Tate Britain - Naum Gabo exhibition

Naum gabo prototypes for sculpture, experimenting with 3D forms in space

the stringing method
linear construction in space no 1&2 (1942)

Exploring the idea of space and time - he aimed to produce a self-contained object that would suggest the universal and infinite. It hovered ‘between the visible and the invisible, the material and the immaterial’, becoming ‘the crystallization of the purest sensibility’.

Looking at the balance between form and space, what is solid and the free flowing space in between. The strings and the different panels create a beautiful 3D silhouette.

the stereometric method

The two cubes show two ways of defining space in sculpture – one uses solid mass while the other expresses the form’s ‘inner space’. The latter was the key concept behind Gabo’s constructions; he sought to make the space occupied by an object visible without enclosing it.

Torsion (project for a fountain) 1928-36

Creating a sense of defined space without enclosing or delimiting it. The transparent material helps to achieve this. Space and form share equal importance in this piece and is infinite.

Model for Constructed torso (1917)
Protruding and recessing planes that intersect each other to create a 3D female figure with the play of form and space. The structure appears to be light and carries very little weight or solidity as it mostly consists of free flowing space through and around the sculpture. It has a sense of dynamism as volume is indicated through being bisected rather than surrounded.