Lee Bontecou
(January 15, 1931 – November 8, 2022)She was an American sculptor and printmaker and a pioneer figure in the New York art world. She kept her work consistently in a recognizable style, and received broad recognition in the 1960s.
Bontecou made abstract sculptures in the 1960s and 1970s and created vacuum-formed plastic fish, plants, and flower forms in the 1970s. Rich, organic shapes and powerful energy appear in her drawings, prints, and sculptures.
Her work has been shown and collected in many major museums in the United States and in Europe.
She created sculptures (mostly between 1959 and 1967) that are wall-mounted, 3D objects made from sections of laundry conveyor belts and Army surplus goods stretched onto welded frames.
Permanent collection of contemporary art by Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, NY
(Photo credit to Johnson Museum of Art)
The making process of the miniature tactile model 8x8x2.5”
Replica of Lee Bontecou's 1959 sculpture of welded iron, canvas, wire, and velvet in the Johnson Museum of Art's collection
It starts with a welded steel frame bent into an irregular shape: a block with a sweeping curve cut out of one corner. Raw canvas is stretched tightly over the frame, and its edges wrap around a base of black fabric that forms the sides and shows through the open curve.
Two curved steel rods are welded across the surface, following the arc of the outline. Short pieces of twisted wire cross each seam at intervals, looking like sutures or barbed wire, as if the canvas has been stitched shut.
The canvas was left unprimed and then darkened by hand toward the upper corner, so the surface fades from bare linen to a smudged, soot-like gray. Rigid metal against soft fabric and sharp wire against yielding canvas give the piece a surface you want to touch.
As this program grows into more local museums and beyond, we'll keep sharing new projects here.
Replica of Lee Bontecou's 1959 sculpture
of welded iron, canvas, wire, and velvet in the
Johnson Museum of Art's collection