Art Brenner

Art Brenner (1924–2013) was an American abstract sculptor and painter. Born in New York City, he lived and worked in Paris from 1964 to 2012.[1]

He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in cities such as Paris, London, Avignon, Barcelona, Brussels, Brest, Amsterdam, Heidelberg, Montreal, and Adelaide, Australia.[citation needed]

His work is in public collections in France, Spain, and the United States (Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Conn.; Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Anchorage, Alaska). He was also the subject of a short CNN film, "An American Sculptor in Paris" (1995). The French government has honored him by inducting him as a "Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres", the French equivalent of induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Concern with sculptural monumentality and architecture

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As a sculptor whose works are frequently large and created for public, architectural settings, Brenner wrote a 1971 article for Leonardo magazine (MIT Press)[2] entitled "Concerning Sculpture and Architecture", in which he observes that "the monumental scale of modern sculpture... has quickly moved sculpture from the private to the public sector, that is toward a renewal of its relation with architecture." He also notes that "It has been argued that modern architecture by its very nature, its functionalism and purity, has little need for sculpture."[2]

Rejecting this analysis, he nevertheless acknowledges that the aesthetic values of modern architecture do require a careful approach to the use of monumental sculpture in conjunction with modern buildings, and that "architects should engage sculptors as essential members of a team".[2]

References

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  1. ^ "Art Brenner (1924 - 2013)". Peyton Wright Gallery. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Brenner, Art (1971). "Concerning Sculpture and Architecture". Leonardo. 4 (2): 99–107. doi:10.2307/1572183. ISSN 0024-094X.
  • Art Brenner; Galerie Lucien Durand. Art Brenner, Galerie Lucien Durand ... Paris ... du 2 mai au 27 mai 1967 ... [1] (Paris, Galerie L. Durand, 1967) OCLC 64070181
  • U.S. Centre culturel américain, Paris. Trois américains: Art Brenner, Robert Colescott, Elaine Hamilton.- Exposition à Paris, Centre culturel américain, 26 février-26 mars 1969 [2] [exhibition catalogue in French] (Paris, Centre culturel américain, 1969) OCLC 38695859
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