Harry Kramer

Torso

1962

Not on display

Artist: Harry Kramer born 1925
Original title: Torse
Medium: Metal
Dimensions: Object: 1143 x 679 x 686 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Purchased 1964
Reference: T00714

Catalogue entry

Harry Kramer born 1925

T00714 Torso 1962

Not inscribed
Wire construction with electric motor, 45 x 26 3/4 x 27 (114 x 68 x 68.5)
Purchased from the artist through the Hanover Gallery (Grant-in-Aid) 1964
Exh: Harry Kramer: Sculptures Automobiles - Film, Galerie Kerchache, Paris, February-April 1963 (works not listed, repr. as 'Torso' 1962); Movement, Hanover Gallery, London, December 1964-January 1965 (works not listed, repr.)
Repr: Aujourd'hui, No.41, 1963, p.44 (two superimposed views); Michael Compton, Optical and Kinetic Art (London 1967), pl.27

The artist confirmed that this work was made in 1962 and added: 'My sculptures have been developed out of the last machines and figures of my mechanical theatre. They form a spectacle in themselves, and stand therefore between plastic and representational art, but can no longer be used on the stage as they are complete works in themselves ... they are closer to Surrealism than to the Purism of Op Art' (letter of July 1965).

Published in:
Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.401, reproduced p.401