1899–1920s: Early life ,
Smithsonian Institution Louise Nevelson was born Leah Berliawsky in 1899 in
Pereiaslav,
Poltava Governorate,
Russian Empire (present-day
Kyiv Oblast,
Ukraine), to Minna and Isaac Berliawsky, On his mother's death, Eventually, he became a successful lumberyard owner and realtor. She graduated from high school in 1918,
1930s: Study and experimentation Starting in 1929, Nevelson studied art full-time at the
Art Students League. For several years, the impoverished Nevelson and her son walked through the streets gathering wood to burn in their fireplace. This firewood served as the starting point for the art that made her famous. In that year, Nevelson exhibited her work in
Peggy Guggenheim's show
Exhibition by 31 Women at the
Art of This Century gallery in New York. In the 1940s, she began producing
Cubist figure studies in materials such as stone,
bronze, terra cotta, and wood. In 1943, she had a show at Norlyst Gallery called
The Clown as the Center of his World in which she constructed sculptures about the circus from
found objects. The show was not well received, and Nevelson stopped using found objects until the mid-1950s.
1950s–1960s: Mid-career During the 1950s, Nevelson exhibited her work as often as possible. Yet despite awards and growing popularity with
art critics, she continued to struggle financially. She began teaching sculpture classes in
adult education programs in the
Great Neck public school system. In 1955, Nevelson joined Colette Roberts' Grand Central Modern Gallery, where she had numerous one-woman shows. There she exhibited some of her most notable mid-century works:
Bride of the Black Moon,
First Personage, and the exhibit "Moon Garden + One", which showed her first wall piece,
Sky Cathedral, in 1958. From 1957 to 1958, she was president of the New York Chapter of
Artists' Equity where she forged a long
friendship and advocacy with
Norman Carton, a former Philadelphia Artist Equity president. In 1958, Carton helped Nevelson join
Martha Jackson Gallery, where he worked and exhibited. At Martha Jackson, she was then guaranteed income and became financially secure. That year, she was photographed and featured on the cover of
Life and had her first Martha Jackson solo exhibit. In 1960, she had her first one-woman show in Europe at Galerie Daniel Cordier in Paris. Later that year a collection of her work, grouped together as "Dawn's Wedding Feast", was included in the group show, "Sixteen Americans", at the Museum of Modern Art. In 1962, she made her first museum sale to the
Whitney Museum of American Art, which purchased the black wall
Young Shadows. That same year, her work was selected for the 31st
Venice Biennale and she became national president of
Artists' Equity, serving until 1964. However, at this time Nevelson was offered a funded, six-week artist fellowship at Tamarind Lithography Workshop (now
Tamarind Institute) in Los Angeles, which allowed her to escape the drama of New York City. She explained, "I wouldn't ordinarily have gone. I didn't care so much about the idea of prints at that time but I desperately needed to get out of town and all of my expenses were paid." At Tamarind, Nevelson made twenty-six lithographs, becoming the most productive artist to complete the fellowship up until that time. The lithographs she created were some of her most creative graphic work, using unconventional materials like cheese cloth, lace, and textiles on the lithographic stone to create interesting textural effects. With fresh creative inspiration and replenished funds, Nevelson returned to New York. She joined
Pace Gallery in the fall of 1963, where she had shows regularly until the end of her career. In 1967 the Whitney Museum hosted the first retrospective of Nevelson's work, showing over one hundred pieces, including drawings from the 1930s and contemporary sculptures. Nevelson hired several assistants over the years, including
Diana MacKown. By this time, Nevelson had solidified commercial and critical success. She embraced the idea of her works being able to withstand climate change and the freedom in moving beyond limitations in size. These public artworks were created by the Lippincott Foundry. Nevelson's public art commissions were a monetary success, but art historian
Brooke Kamin Rapaport stated that Nevelson's "intuitive gesture" is not evident in the large steel works. In 1972–1973, she created her
Dream Houses sculptures, of small pieces of wood assembled into house shapes and characteristically In 1973, the
Walker Art Center curated a major exhibition of her work, which traveled for two years. In 1975, she designed the chapel of
St. Peter's Lutheran Church in
Midtown Manhattan. During the last half of her life, Nevelson solidified her fame and her persona by cultivating a style for her "petite yet flamboyant" self that contributed to her legacy: dramatic dresses, scarves and large
false eyelashes. When
Alice Neel asked Nevelson how she dressed so beautifully, Nevelson replied "Fucking, dear, fucking", in reference to her
sexually liberated lifestyle. The designer
Arnold Scaasi created many of her clothes. == Style and works ==