Naum Gabo

Estate of Naum & Miriam Gabo, United Kingdom
Mr. & Mrs. Graham Williams (the artist's son-in-law; by descent from the above)
Private Collection, Paris (acquired from the above in 1990 and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 25, 2009, lot 162)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery, Paintings and Sculpture by the Directors of the Société Anonyme, 1920-48, 1948, no. 38 (incorrectly dated 1936)
Dallas, Museum of Art; Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario; New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Berlin, Akademie der Künste; Düsseldorf, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen & London, The Tate Gallery, Naum Gabo Retrospective, 1986-87, no. 26, illustrated in the catalogue
London, South Bank Centre; Newcastle, Hatton Gallery; Hull, Ferens Art Gallery; Manchester, City Art Gallery; Birmingham, City Art Gallery & Glasgow, Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Naum Gabo: The Constructive Idea, Sculpture, Drawings, Paintings, Monoprints, 1987-88, no. 15, illustrated in the catalogue
Lugano, Galleria Pieter Coray & Paris, Galerie de France, Naum Gabo, 1989-90, no. 2, illustrated in color in the catalogue
Valencia, Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Centre Julio González, Arte Abstracto, Arte Concreto: Paris, Cercle et Carré, 1930, 1990
Barcelona, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Art i Utopia. L'Accio restringida, 2004
Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts, L'Action restreinte, art et poésie, l'effet Mallarmé, 2005
Paris, Galerie de France, Tours et détours dans la collection, 2006
Hanover, Sprengel Museum, Merz areas, Kurt Schwitters and his friends, 2007
Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Surreal Things, 2007

Herbert Read & Leslie Martin, Gabo: Constructions, Sculpture, Paintings, Drawings, Engravings, London, 1957, illustrated figs. 72 & 73
Herbert Read, A Concise History of Modern Sculpture, London, 1964, illustrated fig. 108 (miscaptioned)
Steven A. Nash & Jörn Merkert, eds., Naum Gabo: Sixty Years of Constructivism (including Catalogue Raisonné of the Constructions and Sculptures), New York, 1985, no. 37.6, illustrated p. 111
Jorn Merkert, Naum Gabo, Milan, 1990, illustrated in color p. 28
Martin Hammer & Christina Lodder, Constructing Modernity: The Art & Career of Naum Gabo, New Haven & London, 2000, no. 182, illustrated p. 265

The sculpture is in fair condition. The sculpture's black exterior celluloid "skin" that conforms to the shape of the clear interior plastic matrix shows signs of age. The thin black skin which is assembled in four sections has a gentle warp to the profile which has resulted in the seams partially opening and no longer sitting flush with the clear plastic in some areas along the top edge. The clear plastic matrix appears more stabile and has not changed its shape like the black skin. The support struts inside the composition are well adhered. Old yellow adhesive can be seen in the seams on the clear plastic. Scuffs marks in the clear plastic can be seen scattered along the top edge. The above condition report has been provided by Wilson Conversation, LLC 100 East 5th St. Brooklyn, NY 11218 718-852-8894, objects@wilsonconservation.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Spheric Theme: Black Variation is one of the most important works in Gabo's artistic evolution and signals the direction that much of his later work was to take following his move to America. It was executed in London in 1937, when Gabo was editing the periodical Circle with Ben Nicholson and Herbert Read. This period spent in Hampstead with the luminaries of the London art scene was arguably the best of his career.

This particular work is an extraordinary acheivement, made of materials entirely new to the practice of art. The body of the structure is made of two circles of celluloid, deftly bent to form an intriguing shape that is then held together by a rhodoid skeleton. It is a wonderfully complete manifestation of Gabo and Pevsner's Constructivism that relates to the unmade Tatlin tower of 1914, one of the major cornerstones of early twentieth-century Futurism, and reflects the modernity of 1930s Britain. The artist most influenced by Gabo's theories was Barbara Hepworth, who amalgamated the curves of works such as those in Spheric Theme: Black Variation as well as Gabo's earlier string pieces in Stringed Figure: Curlew (Maquette I) (see fig. 1).