Pol Bury16 Balls, 16 Cubes in 8 Rows 1966

Pol Bury born 1922

T00919 16 Boules, 16 Cubes sur 8 Rangées(16 Balls, 16 Cubes in 8 Rows) 1966

Inscribed on back top edge '16 BOULES, 16 CUBES SUR 7 RANGÉES. Pol Bury Sept 66.'
Motorised construction of stained wood and plywood, 31 1/2 x 15 3/4 x 7 7/8 (80 x 40 x 20)
Purchased from the artist through Kasmin Ltd. (Grant-in-Aid) 1967
Exh:Pol Bury: Cinétisations, Galerie La Hune, Paris, October 1966 (no catalogue); Pol Bury, Kasmin Ltd., London, April-May 1967 (works not listed, repr.)
Lit:Pol Bury, La Boule et le Cube(Brussels 1967); Michael Compton, Optical and Kinetic Art(London 1967), n.p., repr. pl.32
Repr:Studio International, CLXXIII, 1967, p.269; Arts Review, XIX, 22 July 1967, p.266

The balls and cubes are arranged in eight rows which comprise all the six permutations of the two balls with two cubes, and two of the eight permutations of three of one kind with one of another. This logical regularity contrasts with the randomness and the jerky, wayward slowness of their movements. The title inscribed on the back gives the number of rows as seven, but the artist says that this must have been a mistake and can be corrected… (read more)