black; abstract form made up of smaller, rather blocky shapes

%C2%A9 Peter Voulkos

Sevillanas, 1959

expand_more

Stonewareexpand_more

Gift of Piero Mussiexpand_more  2002.261

Not on Viewexpand_more

Sevillanas is an important early work by Voulkos, and marks his transition from functional pots to ceramic sculpture in the late 1950s, at the time when he was leaving his teaching post at the Los Angeles County Art Institute (now the Otis College of Art and Design) and moving on to the University of California at Berkeley, where he influenced yet another generation of ceramic artists.

Sevillanas was included in his first one-man show of non-functional work, “Sculpture and Painting by Peter Voulkos,” held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York from February-March 1960. Voulkos studied classical guitar, and Sevillanas refers to a lively Spanish flamenco guitar rhythm typical of Seville. The title and the form imply movement, with slab-built pieces assembled around a central cylinder, what Voulkos referred to as “the sculpture...building on itself.” Although he spent much of the 1960s pursuing abstract bronze sculpture, he did return to large thrown ceramic stack pots in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2001 Voulkos oversaw a casting of this work in bronze.

Details
Title
Sevillanas
Artist Life
1924-2002
Role
Artist
Accession Number
2002.261
Curator Approved

This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.

Does something look wrong with this image? Let us know

Zoom in on the left to the detail you'd like to save. Click 'Save detail' and wait until the image updates. Right click the image to 'save image as' or copy link, or click the image to open in a new tab.

black; abstract form made up of smaller, rather blocky shapes

© Peter Voulkos