Aqua Libra, made of textured stainless steel with bronze weldments, is a commanding abstract work by the late Lila Katzen.  The forceful piece is charged with power created from the upright asymmetrical sections that stand 8 feet tall.  It marks a break from the artist's earlier flowing and sinuous looping ribbons of steel and follows a new direction set forth in the early 1990s.  Though not immediately apparent, the abstract works from this period are interpretations of contemporary cultural issues as seen by the artist.  The aggressive compositions, jagged-edged fragments, and exposed seams allude to society's jarring fragmentation.

Pinkney, Lila Katzen's sculpture of cut, rolled and welded steel resembles a curled ribbon, solid and substantial in physicality yet delicate and sensuous in form.  Perhaps this derived from her initial artistic career as a painter, influenced by the surface, color and decorative aspects of such earlier masters as Miro and Matisse while the elements of line, movement and structure reflect her beginnings as a sculptor during the Abstract Expressionist era.  Katzen worked on a human scale, inviting viewer interaction and accessibility.  Though there is no reference to visual reality, her mode of expression became one of simplification and exclusion of detail.  She worked meditatively and intuitively, bending and folding, transforming one component into another until the rhythmic form that was her signature style emerged.

Katzen said of her pieces in all media: "I feel marvelous when my works find a home.  They are like my children.  They are my links to the past.  They are what I am."

Born in 1932, in Brooklyn, Katzen began studying painting at the Art Students League; she continued her studies and earned a BFA at The Cooper Union, New York City.  Katzen later attended the Hans Hoffman School of Art in New York and Provincetown, MA.  An accomplished painter, in 1955, Katzen had her first solo exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art.  In 1962, Katzen accepted a position at the Maryland Institute, College of Art—she remained on the faculty until 1980.  An encounter with renowned sculptor George Segal in 1964 prompted Katzen to focus her attention on sculpture, and she became interested in Minimalism.  Her sculpture, Liquid Tunnel, comprised of light and fluorescent liquid, for the 1970 Sao Paulo Biennale won her international attention.  During the early 1970’s, Katzen moved away from the philosophies of Minimalism, and instead, chose to create works that encouraged human interaction.  This decision led Katzen to push stainless steel and aluminum to creative heights in the 1980s and 1990s—resulting in works that were not only aesthetically striking, but laden with meaningful content relevant to society and humanity.  Katzen passed away on September 20, 1998 in New York City. 

During her prolific career as an artist, Katzen was awarded a number of solo exhibitions including shows at the Montgomery Museum of Art in Alabama (1996) and Lila Katzen: Force I at Wichita State University’s Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Kansas (1995)—her participation in group exhibitions is equally extensive.  Her works are in collections at the De Cordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA; Baltimore Museum of Art, MD; the Birmingham Museum of Art, AL; the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Santa Monica, CA; and Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT.

Other works by Lila Katzen currently on view in the sculpture park:

Loquacious Three, 1986
textured stainless steel
101” x 55” x 42”
Courtesy of Private Collection

Aqua Libra, 1992
stainless steel textured with bronze weldments
96" x 43" x 40"
Courtesy of The Sculpture Foundation, Inc.

Pinkney, 1978
Corten steel
61" x 55" x 30"
Courtesy of The Sculpture Foundation, Inc.
Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Hal Katzen
Photo: RicardoBarros.com