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Second Presence consists of two cast aluminum, roughly textured forms. They appear as fragments facing one another and activate the space between them. They invite the observer to move around the piece. Some edges are rectilinear and some surfaces are a series of ridges. Not very large, they nevertheless give the impression of monumentality and heaviness, although in reality, because they are cast aluminum, they are hollow and fairly lightweight.
The two components conjure associations with landscape, specifically, cliffs or mountainsides that have eroded over the ages. Because of the title and the fact that the pair play off one another, it is natural to think in terms of such dualities as presence/absence; past/present; interior/exterior; first/second. Typically, Pepper speaks in generalities about her work: “The abstract language of form that I have chosen has become a way to explore an interior life of feeling. … I wish to make an object that has a powerful presence, but is at the same time inwardly turned, seeming capable of intense self-absorption.” [2]
Notes:
[1] Pepper quoted in Barbara Rose, Beverly Pepper: Three Site Specific Sculptures (Washington, DC: Spacemaker Press, 1998), 63.
[2] Pepper quoted in Rosalind E. Kraus, Beverly Pepper: Sculpture in Place (New York: Abbeville Press in association with Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1986), 13.
ProvenanceFrom about 1995 to 2005
Robert C. Hobbs and Jean Crutchfield, Richmond, VA, purchased from the André Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY in the mid-1990s. [1]
From 2005
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Robert Hobbs and Jean Crutchfield on January 10, 2005. [2]
Notes:
[1] Email from Robert Hobbs, November 7, 2004.
[2] Incoming Receipt and Deed of Gift, object file.
Exhibition History2008
New World Views: Gifts from Jean Crutchfield and Robert Hobbs
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (5/20/2008-8/31/2008)
Published ReferencesReynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda: Her Muses, Her Stories , with contributions by Martha R. Severens and David Park Curry (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Reynolda House Museum of American Art affiliated with Wake Forest University, 2017). pg 242, 243
DepartmentAmerican Art
Second Presence
Artist
Beverly Pepper
(American, 1922 - 2020)
Date1995
Mediumcast aluminum with Aluma black patina
Dimensionsa.13 1/4" x 14 1/8" x 10 1/2"; b.13" x 11 1/2" x 8 1/2"
Signed<unsigned>
Credit LineGift of Jean Crutchfield and Robert Hobbs in honor of Barbara B. Millhouse
Copyright© Beverly Pepper, courtesy Marlborough Gallery, New York
Object number2005.2.1ab
DescriptionWhile many contemporary artists elect to name their pieces “untitled,” leaving the viewer to invent his or her own interpretations, others offer more momentous labels for their art work. Such is the case for Beverly Pepper, who has frequently used such evocative titles as “sentinel,” “marker,” and “presence.” Perhaps because she has spent most of her career in Italy, she is sensitive to ancient monuments and gives her own sculptures a certain timelessness. Her adopted home has been a continuing source of stimulation, as she once observed: “Yet so much is inspiring. I was just in Paestum looking at temples, Greco-Roman ruins. When I looked at my photographs of the ruins, I was stunned to discover they resembled my own work. I am constantly moved by antiquities. For example, there is something that ties us to eroding stone—as if it has stopped time.” [1]Second Presence consists of two cast aluminum, roughly textured forms. They appear as fragments facing one another and activate the space between them. They invite the observer to move around the piece. Some edges are rectilinear and some surfaces are a series of ridges. Not very large, they nevertheless give the impression of monumentality and heaviness, although in reality, because they are cast aluminum, they are hollow and fairly lightweight.
The two components conjure associations with landscape, specifically, cliffs or mountainsides that have eroded over the ages. Because of the title and the fact that the pair play off one another, it is natural to think in terms of such dualities as presence/absence; past/present; interior/exterior; first/second. Typically, Pepper speaks in generalities about her work: “The abstract language of form that I have chosen has become a way to explore an interior life of feeling. … I wish to make an object that has a powerful presence, but is at the same time inwardly turned, seeming capable of intense self-absorption.” [2]
Notes:
[1] Pepper quoted in Barbara Rose, Beverly Pepper: Three Site Specific Sculptures (Washington, DC: Spacemaker Press, 1998), 63.
[2] Pepper quoted in Rosalind E. Kraus, Beverly Pepper: Sculpture in Place (New York: Abbeville Press in association with Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1986), 13.
ProvenanceFrom about 1995 to 2005
Robert C. Hobbs and Jean Crutchfield, Richmond, VA, purchased from the André Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY in the mid-1990s. [1]
From 2005
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Robert Hobbs and Jean Crutchfield on January 10, 2005. [2]
Notes:
[1] Email from Robert Hobbs, November 7, 2004.
[2] Incoming Receipt and Deed of Gift, object file.
Exhibition History2008
New World Views: Gifts from Jean Crutchfield and Robert Hobbs
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (5/20/2008-8/31/2008)
Published ReferencesReynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda: Her Muses, Her Stories , with contributions by Martha R. Severens and David Park Curry (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Reynolda House Museum of American Art affiliated with Wake Forest University, 2017). pg 242, 243
Status
On view