Robert Grosvenor, an influential sculptor whose distinctive works initially embraced Minimalist aesthetics before evolving into completely unclassifiable pieces, died Wednesday in New York at the age of 88. His death was confirmed by Paula Cooper Gallery, though no cause of death was provided.
Grosvenor rose to prominence in New York during the 1960s, exhibiting his work alongside renowned Minimalist artists in landmark exhibitions, including the groundbreaking "Primary Structures" show at the Jewish Museum in 1966. However, his sculptures from subsequent decades diverged significantly from Minimalism, despite maintaining their spare quality and use of industrial materials.
Throughout his career, Grosvenor's art took numerous captivating forms. He created massive steel structures that extended downward from ceilings, cutting through largely empty gallery spaces. He worked with heavy wooden beams, cutting them and treating them with creosote, a material typically used to strengthen railroad ties. His later works included sculptures resembling automobiles, complete with wheels and taillights, but deliberately altered in subtle ways that made them unsettling, sometimes by roughening their surfaces.
The artist rarely provided explanations for his works, leaving critics to interpret their meanings independently. Art critic John Yau spent considerable time in a review contemplating how to interact with "Untitled," a 2020 sculpture featuring a pool of water sitting atop a rubber liner encased within a rectangle of stacked cement blocks. Writing for Hyperallergic, Yau observed: "In the pool of water that perfectly reflects the ceiling above, he has made a work that is open and accepting of the world, while quietly rejoicing in its changing material condition. He reminds us that nothing is forever."
Like many of Grosvenor's pieces, this work was titled "Untitled," a deliberate choice that reflected his artistic philosophy. "It felt more complete, simpler—not pegging down the works so much and leaving them open," Grosvenor explained in an interview with the Brooklyn Rail.
The uniqueness of Grosvenor's art and the unconventional trajectory of his career earned him widespread admiration. New York Times critic Roberta Smith characterized his artistic journey: "Robert Grosvenor is the lone wolf of sculpture. In the late 1960s he was almost a Minimalist, but was disqualified by a growing penchant for working with rough materials, scrappy found objects and his own hands. Since then his career has unfolded in singular surprises."
Grosvenor achieved significant recognition early in his career, participating in two editions of Documenta, the prestigious exhibition held every five years in Kassel, Germany. He also exhibited with highly regarded gallerists including Paula Cooper and Virginia Dwan. In recent years, having established himself as an artist difficult to categorize within any particular movement, his work continued to appear in unexpected venues. In 2022, his art was featured in Cecilia Alemani's Surrealism-inspired Venice Biennale, where he was among the oldest living participants and one of the few male artists included.
Robert Grosvenor was born in New York in 1937 and raised in Newport, Rhode Island, and Arizona. During the 1950s, he left the United States to study art at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, feeling he had "had enough of boarding schools in America," as he once described it. He received a classical education where instructors discouraged students from studying artists like Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni, whose experimental practices challenged traditional painting and sculpture norms during the postwar period. "So immediately," he recalled, "I was attracted to Fontana and Manzoni. I usually don't go along with what people tell me to do."
Returning to the United States in 1959 for military service, Grosvenor never saw combat, recalling that he mainly spent time "marching around New York." During his military service, he discovered art magazines and read about sculptor Mark di Suvero's work. Grosvenor subsequently befriended di Suvero, who introduced him to other artists in the scene.
Grosvenor initially created works he described as "paintings that came off the wall," though he didn't preserve them because he lacked confidence in their quality. He then transitioned to sculpture, with his first fully three-dimensional work, "Topanga" (1965), a wood and steel piece that appeared to rise from the floor before descending back toward it. He exhibited "Topanga" at Park Place, a New York cooperative where Paula Cooper served as director, beginning a professional relationship that would continue throughout his career.
Following "Topanga," Grosvenor's works became increasingly ambitious. At the influential "Primary Structures" exhibition at the Jewish Museum in 1966, he displayed "Transoxiana" (1965), another wooden work that created a V-shape by descending from the ceiling before rising upward again. His "Untitled" (1968-70), a white-painted steel work suspended from the ceiling, hovered above viewers' heads. This latter piece was memorably recreated by Grosvenor for the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami in 2018.
During the 1970s, Grosvenor began creating sculptures using wooden beams, working with pine and found wooden telephone poles. He sawed and broke these materials in ways that critics described as violent. Art critic Joseph Masheck wrote in Artforum: "What is left is beautiful, but not because anything has been added, and not because any preexisting but hidden beauty has been revealed." Grosvenor treated these beams with creosote, a toxic and pungent material.
In his later years, Grosvenor sculpted cars and boats, inspired partly by time spent at his house in the Florida Keys. He often devoted months to a single work, refining them gradually. Despite his artistic achievements, he remained modest about his process, telling the Brooklyn Rail: "I work regularly and very quickly, but there are a lot of mistakes. I guess that's why my production isn't so big." Grosvenor's death occurred just days after a survey of his work opened at the Fridericianum museum in Kassel, marking the end of a remarkable six-decade career that defied artistic categorization.
