Inner View

Louise Nevelsons Inner View from 1965-66 is a lithograph and collage on brown wove paper that translates the sculptors characteristically mysterious and architectonic visual language into the graphic medium, combining printed elements with fragments of paper to create an image that hovers between printmaking and sculpture. The title Inner View suggests both the interior of an architectural structure, which is the characteristic subject of Nevelsons wall assemblages, and a view inward into the artists own psyche, a double meaning that is characteristic of the titles she gave her work. The collage elements, which are physical fragments of paper attached to the printed surface, create a textural dimension that distinguishes this print from a conventional lithograph and gives it the quality of a constructed object rather than a flat image. The years 1965-66 place this work in the period of Nevelsons greatest public recognition, following her 1962 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art and the commissions for public sculptures that established her as one of Americas leading artists. The combination of lithography and collage in a single work demonstrates Nevelsons characteristic refusal to respect the boundaries between mediums, creating objects that are simultaneously prints and sculptures, flat and three-dimensional, graphic and architectural. The brown wove paper provides a warm ground that unifies the printed and collaged elements into a single tonal field, creating the monochrome unity that is the hallmark of Nevelsons best work.

Nevelsons prints with collage elements are significant contributions to the tradition of mixed-media printmaking, and Inner View demonstrates her characteristic strategy of breaking down the boundaries between mediums. The combination of lithography and collage influenced the development of contemporary printmaking and the broader tradition of mixed-media art.

A 1965-66 lithograph and collage by Nevelson on brown wove paper, translating her architectonic visual language into the graphic medium with physical paper fragments that create a constructed object hovering between print and sculpture.