Figurative Sculpture Remains the Focal Point
of Successful Art Collections in the United States
by Wilhelmina Derek Summers
To understand the continuing role and importance of figurative sculpture today, I interviewed four representatives of the most successful and complete collections of the figure. Margaret Schwartz, Senior Vice President of European Works of Art at Sothebyıs in New York, deals mostly in sculpture from the tenth century to around 1830. Jed Morse is Assistant Curator at the Nasher Sculpture Center, in Dallas. Nasher exhibits both modern and contemporary sculpture created in the last 125 years. Joseph Antenucci Becherer of the Frederick Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan, focuses on sculpture from the late nineteenth century to the present. Finally, Janis Gardner Cecil, Director of the Marlborough Gallery in New York, represents artists working primarily over the last twenty-five years. Each collection represents and displays different styles and genres of figurative sculpture, but the success of each collection indicates that figurative sculpture is as meaningful today as it has ever been. |
