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A tall black wooden sculpture with stacked open-faced boxes filled with an assemblage of found wooden scraps, flanked by two rectangular pillars layered with geometric shapes.

Cathedral Garden #4

Louise Nevelson

A broken baluster, decorative molding, turned spindles, chair backs—even a toilet seat. Louise Nevelson transformed these discarded wood fragments into a unified sculptural installation. Cathedral Garden #4 is a carefully arranged and layered world of depth, light, and shadow. Light from the gallery reflects off various flat and curved surfaces within the blackness, revealing new details the longer we look. Nevelson scavenged her materials from the streets of New York during an era of rapid urban change. Families favoring sleek, mid-century modern design—or leaving the city altogether for the suburbs—abandoned their Victorian hand-me-down furniture. As a result, the city’s curbs filled with these castoffs alongside elements from the interiors of historic homes gutted and razed for civic projects. For Nevelson, these objects were not debris; they were raw material for conversion. Once painted and placed in boxes, they shed their past identities. Her use of monochrome—primarily black but, for brief periods, white and gold as well—unifies the elements and gives them new life and equal status within the composition: here, a cathedral complete with flanking spires that evokes the monumental architecture of the past. Louise Nevelson unified Cathedral Garden #4’s many parts with her bold use of black paint. For Nevelson, black was more than just a color—it was a great equalizer. Coating each element in black erased the distractions of varied wood type and finish and redirected attention to form and structure. Nevelson believed black “contained all color.” In her hands, black didn’t just dominate—it eclipsed the concept of color altogether. “For me,” she once said, “black isn’t black anyway, and color isn’t color as such.”
Artist/Maker
Louise Nevelson
(American, b. Ukraine, 1899 – 1988)
Title
Cathedral Garden #4
Date
1963
Material & Process
Wood and paint
Dimensions
wall: 90 x 44 x 17 in.; columns: 84 x 17; 66 1/4 x 10 1/4 in. overall
Credit
Terese and Alvin S. Lane Collection
Inventory No.
2012.54.41.4
Classification
Sculpture
Location
United States

Related

27 October 1963, commissioned from the artist by Terese and Alvin S. Lane (New York, NY); 2008, deposited on long-term loan to the Chazen Museum of Art; 2012, bequeathed to the Chazen Museum of Art

  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "The Terese and Alvin S. Lane Collection: Twentieth-Century Sculpture and Sculptors' Works on Paper." Madison, WI: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1995. pp. 51, 133, cat. no. 41.4; pl. 15
  • University of Wisconsin Foundation. "2007 University of Wisconsin Foundation Annual Report on Stewardship." Madison: UW Foundation, 2007. p. 29
  • Glimcher, Arnold. "Louise Nevelson." New York: Praeger, 1972. p. 176

  • Modernist Sculpture: The Terese & Alvin S. Lane Collection: Chazen Museum of Art, 7/19/2008–9/28/2008
  • Lane Collection, The: Twentieth-Century Sculpture and Sculptors' Works on Paper: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 9/30/1995–12/3/1995

This towering, monochromatic black sculpture is a dense assemblage of wooden forms, constructed from found objects and abstract shapes arranged vertically. The complex composition features multiple stacked components organized into column-like structures standing side by side. These structures alternate between solid shapes and open spaces, creating a rhythmic interplay of filled and empty voids. The entire work is painted a uniform matte black, unifying the disparate elements while emphasizing contours and shadows. The central, tallest section consists of vertically stacked, open-faced boxes. Inside these compartments are arrangements of wooden scraps—curved fragments resembling furniture parts, turned spindles, and irregular geometric blocks—that create depth and shadowed recesses. Flanking this central area are two slender, rectangular pillars. The surface of each is covered with layered geometric and irregular shapes—narrow rectangles, blocks, and splintered pieces—arranged vertically. Both pillars feature two tiers, with the bottom halves wider than the top halves. The left pillar is nearly as tall as the central section, while the right pillar is shorter and narrower. The overall form is angular and heavy. Texture varies from smooth turned spindles to rough, grooved scraps. The diverse sizes and shapes of the wood elements—large and small, straight-edged and curvilinear—create a balanced composition of lines and contours across the structure.

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Information about artworks presented here may not reflect the most current research. Chazen staff update records as new details emerge; please verify independently for scholarly use and notify us of any errors.