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For him, man creates art, and art then re-creates man. This process of recreating art was illustrated very well in the exhibition, which showed differing versions of particular sculptures. For example, there was first a blue-pencilled sketch of Constructed Head No 2 (1915). The sculpture from the sketch was made in galvanised iron, originally painted in yellow ochre. Later he made a plastic version in Germany and 30 years later a phosphor bronze copy (Lodder, C 2007).
In the second room of the exhibition was a larger version, 176cm in height, of Constructed Head No 2. This became a prime spot for a selfie for the visitors filing past along the one-way system.
In a corner of the same room, easily missed, was another version Constructed Head No 3 (Head in a Corner Niche, c 1917), shining like gold, made in silicon bronze.
Gabo had previously made sketches of a mother and child in the manner of a Russian icon. It was a tradition in Russian homes to place icons in the corners of rooms.
The curation of the exhibition was a little like a large Russian international exhibition pavilion, with the flow of the artworks based on the footprints showing the order that visitors were meant to follow around a large room, partially divided by screens.
The peripatetic international style of Gabo's life made it necessary to construct maquettes from materials that lasted and were easily transportable.
He formulated a sculptural system of intersecting planes called the stereoscopic method. These planes and lines created form through voids and edges. A recreation of a design/maquette in cardboard was exhibited.
Construction in Space: Vertical is one of the soaring constructions showing Gabo’s interest in flight and the construction of buildings in new materials.
Constructed Head No 3 (Head in a Corner Niche)
Constructed Head No 2
Enlarged version in steel (1964)