Art Institute of Chicago

Lever #1

Martin Puryear · 1988/89

Provenance

Ownership history

The artist; sold through Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, to the Art Institute of Chicago, July 13, 1989.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

Los Angeles, Margo Leavin Gallery, Martin Puryear, Apr. 15–May 20, 1989, no cat, as Lever.
São Paulo, 20th International São Paulo Bienal, Oct. 14–Dec. 10, 1989, no cat. no., as Lever.
Art Institute of Chicago, Martin Puryear, Nov. 2, 1991–Jan. 5, 1992, cat. 38; Washington D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Feb. 5-May 10, 1992; Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art, July 26–Oct. 4, 1992; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Nov. 8, 1992–Jan. 3, 1993.
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Puryear, Nov. 4, 2007–Jan. 14, 2008, cat. 29; Fort Worth, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Feb. 24–May 18, 2008, Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, June 22–Sept. 28, 2008; San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Nov. 8, 2008–Jan, 25, 2009.
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Martin Puryear: Nexus, Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026, cat. 28; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Apr. 12, 2026-Aug. 9, 2026; Atlanta, High Museum of Art, Sept. 25, 2026-Jan. 17, 2027.

Literature

Published references

Kellie Jones and Robert Storr, Martin Puryear: 20th International São Paulo Bienal, exh. cat. (Jamaica, N.Y: Jamaica Arts Center, 1989), 2 (color ill.), 15, 49, as Lever.
Alan G. Artner, “Shaping Up,” Chicago Tribune, Oct. 1, 1989, 14, as Lever.
Michael Brenson, “A Sculptor’s Struggle to Fuse Culture and Art,” The New York Times, Oct. 29, 1989, H37 (ill.), H39, as Lever.
Terry Y. Allen, “The Unconventional Eye,” Amherst Magazine (Summer 1990): 16 (ill.).
Nany Princenthal, “Intuition’s Disciplinarian,” Art in America 78, no. 1 (Jan. 1990): 130 (ill.), 132, 135 (ill.).
Neal Benezra, Robert Storr, and James N. Wood, Martin Puryear, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1991), 48-49, 51 (ills.), 120, 121 (color ill.), 131, 137, cat. 38, 146-147.
Suzanne Muchnic, "The Handyman: Martin Puryear Stays in Touch with His Sculptures, Bending, Splitting, Molding and Joining His Materials with a Craftsman's Skills," Los Angeles Times, Aug 02, 1992, F77, as Lever.
James N. Wood, T. J Edelstein, and Sally Ruth May, The Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1993), 285 (color ill.).
Larry Silver, Art in History (New York: Abbeville Press, 1993), 455, fig. 10.30 (ill.), as Lever no. 1.
Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jane Fairfax Jordan, The Sculptor’s Eye: Looking at Contemporary American Art (New York: Delacorte Press, 1993), 66 (color ill), 67, 122.
Charles F. Stuckey, “Selected Recent Acquisitions of Twentieth-Century Art at The Art Institute of Chicago: Supplement,” The Burlington Magazine 135, no. 1087 (Oct. 1993): 728 (ill.).
Michael Brenson and Enrique Juncosa, Martin Puryear, exh. cat. (Madrid: Fundación "La Caixa,” 1997), 16 (color ill.), fig. 1, as Palanca n.° 1 / Lever #1

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