Head of a Woman

Naum Gabo

c. 1917-20 (after a work of 1916)

A shallow, box-mounted sculpture in folded celluloid and metal that abstracts a woman’s head into intersecting geometric planes, aiming to translate the human face into engineered spatial structure.

You first notice a pale, helmetlike curve and a sharply faceted nose and chin pushing forward from the shallow frame, the slightly translucent sheets folded like giant paper origami so light and shadow make the form seem to float and shift.

An early Constructivist experiment, it helped move sculpture away from carved mass toward assembled planes and new industrial materials (notably celluloid), showing how light, space, and engineering could define form.

Palette

Art Terms

Constructivism Sculpture Celluloid Assemblage Abstraction Geometric abstraction Relief Portrait

Exhibitions

Naum Gabo, 1890–1977

1977

Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner

1948

The Museum Collection of Sculpture

1946

Modern Relief

1951