Modular constructivism is a style of sculpture that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s and was associated especially with Erwin Hauer and Norman Carlberg. It is based on carefully structured modules which allow for intricate and in some cases infinite patterns of repetition, sometimes used to create limitless, basically planar, screen-like formations, and sometimes employed to make more multidimensional structures. Designing these structures involves intensive study of the combinatorial possibilities of sometimes quite curvilinear and fluidly shaped modules, creating a seamless, quasi-organic unity that can be either rounded and self-enclosed, or open and potentially infinite. The latter designs have proved useful and attractive for use in eye-catching architectural walls and screens, often featuring complex patterns of undulating, tissue-like webbing, with apertures which transmit and filter light, while generating delicate patterns of shadow. Writing in ''Architecture Week'' (August 4, 2004), Hauer explains that "Continuity and potential infinity have been at the very center of my sculpture from early on.

Hauer made an extensive study of biomorphism, biomorphic form, especially what he calls "saddle surfaces," which combine convex and concave curvature and thus allow for smooth self-combination, sometimes in multiple dimensions. Another inspiration is the sculpture of

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...

, with its fluid curves and porosity. Hauer's enthusiasm caught the imagination of his colleague at Yale, Norman Carlberg. Both were devoted students of the arch-formalist Josef Albers. Indeed, from the beginning, there was in this modular approach to sculpture an implicit formalism and even

minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

which held itself aloof from some of the other artistic trends of the time, such as the pop art and post-modernism that were just beginning to emerge. As Carlberg recalls, within his artistic circle "you analysed, you looked at something, but you looked at it formally just for what it was and the message was almost always out of it.

References

* Galerie Chalette
''Structured sculpture : December 1960-January 1961''
( New York City : The Gallery, 1960) xhibition catalogue

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

6027697 * Carlberg, Norman. ''Norman Carlberg : an exhibition of sculpture'' xhibition catalogue(Exhibition of sculpture : Norman Carlberg : presented by the Pennsylvania State University College of Arts and Architecture, November 5-November 29, 1966)

81988058;

82275454 (Worldcat links

* Hauer, Erwin
''Erwin Hauer : Continua - architectural screens and walls by Erwin Hauer''
(New York : Princeton Architectural ; London : Hi Marketing, 2004) {{ISBN, 1-56898-455-3 * Montpelier Cultural Arts Center
Sculpture 2000 : the twentieth anniversary of the Montpelier invitational sculpture exhibition, Montpelier Cultural Arts Center, June 8 - August 18, 2000
xhibition catalogue(Maryland : Montpelier Cultural Arts Center, 2000)

49254937 * Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)
''Recent sculpture U.S.A. Sponsored by the Junior Council of the Museum of Modern Art''
(New York, 1959) OCLC 1097018 * Philadelphia Museum College of Art; Paul Darrow; Ed Rossbach; Walter Reinsel;

Antonio Frasconi Antonio Frasconi (28 April 1919 in Montevideo, Uruguay – 8 January 2013 in Norwalk, CT, USA) was an Uruguayan - American visual artist, best known for his woodcuts. He was raised in Montevideo, Uruguay, and lived in the United States since ...

; Herb Lubalin; Helen Borten; Henry Mitchell; Erwin Hauer; John Mason; Lenore Tawney
''Directors' choice : an exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art, Broad and Pine Streets, January 14 through February 7, 1961''
( Philadelphia, Pa. : hiladelphia Museum College of Art 1961)

49120005

External links

Erwin Hauer Studios homepage, with Hauer bio
* ttp://www.architonic.com/cat/fam/3101037/1 Information on Erwin Hauer Studios from architonic.com
Article: "Screens to Infinity", by Erwin Hauer
''Architecture Week'', (4 August 2004)

at Riverside Centre, built by Harry Seidler and Associates in Brisbane,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Marylandartsource.com
page on Norman Carlberg, including some comment by the artist on the modular constructivist style Art movements Constructivism History of sculpture Modernist sculpture Constructivism