Prodigious Paper Sculpture to be on View at The Morgan Library
A new exhibit will soon be getting off the ground--literally-- at The Morgan Library and Museum. This Friday marks the opening day of The Morgan's annual Summer Sculpture Series exhibit. This year's featured artist is Monika Grzymala, a Berlin-based sculptor who has created a massive hanging work made mostly from paper.
Grzymala's suspended sculpture, Volumen, celebrates paper "as the 'pictorial carrier' employed by
artists, writers, and composers to express human creativity." Volumen is constructed from thousands of
sheets of handmade paper that are linked together with bookbinder's yarn. Some
of these sheets feature printed images of autographed manuscripts from The
Morgan's own collection, including works by Franz Schubert, Jane
Austen, and Peter Paul Rubens.
Volumen will hang in The Morgan's sunny glass-enclosed Gilbert Court. "The time it takes to hang every element from the ceiling" may prove to be the greatest challenge to overcome before opening day says the exhibit's curator Isabelle Dervaux. If all goes accordingly, however the end result will be stunning. As the light in Gilbert Court changes throughout the day so too will Volumen's appearance to visitors. Interestingly, Volumen's name not only hints at its grand size, but also the role illumination will play in its display.
The Morgan Library recently explained to Fine Books that Monika Grzymala was chosen as the Series' featured artist not just because of her use of paper, but also for her "conception of sculpture as drawing in space." Grzymala will give a lecture on her exhibit's opening night, and Volumen will be on display until November.
Image Courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum and Monika Grzymala
