ntae hr oe oad a re, pnfr language. open-form freer, Falkenstein’s a towards move her spontaneous. onstrated dem Art the of Museum Francisco San the and at exhibition 1948 accidental room the more allow for to began on herap she and sculpture, to influence proach an important had paintings sionist expres abstract whose Still, Clyfford met she where Arts, Fine late of School the California the at In teaching began exhibition. she 1940s, solo a mounted Gallery the Bonestall when 1944, in City York New in shown first was work Her parts. moveable with forms three-dimensional organic abstract,creating ceramics, and wood in predominantly ing work and Francisco San in living was Falkenstein 1940, By Kepes. Gyorgy and Moholy-Nagy László émigrés Bauhaus workedwith also she Mills, at studies her During sculpture. ciples of implied motion and spatial relationships in abstract prin the introduced who Archipenko,Alexander with land In1933, artist. Falkenstein received young a grant to study at Mills College in Oak a such for achievement a rare tion, firstexhibi solo Franciscoher mountedSan Westin Gallery East- the year, same That anthropology. and philosophy in minors and art in major a passion, with graduated she her 1930 in and became soon California it of However, University 1927. in the Berkeley entered she to when not intend did art study Falkenstein achild, as sculpting began she Although an adult. as vocabulary artistic her on effect profound a had driftwood and stones, shells, seaweed, to proximity daily This beach. the over rise sun the watch to order in bay the of edge the to horse her ride and early up wake often would she child, a As Oregon. in town lumber glass, and metal fused of structures exquisite her for Celebrated direction” ownmy worked out always I’ve subject. some or terior growth, rather than exterior association with some style there is a kind of action always in my work thatYou is But all. lifeinfluencedcan’t at justthrough being go not of a kind of in “ Claire Falkenstein (1908-1997) Well, if you look at my work, of course there’s some influence. Claire Falkenstein was born in Coos Bay, a small Pacific ------1 gral to the overall composition. This work forced Falkenstein Fountain Federal Savings and Loan Association. Known as the California the forfountain glass and tube copper welded a Her first Angeles public Los in commission (1963-1965) was ice (now in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy). Ven in Leoni dei VenierPalazzo the of gates the including completed numerous public she commissions aroundYork, the world New in Gallery Jackson Martha the and Paris in Stadler Galerie Representedby California. Southern in tled set and 1960 in States United the to Falkensteinreturned Hitler. under suppression its since time first the forrevived exhibition, Werkbund 1952 the in included artist German non- only the became she and extensively,exhibited was the sculptural qualities of open and negative space. Her work sculptures of welded wire that revealed her fascination with her most important works in Europe, such as the of some created She structure.” topological the structure, elements: “the sign main and the five ensemble, the of moving point consisted and the it lattice and style, mature her of cornerstone the was vocabulary This vocabulary.” own “looking within” really worked. That’s when I developed my you’re there. I felt it so strongly that right away my so-called feelyourself[y]ou within . it . when . and art of cultureand of . . . centuries of quality the have They action. individual of kind a allowed French “the explaining, Paris, in time her to partly individuality this in confidence her attributes she and movements, art specific with unaffiliated career her of Tobey.versatile, innovativeA artist, Falkenstein most spent cluded American artists Sam Francis, Paul Jenkins, and Mark in friends her where Paris, to Falkensteinmoved 1950, In , the work used water as a sculptural element inte Sun Series Cal Fed - - - - , photo by Paul C. Greene, San Francisco, CA; Courtesy of The Falkenstein Foundation Claire Falkenstein (1908-1997), Structure and Flow, c.1965, copper, 26 3/4” x 36” x 24 1/2” to think in terms of the construction and flow of sculpture, ors, as well as large-scale photographs of her major public revealing her recurring interest in molecular structure, topol- commissions. Curated by Jay Belloli, a member of The Falken- ogy, and cosmology. The most monumental commission of stein Foundation board of trustees and an expert on Falken- her career was a series of welded doors and glass windows for stein’s art, the exhibition is scheduled to open in April of 2016. St. Basil Church in Los Angeles. Completed in 1969, this series revolved around her notion of the “never ending screen,” a Falkenstein’s diverse body of artwork is currently repre- sculptural element she developed and deployed throughout sented in public collections worldwide, including the Tate her career, even incorporating it into paintings and drawings. Modern in London; Centre Pompidou in Paris; Smithson- ian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.; Los An- In 1997, Falkenstein died at age eighty-nine, and soon after, geles County Museum of Art; and the Museum of Mod- The Falkenstein Foundation was created to preserve her leg- ern Art and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, both acy. Since then, her work has been shown regularly in group in New York. A prolific artist, Falkenstein continued to and solo exhibitions, including the 2015 exhibitionPathmak - work and exhibit for the duration of her nearly seventy- ers: Women in Art, Craft & Design, Midcentury and Today year career. In 2014, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery proudly at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, -Washing became the representative of The Falkenstein Foundation. ton, DC. In January 2016, Claire Falkenstein is on view at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy for Postwar 1 Oral history interview with Claire Falkenstein, 1995 Mar. 2-21, Archives of Era: A Recent History, Homage to Claire Falkenstein. Cur- American Art, Smithsonian Institution. http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/ rently, the Pasadena Museum of California Art is organizing a interviews/oral-history-interview-claire-falkenstein-12659 traveling retrospective, Beyond Sculpture, comprised of ap- (Accessed July 2014). proximately seventy-five works, including sculptures, paint- 2 Oral history interview with Claire Falkenstein, 1995 Mar. 2-21. ings, drawings, etchings, lithographs, jewelry, and watercol- 3 Oral history interview with Claire Falkenstein, 1995 Mar. 2-21.