Naum Knop, Argentine Modernist Brutalist Abstract Bronze Sculpture Jewish Latin American

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Naum Knop (Ukrainian-Argentinean, 1917-1993) Modernist Brutalist bronze figural sculpture with heavy verdigris green finish. Melted forms in the shape of … Read more Naum Knop (Ukrainian-Argentinean, 1917-1993) Modernist Brutalist bronze figural sculpture with heavy verdigris green finish. Melted forms in the shape of an abstract pretzel like twist. Affixed to white stone plinth. Artist signature, "NK" side of base. Good condition, shows rich green patina and aged oxidation. Measures approximately 17.5 in. x 19.5 in. x 6.5 in.

Naum Knop, Argentine sculptor, was born in 1917 in Buenos Aires, into a Jewish family of Russian origin from Ukraine. His childhood was spent in the neighborhood of La Paternal where his father had a carpentry workshop, a space in which he made contact for the first time with the technique of wood carving. After finishing elementary school, he worked with the teacher Luis Fernández and soon after he dedicated himself to furniture design. Around 1935, he entered the Manuel Belgrano School of Fine Arts . Between 1941 and 1942 he attended the course for graduates taught by Alberto Lagos and Alfredo Bigatti at the National School of Fine Arts and continued his training between 1942-1945 at the Ernesto de la Cárcova High School with Soto Avedaño, Carlos de la Cárcova and José Fioravanti. At this time he put his works in dialogue with other young artists such as Libero Badii and Aurelio Macchi .
Around 1947 he made his study trip abroad. He goes to California, United States, where he enters the Art Institute of Los Angeles. At the same time visit museums and galleries. In January 1948 he organized his first exhibition abroad, held at the Hall of Arts in Beverly Hills in Los Angeles. During this period he toured Chicago and then New York. That year he traveled to Europe; his itinerary includes France, Italy, Switzerland and England. As a result, he came into contact with the work of Henry Moore, Hans Jean Arp, Jacques Lipchitz, Constantin Brancusi, Umberto Boccioni, Henry Laurens, Ossip Zadkine. Artists who have an impact on the young Knop and whom he honors in his subsequent production. He returned to Argentina in 1949 and installed his workshop where he worked on ornamental carving and on pieces in which he oscillated between a synthetic figuration and abstraction.
In 1956 he began his successful participation in salons , obtaining numerous awards at the national and municipal level. In 1959 he participated in the shipment to the 5th São Paulo Biennial and since then, to the success achieved at the local level, the multiple exhibitions carried out in the international field have been added. The exhibitions in Tel Aviv , Jerusalem and Rome (1966) stand out; Dusseldorf (1977); Los Angeles and Palm Spring (1981); New York (1986), San Pablo and Los Angeles(1989). During this period, his work matured, while he began to experiment with the direct wax technique, obtaining textured surfaces similar to welds that gave it a strong abstract expressionist feature. In parallel to his personal production and to the small models, the artist receives private and public commissions for which he works on large-scale sculptures and murals. Around 1967, the architect Mario R. Álvarez summons him to participate in a closed competition for the creation of a work to be located in the General San Martín Cultural Center . Libero Badii and Enio Iommi participate with the artist ; the bronze Reclining Figure Knop is chosen. Among the large-scale monuments it is worth remembering the piece Los tres soles temporarily located in Recoleta in 1984 and later installed in Maryland, United States; as well as Seated Figure (Reminiscence of Michelangelo) located in the shield of a private building in 1970. To these are added the numerous murals in which he experiments with various materials and techniques such as casting in bronze, openwork and reliefs in wood and work in cement.
He was included in the The 1962 International Prize for Sculpture the jury included Argan, Romero Brest and James Johnson Sweeney the former director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. The participants included Louise Nevelson and John Chamberlain for the United States; Lygia Clark for Brazil; Pietro Consagra, Lucio Fontana, Nino Franchina, and Gió Pomodoro for Italy; Pablo Serrano for Spain; and Eduardo Paolozzi, William Turnbull, and Kenneth Armitage for England. Gyula Kosice, Noemí Gerstein, Julio Gero, Naum Knop, Aldo Paparella, Enrique Romano, Eduardo Sabelli, and Luis Alberto Wells represented Argentina.
The year 1970 opens a new stage of flowering in his career, this coincides with the inauguration of his workshop in the Parque Patricios neighborhood , a space in which the Naum Knop Foundation operates today. At this time, he continued to deal with characteristic themes in his production and other novel ones such as the American Figure of 1972. Throughout the decade, work on wood prevailed, especially the assemblages of small highly polished and smooth pieces that configure reliefs or figures of large and sinuous volumes. Around 1988 the artist opened the Naum Knop Museum in the Salons of the Serra Lima company. It will continue until the end of its life. Naum Knop died in Buenos Aires in 1993.

Select Exhibitions

1948 "Sixteen Sculpture by Naum Knop", Hall of Arts, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.
1959 Biennial of São Paulo, Brazil.
1966 "Naum Knop Sculptures", Zvi Noam Gallery, Tel-Aviv
1966 "Naum Knop", Jerusalem Art Museum, Jerusalem
1966 "N. Knop ”, Due Mondi. Galleria d´arte internazionale, Rome.
1973 “N. Knop Sculptures ”, Art Gallery at Leivik House, Tel-Aviv
1973 “Exhibition of Sculptures by the Argentine Sculptor Naum Knop”, ZOA House, Argentine Embassy, ​​Tel-Aviv
1977 "Naum Knop", EP Galerie, Düsseldorf
1981 Los Angeles Exhibition
1981 “Encounter of Argentine. The Argentine American Plastic Artist ”, Cultural Foundation, Los Angeles
1984 "Naum Knop", Angel Nuñez Galleries, Argentine Embassy, ​​Washington, December 1984 - January 1985.
1986 "Naum Knop at Arch Gallery", Arch Gallery, New York.
1989 "Naum Knop. Sculptures ”, Museu de Arte Contemporânea José Pancetti, São Paulo, Brazil
1989 "Patio Azteca", Organization of American States, Washington.
1989 "The Lyric Structures of Naum Knop", Museum of Modern Art of Latin America Gallery
1999/2000 "Art of the Southern Cone - Argentina - Chile - Uruguay", Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California. See less