Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 10 : Record of press coverage, March 1982 - May 1984

.,· The Leaaer 5 February 19 4 ,. 'A lyrical and elegant work' '--- Now on display at the Queensland Art Gallery is a recently purchased work by an ar– tist who has been called "the best sculptor Australia has ever had". The acquisi1ion is Metal Sculpture b)' Roben Klippel. considered to be 1hc sculp1or's master work and regarded by 1he Gallery as lhe mos1 imponan1 201h•cen1ury work ac· quired ror ilS Aus1ralian sculpture collec1ion. Robcn Klippel was born in Sydney in I 920. His early experimcnlS in wood and me1al con· struc1ions were in1errup1ed by World War II. during which he served as a gunner in 1he RAN. Afler post-war studies in London and 18 mo111hs in Paris where he mel the surrcalis1 writer Andre Brelon. Klippel worked and taU&hl for several years in lhe Uni1ed Sta1cs. His eJthibitions following his return 10 Australia in 1963 showed him making exlen• sivc use of small. precision-made elcmcnlS such as pieces from 1ypewrhers and adding machines. Unlike many sculp1ors working wi1h junk me1al, however. Klippel is concerned wi1h nol so much making metaphors wi1h his ma1erials as wi1h creating abs1rac1 metallic construe• 1ions !hat arc lyrical and elegant As the artist himself says of his assemblages: "I just sec !hem ~s shapes - I forge1_1he iden· 1i1y of the matenal I am working !n . Metal Sculprure is construcled enlircly of machine parts - steel rods, rachelS, 1ypcwri1er tapets, pistons. cylinders and cog wheels. It measures 198 x 145 x 162 cm and. as our illustration suggests. has three major arms which reach up wi1h the cffonlcss strc11gth and grace of a plan! seeking 1he sun. 'ine work was assembled b) the ar11s1 over a period of four years bc1ween I 965 and 1968 -.abou1 the time when lhe famous an cri1ic Roetn Hughes declared 1ha1 Khppel's work would be noticed in an in1erna1ional con1ex1. Metal Sculprure was once described by 1he late I.auric Thoma~ as "no1only ... Klippel's pci,onal masterpiece, bul one or 1he 11mekS!> works or an to come ou1 or 1he prescn1 da) .:Ii is made up of a 1housand bi1s and piece,. the type of work 1ha1 has t>cen called junk sculp1ur~ because ii makes use or abandoned parts and rusty discards. "They are pieced 1oge1her wi1h 1he u1mos1 relinemeni . .. as !hough they were a cam plicaJ~ line drawing made in10 s1ed. AThough the objec1 i1sclf necessarilyrcnern 1i!Gch or 1hc merciless jangle or a new in d~ial' c111, ilS formal purity and what it ex· presses of the an,it'~ dream belong 10 no age." ,. . .-.,. . ~-. .. ... _:·. Mera/ Sculpture (/965-/9681 by Robert Klippel . . . On view at the Queensland Art Gallery. •