Britannica
Sources used in this answer
How did Louise Nevelson create large relief sculptures from boxes and found forms?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Western sculpture
Hagar, marble sculpture by Edmonia Lewis, 1875; in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Louise Nevelson created her signature large-scale relief sculptures by utilizing open-faced wooden boxes as container compartments. Within these individual boxes, she carefully arranged collections of abstract-shaped objects, such as chair legs, pieces of balustrades, and various other found objects or bric-a-brac.12
Once these items were curated and placed, she stacked the boxes together to form freestanding walls. To unify these diverse, accumulated architectural debris and found forms, she painted the entire structure a single, monochromatic colorāmost commonly black, though she also utilized white or gold. This process allowed her to achieve complex formal tensions and a sense of mystery within her large, abstract environments.12