Cy Twombly: Sculpture, Grosvenor Hill, London, September 30–December 21, 2019

Installation Views

Installation view. Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation. Photo: Mike Bruce — Installation view
Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation. Photo: Mike Bruce

Thumbnail - Installation view. Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation. Photo: Mike Bruce

Works Exhibited

Cy Twombly, Chariot of Triumph, 1990–98. Wood, paint, cloth, and nails, 42 ½ × 20 ⅞ × 74 ⅜ inches (108 × 53 × 189 cm) © Cy Twombly Foundation — Cy Twombly
*Chariot of Triumph*, 1990–98
Wood, paint, cloth, and nails, 42 ½ × 20 ⅞ × 74 ⅜ inches (108 × 53 × 189 cm)
© Cy Twombly Foundation

Cy Twombly, Untitled (St. Sebastian), 1998. Bronze, 50 ⅜ × 9 ⅛ × 7 ½ inches (128 × 23 × 19 cm), edition 1/3 © Cy Twombly Foundation — Cy Twombly
*Untitled (St. Sebastian)*, 1998
Bronze, 50 ⅜ × 9 ⅛ × 7 ½ inches (128 × 23 × 19 cm), edition 1/3
© Cy Twombly Foundation

Cy Twombly, Turkish Delight, 2000. Wood, plaster, acrylic, and brass, 45 ½ × 18 × 16 ½ inches (115.6 × 45.7 × 41.9 cm) © Cy Twombly Foundation — Cy Twombly
*Turkish Delight*, 2000
Wood, plaster, acrylic, and brass, 45 ½ × 18 × 16 ½ inches (115.6 × 45.7 × 41.9 cm)
© Cy Twombly Foundation

Cy Twombly, Untitled, 2002. Plaster, wood, paint, acrylic, and sand, 25 ⅝ × 9 ⅝ × 8 ¼ inches (65 × 24.5 × 20.8 cm) © Cy Twombly Foundation — Cy Twombly
*Untitled*, 2002
Plaster, wood, paint, acrylic, and sand, 25 ⅝ × 9 ⅝ × 8 ¼ inches (65 × 24.5 × 20.8 cm)
© Cy Twombly Foundation

Cy Twombly, Untitled, 2004. Bronze, 31 ⅞ × 15 ¼ × 11 ⅝ inches (81 × 38.5 × 29.5 cm), edition 4/6 © Cy Twombly Foundation — Cy Twombly
*Untitled*, 2004
Bronze, 31 ⅞ × 15 ¼ × 11 ⅝ inches (81 × 38.5 × 29.5 cm), edition 4/6
© Cy Twombly Foundation

Cy Twombly, Untitled (Humpty Dumpty), 2004. Bronze, 28 ¾ × 19 ⅜ × 19 ⅜ inches (73 × 49 × 49 cm), edition 1/4 © Cy Twombly Foundation — Cy Twombly
*Untitled (Humpty Dumpty)*, 2004
Bronze, 28 ¾ × 19 ⅜ × 19 ⅜ inches (73 × 49 × 49 cm), edition 1/4
© Cy Twombly Foundation

Cy Twombly, Untitled, 2009. Bronze, 94 ¾ × 15 ⅞ × 12 ⅜ inches (240.4 × 40.3 × 31.5 cm), edition 2/3 © Cy Twombly Foundation — Cy Twombly
*Untitled*, 2009
Bronze, 94 ¾ × 15 ⅞ × 12 ⅜ inches (240.4 × 40.3 × 31.5 cm), edition 2/3
© Cy Twombly Foundation

Thumbnail - Cy Twombly, Chariot of Triumph, 1990–98. Wood, paint, cloth, and nails, 42 ½ × 20 ⅞ × 74 ⅜ inches (108 × 53 × 189 cm) © Cy Twombly Foundation

Thumbnail - Cy Twombly, Untitled (St. Sebastian), 1998. Bronze, 50 ⅜ × 9 ⅛ × 7 ½ inches (128 × 23 × 19 cm), edition 1/3 © Cy Twombly Foundation

Thumbnail - Cy Twombly, Turkish Delight, 2000. Wood, plaster, acrylic, and brass, 45 ½ × 18 × 16 ½ inches (115.6 × 45.7 × 41.9 cm) © Cy Twombly Foundation

Thumbnail - Cy Twombly, Untitled, 2002. Plaster, wood, paint, acrylic, and sand, 25 ⅝ × 9 ⅝ × 8 ¼ inches (65 × 24.5 × 20.8 cm) © Cy Twombly Foundation

Thumbnail - Cy Twombly, Untitled, 2004. Bronze, 31 ⅞ × 15 ¼ × 11 ⅝ inches (81 × 38.5 × 29.5 cm), edition 4/6 © Cy Twombly Foundation

Thumbnail - Cy Twombly, Untitled (Humpty Dumpty), 2004. Bronze, 28 ¾ × 19 ⅜ × 19 ⅜ inches (73 × 49 × 49 cm), edition 1/4 © Cy Twombly Foundation

Thumbnail - Cy Twombly, Untitled, 2009. Bronze, 94 ¾ × 15 ⅞ × 12 ⅜ inches (240.4 × 40.3 × 31.5 cm), edition 2/3 © Cy Twombly Foundation

About

White paint is my marble.
—Cy Twombly

Gagosian is pleased to present an exhibition of Cy Twombly’s sculptures, in association with the Cy Twombly Foundation. The exhibition marks the publication of the second volume of the catalogue raisonné of sculptures, edited by Nicola Del Roscio, President of the Cy Twombly Foundation, and published by Schirmer/Mosel.

Twombly made his sculptures from found materials such as plaster, wood, and iron, as well as objects that he habitually used and handled in the studio. From 1946 onward, he created many assemblages, though they were rarely exhibited before the 1997 publication of the first volume of his catalogue raisonné. Often modest in scale, they embody his artistic language of handwritten glyphs and symbols, evoking narratives from antiquity and fragments of literature and poetry.

Many of Twombly’s sculptures are coated in white paint, which unifies and neutralizes the assembled materials and renders the newly formed object into a coherent whole. In referring to white paint as his “marble,” Twombly recalls traditions of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman sculpture while also subverting marble’s classical connotation of perfection through his roughly painted surfaces. The intimate scale of these works, together with their textural coats of paint, underscores their fundamentally haptic nature.

#CyTwomblySculpture

Artist

Cy Twombly

Download

Press release (pdf)

Contact

#CyTwomblySculpture

From the Quarterly

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2025

The Spring 2025 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Cy Twombly’s Paesaggio (1986) on the cover.

Cy Twombly by Jenny Saville: To Lift the Veil

Jenny Saville reflects on Cy Twombly’s poetic engagement with the world, with time and tension, and with growth in this excerpt from her Marion Barthelme Lecture, presented at the Menil Collection, Houston, in 2024.

Cy Twombly: Imperfect Paradise

Eleonora Di Erasmo, cocurator of Un/veiled: Cy Twombly, Music, Inspirations, a program of concerts, video screenings, and works by Cy Twombly at the Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio, Rome, reflects on the resonances and networks of inspiration between the artist and music. The program was the result of an extensive three-year study, done at the behest of Nicola Del Roscio in the Rome and Gaeta offices of the Cy Twombly Foundation, intended to collect, document, and preserve compositions by musicians around the world who have been inspired by Twombly’s work, or to establish an artistic dialogue with them.

Cy Twombly: Making Past Present

In 2020, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, announced their plan for a survey of Cy Twombly’s artwork alongside selections from their permanent ancient Greek and Roman collection. The survey was postponed due to the lockdowns necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic, but was revived in 2022 with a presentation at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles from August 2 through October 30. In 2023, the exhibition will arrive at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The curator for the exhibition, Christine Kondoleon, and Kate Nesin, author of Cy Twombly’s Things (2014) and advisor for the show, speak with Gagosian director Mark Francis about the origin of the exhibition and the aesthetic and poetic resonances that give the show its title: Making Past Present.

Say Goodbye, Catullus, to the Shores of Asia Minor

Thierry Greub tracks the literary references in Cy Twombly’s epic painting of 1994.

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Summer 2021

The Summer 2021 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Carrie Mae Weems’s The Louvre (2006) on its cover.

Twombly and the Poets

Anne Boyer, the inaugural winner of the Cy Twombly Award in Poetry, composes a poem in response to Twombly’s Aristaeus Mourning the Loss of His Bees (1973) and introduces a portfolio of the painter’s works accompanied by the poems that inspired them.

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2021

The Spring 2021 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Gerhard Richter’s Helen (1963) on its cover.

Rainer Maria Rilke: Duino Elegies

Bobbie Sheng explores the symbiotic relationship between the poet and visual artists of his time and tracks the enduring influence of his poetry on artists working today.

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Summer 2020

The Summer 2020 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Joan Jonas’s Mirror Piece 1 (1969) on its cover.

The River Café Cookbook

London’s River Café, a culinary mecca perched on a bend in the River Thames, celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2018. To celebrate this milestone and the publication of her cookbook River Café London, cofounder Ruth Rogers sat down with Derek Blasberg to discuss the famed restaurant’s allure.

In Conversation
Sally Mann and Jenny Saville

The two artists discuss being drawn to difficult subjects, the effects of motherhood on their practice, embracing chance, and their shared adoration of Cy Twombly.

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Fall 2019

The Fall 2019 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring a detail from Sinking (2019) by Nathaniel Mary Quinn on its cover.

Intimate Grandeur: Glenstone Museum

Paul Goldberger tracks the evolution of Mitchell and Emily Rales’s Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Maryland. Set amid 230 acres of pristine landscape and housing a world-class collection of modern and contemporary art, this graceful complex of pavilions, designed by architects Thomas Phifer and Partners, opened to the public in the fall of 2018.

Cy Twombly: In Beauty it is finished

Mark Francis, director of the exhibition Cy Twombly: In Beauty it is finished, Drawings 1951–2008, describes the impetus for this expansive presentation, the source for its title, and details the stories of some of the works on view.

Cy Twombly: Coronation of Sesostris

Cy Twombly’s Coronation of Sesostris (2000) receives a closer look by Gagosian Director, Mark Francis. In this video, he discusses the history of the work, the myths and poetry embedded within it, and considers its lasting impact.

C.T.S.T.

Katharina Grosse reflects on the work of Cy Twombly.

Cy Twombly

Olivier Berggruen and Mary Jacobus spoke about the works in the inaugural exhibition at Gagosian’s Grosvenor Hill outpost.

Treatise on the Veil: Cy Twombly at the Morgan

On the occasion of the Morgan Library & Museum’s exhibition of Cy Twombly’s monumental painting Treatise on the Veil (1970) and related drawings, Gagosian director Mark Francis speaks with Isabelle Dervaux, Acquavella Curator of Modern & Contemporary Drawings at the Morgan.