Tau, from the Element series

1970

American, 1935 - 2024

A cruciform timber sculpture, Tau offers associations as wide-reaching as spirituality, totemic structures, and the earth itself. Known for his sculptures made of industrial materials, Andre’s earliest works, made between 1958 and 1959, were of carved wood. From 1960 to 1964, he worked as a brakeman and conductor on the Pennsylvania Railroad, but later returned to sculpting with this natural material in works until 1978.

Andre’s homage, written in 1978, resonates with the theme of renewal and nature as a source of life: “Wood is the mother of matter…she renews herself by giving, gives herself by renewing. Wood is the bride of life in death, of death in life. She is the cool and shade and peace of the forest. She is the spark and ear, ember and dream of the hearth. In death her ashes sweeten our bodies and purify our earth.

Red cedar

47 1/2 x 35 3/4 x 12 in. (120.6 x 90.8 x 30.5 cm)

Each: 12 x 12 x 35 3/4 in. (30.5 x 30.5 x 90.8 cm)

Gift of Sidney and Anne Gerber in honor of the museum's 50th year

83.247

Provenance: Collection of Sidney (d. 1965) and Anne Gerber (1910-2005), Seattle, Washington, by 1977; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1983

Photo: Nathaniel Willson

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryPullman, Washington, Washington State University Museum of Art, Two Decades, 1957-1977: American Sculptures from Northwest Collections, Oct. 7 - Nov. 18, 1977.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, American Sculpture: Three Decades from Northwest Collections, Nov. 15, 1984 - Jan. 27, 1985.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Vancouver Art Gallery, [permanent collection installation], May 1995 - Apr. 1996.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Minimalism: Aftermath and Affinities, Mar. 27 - Aug. 25, 1996.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Collection Highlights: 1945 to the Present, Sept. 12, 1996 - June 1, 1997.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum in collaboration with the Shaker Museum and Library, Old Chatham, New York, Creating Perfection: Shaker Objects and Their Affinities, Oct. 5, 2000 - Apr. 29, 2001.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, International Abstraction: Making Painting Real, May 2, 2003 - Feb. 29, 2004.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Reclaimed: Nature and Place Through Contemporary Eyes, June 30 - Sept. 11, 2011.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, Mar. 16 - Oct. 27, 2013.

Beacon, New York, Dia:Beacon, Carl Andre: Sculpture as Place, 1958-2010, May 4, 2014 - Mar. 9, 2015. Checklist no. 3.

Published ReferencesAndre, Carl and R. H. Fuchs. Carl Andre: Wood. Exh. Cat. Eindhoven, Netherlands: Van Abbesmuseum Eindohoven, 1978; cat. no. 42, reproduced.

Carl Andre: Sculptures 1958-2011. Catalogue raisonné [CD-ROM]. Belgium, Brussels: Registry Carl Andre, 2011; cat. no. 1960-01, p. 5, reproduced.

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