Untitled: Herbert Ferber

Herbert Ferber was among the leading sculptors of the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1950s. In 1972, the American Dental Association commissioned this sculpture by Ferber, who held a degree in dentistry. It was donated to the City of Chicago in 1992. In describing this particular artwork, Ferber explained, “The important thing about this sculpture is that the forms and the spaces between the forms are equally important. The forms hold the space and the space holds the forms. This is very different from looking at a traditional sculpture which is monolithic, a surface which defines a mass.” Contrary to traditional, static sculptural forms, Ferber’s fluid work seems to move weightlessly through space.