A Conversation in Three Dimensions

The Museum's collections of sculpture encompass more than 3,000 works of art, ranging from Chinese sculpture made by unknown artists in the third millennium BCE to twentieth-century pieces by such eminent figures as Constantin Brancusi and Dan Flavin to the emerging art of the twenty-first century. Due to limitations in gallery space in the main Museum building, many of the masterworks of these collections are not always on view, and some have only rarely been exhibited.

The Perelman Building's special exhibition gallery, a beautiful light-filled space characterized by floor-to-ceiling arched windows that line opposite sides of the gallery, is ideal for the display of sculpture. For the inaugural exhibition, the Museum's director and curators have selected a number of large works by twentieth-century masters, such as Pablo Picasso, Anselm Kiefer, Sol LeWitt, Mark diSuvero, and Richard Long. They have been chosen to take advantage of the spectacular new space and literally bring to light infrequently seen sculpture from the Museum's distinguished collection of modern and contemporary art.

Other public spaces in the Perelman Building also provide opportunities to display sculpture from the collections. For example, Paul Manship's set of intricate bronze reliefs of 1914, The Four Elements: Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water, originally designed for the American Telephone and Telegraph Building in New York City, has been installed (for the first time since its acquisition) in the reading room of the Museum's new library.