Martin Puryear Sculpture Exhibit

By Susan Davidson

National Gallery of Art, West Building

6th Street, NW & Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20565
Phone: 202.737.4215

Nearby Metro Stops:

Judiciary Square
Archives-Navy Memorial

Wheelchair Accessible:

Yes

Kid Friendly:

Yes

“Martin Puryear,” an exhibit of 48 sculptures created between 1967 and 2007, has opened here after its successful run at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Puryear—a DC native and MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” recipient—is a master craftsman whose medium is mainly wood and whose technique is to work by hand using traditional carpentry and basket-weaving methods. Although his pieces are postminimalist and abstract, they often allude to everyday objects such as a ladder.

In reviewing the exhibit before it came to DC, the New York Times said, “Mr. Puryear’s work is humorous but not ironic. It has a complex worldview devoid of trendy critique. It offers more integrity than innovation and proves repeatedly that accessible doesn’t rule out subtle.”