cotton cloth, sacrificial matter, plastic beads, nails, and traces of indigo
97.811.A,.B