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Bar

1960–62, cast 1991

Images

A 58 5/8 by 15 by 12 5/8 inch painted bronze sculpture consisting of a beam with a haunched tenon, on a base. The sculpture's title, "Bar," is painted in red stenciled letters across the bottom front of the work. Occupying the space from few inches above the title to the top of the sculpture are three painted red circles. The top one is red with a green vertical stripe down the center, the middle one consists of red, green and blue horizontal fields, and the bottom one is blue with a diagonal green stripe down the middle. A wheel has been affixed to the right and left sides of the sculpture, just above the title.

Bar

1960–62, cast 1991

Painted bronze

58 5/8 × 15 × 12 5/8 in. (148.8 × 38.1 × 32 cm)

Edition of eight plus two artist's proofs.

 

Photo: Courtesy of Walla Walla Foundry, Washington; Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Slightly angled front image of the bronze herm Bar.
Right profile view of the bronze her Bar. A green stenciled letter "I" has been painted at the bottom of the base, and a wheel has been attached above the letter.

Right side

Left profile view of the bronze herm Bar. "1960" is stenciled above the base, above this "USA" is stenciled in red, green and blue, and above this "1962" is stenciled in red. A wheel is attached above the text.

Left side

The verso of the bronze herm Orb.

Verso

Description

Bar, a painted bronze rendition of Indiana’s herm Bar (1960–62), was first exhibited in Robert Indiana: Early Sculpture, 1960–1962, at the Salama-Caro Gallery in London. Indiana considered bronze, along with marble, to be one of the noble materials in the tradition of European sculpture. Because of this, as well as the longevity of the material, the artist had always wanted to turn his herms into bronze, a project that was realized in 1991, when bronze versions of eight of Indiana’s early herms were created.