New York City.

She was known as the grand

dame of American sculpture. She had a flair for
the theatrical and dressed in headscarves, layered
kimonos, and dramatic makeup. She considered her
persona as an extension of her sculptures.
“I think being an artist is a state of mind,”
Nevelson once said. “I wanted harmony within
myself, so I externalized it in my work.”
Though known as a master of the monumental,
Nevelson also created very small sculptures in the
form of pendants. Carefully crafted from wood
and painted black, with accents of brass or silver,
thirteen of these necklaces are currently on display
in Dawn to Dusk.
Her love of ornamentation and theatricality
can also be seen in Orfeo - Two Banners, which
she created in 1984 for the Opera Theatre Saint
Louis’ production of Orfeo and Euridice. Although
it was her first experience designing for the stage,
she had an interest in theater since the late 1920s
when she studied at the American Laboratory
Theatre in New York.
Nevelson was influenced by many artistic
traditions, from ancient Mayans to Indigenous artists
of the Pacific Northwest. Key among those influences
was cubism. “When I found the cube, it stabilized
me,” Nevelson said in an interview for Particular
Passions:Talks with Women Who Shaped Our Times by
photographer Lynn Gilbert. “If you study metaphysics,
it has its own symbols. And the cube is the highest
form that the human being has come to. First in
consciousness you have a dot, then you have a line,
then you have the square.Then you project it into a
cube.That is as far as the human species can go.”
Late in her life, Nevelson came full circle and
formed a connection with Rockland, the place
of her youth. The Farnsworth held an exhibition
of her work in 1985. In the four years preceding
the exhibition, Nevelson donated 56 pieces of her
own work to the museum. Her brother, Nathan
Berliawsky, and sister, Anita Berliawsky Wienstein,
also made significant gifts.
In response to the 1985 Farnsworth show,
Nevelson said, “When I was growing up in
Rockland from grammar school to high school,
there was no museum. One of the great joys of
my life is that we have a first-rate one now—a
beautiful building that encloses creative works that
can stand with the great ones.”
Nevelson died in New York City
in 1988. She was 88 years old.
McAvoy says that, as a curator working in
Rockland, it was heartwarming to see Nevelson

Louise Nevelson (1899-1988), Orfeo - Two Banners, 1984.

Silkscreen on fabric. Gift of Louise Nevelson, 1985.23.31a-b.

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