Wood engraving on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/naum-gabo-1137" aria-label="More by Naum Gabo" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Naum Gabo</a>
Opus 6
Bequeathed by Miriam Gabo, the artist's widow 1995
abstraction
geometric
irregular forms
non-representational
<p>In 1935 the Russian-born artist Naum Gabo, a pioneer of abstraction, arrived in England as a refugee. He influenced the development of Modernism in the 1930s and 1940s and was associated with the artists Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth, his neighbours in the fishing village of St Ives during the Second World War. After the war he moved to the USA. There are strong holdings of Gabo's work in the Collection as a result of his stay in England and of his friendship with a previous Tate Director, Sir Norman Reid. Gabo's celebrated geometric constructions (see Archive display) examine the object in space. These wood engravings reflect his sculptural concerns in a two-dimensional format.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
paper print wood engraving
Opus 6
image: 385 × 334 mm
Bequeathed by Miriam Gabo, the artist's widow 1995
<p>In 1935 the Russian-born artist Naum Gabo,  a pioneer of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/abstract-art" title="Glossary definition for 'Abstract art'"><span>abstraction</span></a>, arrived in England as  a refugee. He influenced the development of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/modernism" title="Glossary definition for 'Modernism'"><span>Modernism</span></a> in the 1930s and 1940s and was  associated with the artists Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth, his neighbours in the fishing village of St Ives during the Second World War. After the war he moved to the USA. 
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There are strong holdings of Gabo's work in the Collection as a result of his stay in England and  of his friendship with a previous Tate Director,  Sir Norman Reid. Gabo's celebrated geometric  constructions (see Archive display) examine the object in space. These <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/wood-engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Wood engraving'"><span>wood engravings</span></a> reflect his <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'Sculpture'"><span>sculptural</span></a> concerns in a two-dimensional format. </p>
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2004-08-18T00:00:00
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<b>Naum Gabo 1890-1977</b>
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<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gabo-opus-6-p11387" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11387</span></a> Opus 6 1955–1956</p>
<p>Inscribed ‘Opus 6’ b.l. and ‘Gabo’ b.r.<br/>Wood-engraving, 15<b>¿ </b>x 13<b>¿</b> (38<b>.</b>3 x 33<b>.</b>3) on Japanese paper, 23<b>¿ </b>x 19<b>¿</b> (60<b>.</b>8 x 48<b>.</b>4).<br/>Presented by the artist 1971.<br/>
<i>Repr:</i> H.Read and L.Martin,<i> Gabo</i>, 1957, pl. 131 (another, slightly different impression).</p>
<p>Gabo has described (letter of 28 April 1968) how he was encouraged to try his hand at print making by the late William Ivins Jr, Curator of Prints and later Acting Director of the Metropolitan Museum, who was his neighbour in Woodbury, Conn. He made his first five wood engravings, entitled ‘Opus 1–5’ during the winter and part of the summer of 1950. In 1967 he presented a set to the Tate through the American Federation of Arts (T947 i–v).<br/>'Opus 6’ is considerably larger than any of these and was done later, about 1955 6, as a sketch for the bas-relief which he made in 1956 for the lobby of the U.S. Rubber Company Building in Radio City, N.Y. It was actually made in London.</p>
<p>Published in<i> The Tate Gallery Report 1970–1972</i>, London 1972.</p>
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Catalogue entry
2012-07-27T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction geometric irregular forms non-representational