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Bar

1960–62

Images

A 60 1/2 by 19 by 13 inch sculpture consisting of a wooden beam with a haunched tenon, on a wooden 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. An iron wheel has been affixed to the right and left sides of the sculpture, just above the title.

Bar

1960–62

Gesso, oil, and iron and wooden wheels on wood

60 1/2 × 19 × 13 in. (153.7 × 48.3 × 33 cm)

 

Photo: Bruce C. Jones; Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Detail from Robert Indiana's journal entry for April 28, 1962 with a color sketch of the sculpture Bar

Detail from Robert Indiana's journal entry for April 28, 1962

 

Courtesy Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine

Installation view of Robert Indiana: Beyond LOVE, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 26, 2013–January 5, 2014,  

Installation view of Robert Indiana: Beyond LOVE, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 26, 2013–January 5, 2014

 

Photo: Tom Powel Imaging

Description

Bar, although one R is missing, is my tribute to Alfred Barr, who was sort of the founding father of the Museum of Modern Art. It just so happened that out of that very unsuccessful two man show that I had early on in New York [Indiana / Forakis, David Anderson Gallery, April 1–13, 1961] only one work was acquired and that was at Alfred Barr’s own selection [The American Dream, I (1960–61)] and went immediately into the Museum of Modern Art.

— Robert Indiana

 

Excerpt from Robert Indiana, Lecture in conjunction with the exhibition Wood Works: Constructions by Robert Indiana, Washington, D.C. May 3, 1984, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.