cover image Mark Di Suvero: At Storm King Art Center

Mark Di Suvero: At Storm King Art Center

Irving Sandler, Mark Di Suvero. ABRAMS, $45 (128pp) ISBN 978-0-8109-3218-0

Di Suvero's strong, protean outdoor steel sculptures are a commanding presence, as documented in this vibrantly illustrated catalogue of an exhibit at the Storm King sculpture park, located 55 miles north of Manhattan. Monumental constructions such as Beppe and Johnny Appleseed combine thrusting beams and large found objects (steam shovels, machine tools, etc.) to create diverse spaces, earthbound or soaring. Smaller pieces composed of fanciful shapes sometimes resemble abstract calligraphy and often include kinetic elements. Rough-hewn, expressionistic, found-wood-and-steel sculptures call to mind Franz Kline's muscular abstract paintings. Born in Shanghai, China, to Italian antifascist parents in 1933, Di Suvero, who settled with his family in San Francisco in 1941, absorbed the lessons of David Smith, Alexander Calder and Russian constructivists, fusing industrial techniques, lyric imagination and geometry. State University of New York art history professor Sandler contributes a lively, informative essay augmented by 95 color photographs. (May)