Alexander Liberman

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Alexander Liberman
Ulysses
1988

Project Area: Bunker Hill
Project: 400 S. Hope Street
Project Location: 400 S. Hope Street
Project Type: Developer Initiated

Description:

Alexander Liberman's dynamic 44' h painted steel all-white abstract sculpture is located in the building’s entry plaza on Hope Street. In contrast to the architecture of most of the surrounding buildings, Ulysses is composed of a diverse collection of ovals, circles, and ellipses integrated with a series of helical shaped ribbons swirling around the lower half of a unifying central column. This rich variety of details and patterns evoke a sense of movement, energize the space, and underscore the purpose of the plaza as both a portal for a pedestrian alley between Hope and Grand and as a passageway for visitors entering and leaving the building.

Artist Profile

Alexander Liberman (1912-1999), a Russian-American artist, studied architecture, worked as a set designer, and began working as a painter and photographer in the 1930s. In 1941, Liberman began working for Conde Nast magazines, eventually becoming Editorial Director. By the mid-1950s, the artist began exhibiting his own paintings and photographs and by the end of the decade was producing the welded steel sculptures for which he is now recognized. Liberman's work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art; Albright-Knox Art Gallery; De Cordova Museum, Massachusetts; Storm King Art Center; and Tate Gallery, England.