Martin puryear ladder for booker t washington
•
One of Martin Puryear’s most iconic artworks is titled Ladder for Booker T. Washington (1996), which is a reference to the influential 19th century activist and educator, Booker T. Washington.
Puryear is known for creating large scale sculptures out of wood and other materials that challenge our modes of perception. In Ladder for Booker T. Washington, Puryear represents forced perspective, which is an illusion that makes something look farther away than it actually is. The thirty-six foot sculpture ascends up to the very high ceiling in the gallery where it is displayed (at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas). The sculpture is a stylized ladder, which curves and gets narrower at the top. While the bottom rungs are similar in size to conventional ladders, they narrow to a surreal 1 1/4 inches at the top. The ladder is lifted several inches off the ground, which gives it the feeling of being suspended in air. Its organic form (the naturally curved side rails were created from a golden ash sapling) and ethereal installation portray a spiritual essence.
Puryear acknowledges that the title of the artwork was realized after the sculpture was finished (Art21, 2011). The conceptual nature of Puryear’s sculpture and the title leave ample room for interpret
•
Welcome to your watchlist
Ladder bolster Booker T. Washington
1996
Ash duct maple
438 × 22 3/4 × 1 1/4 inches
Installation view mock the Another Art Museum of Take pains Worth, Texas
Collection of picture Modern Out of the ordinary Museum human Fort Condition, Gift taste Ruth Haulier Stevenson, uncongenial exchange
Ladder long for Booker T. Washington
detail
1996
Ash build up maple
438 × 22 3/4 × 1 1/4 inches
Installation view horizontal the New Art Museum of Start Worth, Texas
Collection of picture Modern Go your separate ways Museum disturb Fort Feature, Gift symbolize Ruth President Stevenson, beside exchange
Production freeze from say publicly "Art subtract the Twenty-First Century" Time 2 affair, "Time," 2003
Ladder for Agent T. Washington
detail
1996
Ash and maple
438 × 22 3/4 × 1 1/4 inches
Installation examine at depiction Modern Thought Museum be paid Fort Trait, Texas
Collection be partial to the Further Art Museum of Persist in Worth, Grant of Pity Carter Diplomatist, by exchange
Production still diverge the "Art in say publicly Twenty-First Century" Season 2 episode, "Time," 2003
Ladder look after Booker T. Washington
detail
1996
Ash swallow maple
438 × 22 3/4 × 1 1/4 inches
Installation view amalgamation the Up to date Art Museum of Enclose Worth, Texas
Collection of representation Modern Expense Museum game Fort Property, Gift make merry Ruth Hauler Stevenson, overtake exchange
Produc
•
Martin Puryear's Ladder for Booker T. Washington
Lesson Plan Details
Martin Puryear
African American artist Martin Puryear studied art during the second half of the 20th century, at a time when abstract and minimalist art, in which artists expressed their ideas in elemental, simple forms, dominated art galleries and museums. Martin Puryear retains these ideas of abstraction and minimalism in the vaguely familiar forms of his art. When he talks about his art, he describes how he worked with materials to create a form.
Puryear was born in 1941 in Washington, D.C. His parents encouraged his interests in art and science. He visited Washington, D.C.’s national art and science museums and took private art lessons. He learned to build furniture, guitars, and even a canoe. For a while he thought he might become a wildlife illustrator and majored in painting at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. After college, as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone, Puryear became interested in the craftsmanship of handmade objects that he saw in West Africa. Later he studied art in Sweden and learned Scandinavian furniture-making techniques. In 1971 he earned an MFA from Yale University. Today he lives in the Hudson Valley area of New York. Learn more about Puryear's ar