ILHAN KOMAN | Untitled

Collection of Ralph Erskine, Sweden (acquired directly from the artist in 1963)
Private Collection, UK (acquired from the above by the present owner)

Condition: This work is in very good condition. There are a few white residues which may be investment residues consistent with the metal casting process. Colours: The colours in the catalogue illustration are accurate.
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Throughout his career, Ilhan Koman experimented with numerous media, styles and techniques in which he created sculptures that are figurative and nonfigurative, static and kinetic, purely aesthetic and purely practical space. His treatment of iron, as seen in the present work, can be interpreted as a personal take on sculpture's foremost metallurgical challenge: bringing metal to life. It was in the early 1960s, shortly after his arrival in Scandinavia, that Koman forged some of his most remarkable masterpieces. This period, which the artist dubbed his 'Iron Age', marked an important turning point in his budding international career. In 1961, art critic Pierre Guéguen praised Koman's metalwork in the Parisian avant-garde publication Aujourd'hui: Art et Architecture. Guéguen made particular allusion to the artist's distinctive technique, describing his rugged iron abstractions as being "eminently expressive" (Pierre Guéguen, 'Ilhan Koman ou la sculpture abstraite pathétique', Aujourd'hui: Art et Architecture, No. 31, May 1961, in Exh. Cat., Istanbul, Galeri Nev, Ilhan Koman, 2006, p. 7).

Ilhan Koman's frenetic creative process was fuelled by a desire not only to craft beautiful sculpture, but also to portray the unique quality of iron, namely its malleability. Although at first glance it appears to be the result of a chaotic struggle between metal, welding torch and hammer, Koman's forging is incredibly precise, as can be observed in the fine details of his work. These, most evident in areas where the iron is bent and welded onto the composition, are the artist's implicit signature.