Theodore Jacob Roszak (1907-1981)
Lot 540 An American Place: The Barney A. Ebsworth Collection

Theodore Jacob Roszak (1907-1981)

Spatial Construction

Closed14 November 2018

Price Realised

USD 100,000

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Theodore Jacob Roszak (1907-1981)
Spatial Construction
stamped 'THEODORE ROSZAK/ONE ST. LUKES PL./NEW YORK, N.Y. 10014' (under the base)
painted steel wire and wood
23 ¾ in. (60.3 cm.) high
Executed in 1942.

Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York.
Zabriskie Gallery, New York.
Acquired by the late owner from the above, 1977.

Specialist note

The present work is one of the last constructions that Theodore Roszak created before transitioning to a concentration on welded sculpture. The arrangement of colored wire emphasizes the negative space created by the elements as much as the linear forms themselves, as Roszak himself explained in 1956, "The open wire or the open space where the voids were greater than the masses was the culmination point of free, almost unfettered, pure space construction." (Interview with J. Elliott, February 13, 1956, p. 31)