In 1964, at New York’s Green Gallery, Robert Morris exhibited a suite of large-scale polyhedron forms constructed from two-by-fours and gray-painted plywood. This kind of simple geometric sculpture came to be called Minimalist because it seemed to be stripped of extraneous distractions such as figural or metaphorical reference, detail or ornament, and even surface inflection. Sculptures like the Corner Piece, one component of the 1964 suite, boldly delineate the space in which they are located, thus defining the physical and temporal relationship of the viewer to the sculptural object.

Morris’s sculptures often consist of industrial or building materials such as steel, fiberglass, and plywood, and were commercially fabricated according to the artist’s specifications. The value of the “artist’s hand”—the unique gesture that defines an individual’s skill and style—was inimical to Morris, and the work of art became, in theory, not an “original” object but a representation of the idea from which it was conceived. This notion allowed for the creation and destruction of a piece when necessary; Corner Piece, for example, can be refabricated each time it is to be exhibited.

In 1968 Morris introduced an entirely different aesthetic approach, which he articulated in an essay entitled “Anti-Form.” In this and later writings he reassessed his assumptions underlying Minimalist art and concluded that, contrary to earlier assertions, the construction of such objects had relied on subjective decisions and therefore resulted in icons—making them essentially no different than traditional sculpture. The art that he, Eva Hesse, Richard Serra, and others began to explore at the end of the 1960s stressed the unusual materials they employed—industrial components such as wire, rubber, and felt—and their response to simple actions such as cutting and dropping. Pink Felt, for example, is composed of dozens of sliced pink industrial felt pieces that have been dropped unceremon-iously on the floor. Morris’s scattered felt strips obliquely allude to the human body through their response to gravity and epidermal quality. The ragged irregular contours of the jumbled heap refuse to conform to the strict unitary profile that is characteristic of Minimalist sculpture. This, along with its growing referentiality, led Morris’s work of the late-1960s and early 1970s to be referred to by such terms as Anti-Form, Process art [more], or Post-Minimalism [more].

Jennifer Blessing

Purchased from Leo Castelli, New York, by Panza in 1967; purchased by Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 1991.

Panza purchased the fiberglass version made in 1967 after the 1964 concept.

Solo
Green Gallery, New York, December 16, 1964–January 9, 1965.

Leo Castelli, New York, Robert Morris, March 4, 1967.

The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Robert Morris, November 24–December 28, 1969. Traveled to Detroit Institute of Arts, January 8–February 8, 1970. The work was exhibited in Washington only. Catalogue, pp. 36 (illus., cat. no. 18), 37, 39, 95 (cat. no. 18, painted plywood).

Ace Gallery, Venice, California, June 9–July 14, 1973.

Guggenheim Museum SoHo and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (organizer), Robert Morris: The Mind/Body Problem, January 15–April 4, 1994 (SoHo) and February 3–May 1, 1994 (uptown); Deichtorhallen Hamburg, March 9–May 7, 1995; Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (collaborator), Robert Morris, July 5–October 23, 1995. A 1993 plywood fabrication was exhibited. Catalogue (New York: Guggenheim Museum, 1994) with essays by Rosalind Krauss, Maurice Berger, David Antin, Annette Michelson, W. J. T. Mitchell, and Jean-Pierre Criqui and catalogue entries by Kimberly Paice; pp. 36 (illus.), 38 (illus.), 170 (fig. 64), 171 (illus. shows the work at Green Gallery, 1964–65). French edition (Paris: Editions du Centre Georges Pompidou, 1995) with essays in French and English by Catherine Grenier and Didier Ottinger, essays in French by Krauss, Mitchell, Barbara Rose, and Criqui, and biography by Katia Baudin and Grenier; pp. 219 (illus. shows the work at Green Gallery, 1964–65), 347.

Group
Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Arte minimal de la Colección Panza, March 24–December 31, 1988. Catalogue (Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, Dirección General de Bellas Artes y Archivos, Centro Nacional de Exposiciones, 1988) with essays by Germano Celant and Fernando Huici; pp. 33 (illus.), 61.

Baker, Kenneth. Minimalism: Art of Circumstance. New York: Abbeville Press, 1988, p. 69 (two illus. of the work and the work at Green Gallery, 1964).

Batchelor, David. Minimalism. Movements in Modern Art. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1997, p. 24 (illus. shows the work at Green Gallery, 1964).

Berger, Maurice. Labyrinths: Robert Morris, Minimalism [more], and the 1960s. New York: Harper & Row/Icon Editions, 1989, p. 12 (illus. shows the work at Green Gallery, 1964).

Castelli and His Artists, Twenty-five Years: A Catalogue and Exhibition Marking the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Castelli Gallery (exh. cat.). Aspen, Colorado: Aspen Center for the Visual Arts, 1982, unpag. (Robert Morris, fig. 97; published as Triangle Piece).

Celant, Germano. Das Bild einer Geschichte 1956/1976, p. 82 (illus.; published as Corner Piece).

Compton, Michael, and David Sylvester. Robert Morris (exh. cat.). London: Tate Gallery, 1971, pp. 22 (illus. shows the work at Green Gallery, 1964), 38 (illus.).

Knight, Christopher. Art of the Sixties and Seventies, pp. 186 (illus.), 266. Revised and expanded English edition: pp. 226 (illus.), 307. French edition pp. 186 (illus.), 266. Italian edition: pp. 186 (illus.), 266. Revised and expanded Italian edition: pp. 226 (illus.), 307.

Robert Morris: The Felt Works (exh. cat.). New York: Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, New York University, 1989. Essays by Pepe Karmel and Maurice Berger; p. 2 (illus.).

Spector, Nancy, ed. Guggenheim Museum Collection: A to Z. New York: Guggenheim Museum, 1992, 2d ed. 2001, p. 244, 245 (illus.).

Tucker, Marcia. Robert Morris (exh. cat.). New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1970, pp. 25, 26 (plate 13).