Louise Nevelson
Mirror Image I

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Artist Louise Nevelson (American, born Russia, 1899–1988)American, born Russia, 1899–1988

CultureAmerican

Titles

Mirror Image I

Date1969

PlaceNew York, United States

MediumPainted wood

Dimensions117 3/4 × 210 1/2 × 21 in. (299.1 × 534.7 × 53.3 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by The Brown Foundation, Inc.

Object number69.10

Current Location

The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building

Atrium Floor 2

On view

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Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Object Type

SCULPTURE

DescriptionIn 1957, Louise Nevelson began to take the wooden crates that she had used as pedestals for her sculptures, and turned them into containers. Stacked containers quickly became Nevelson's identifying style. She unified these increasingly large and complex assemblages by painting all the elements the same color: either black, white, or gold. Mirror Image I was created for an exhibition of Nevelson's work at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in 1969. Each element has a "mirror image" repeated elsewhere in the composition.
Provenance[Pace Gallery, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 1969.

Exhibition History"Louise Nevelson," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 23–December 14, 1969; University of Texas College of Fine Arts, Austin, January 15–February 15, 1970.

"Nevelson: Wood Sculptures," Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, November 10–December 30, 1973; San Francisco Museum of Art, January 25–March 10, 1974; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, April 17–May 19, 1974; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, July 6–August 18, 1974; William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, September 21–November 3, 1974; Cleveland Museum of Art, January 28–March 9, 1975.

San Antonio Museum of Art, February 1, 1981–January 30, 1982.

"A Century of Modern Sculpture: 1882-1982," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, January 14, 1983–January 31, 1984.

"Modernism in a Century of Change: From Object to Icon, The Art of Assemblage," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 21– August 30, 1998.

"Modern and Contemporary Art: Spotlight on the Collection", Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 7–August 27, 2000.

"Art at Midcentury: Spotlight on the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 13–September 3, 2001.

"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.

"Constructing Abstraction: Selections from the Permanent Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May 20–September 23, 2007.

"Modern Art from the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, December 12, 2007–April 6, 2008.

"Color into Light: Selections from the MFAH Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, December 13, 2008–March 22, 2009.

"Selections from the Museum's Collection: Post-War Painting and Sculpture," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May 5–September 5, 2016.

"Kindred Spirits: Louise Nevelson and Dorothy Hood," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 3, 2018–February 3, 2019.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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