Construction cinetique

The work’s title, »Kinetic Construction«, already provides a clue to its interpretation: Antoine Pevsner, who, like his younger brother, Naum Gabo (1890–1977), was one of the most influential Constructivist artists, emphasizes the work’s constructive form, describing it as a “Kinetic,” that is to say, moving sculpture.

From 1924 the Russian painter and sculptor almost exclusively employed abstract forms. His sculptures are also to be understood as an attempt to give concrete form to the relationship between matter, space, and temporality. Thus the curves and sweeps of his work convey the impression of movement, as if we are witnessing the trajectory of a body.

While the space in the center of the sculpture appears extremely compressed, it discharges in sweeping paths toward the periphery. It is this visual representation of forces that makes Pevsner’s abstract work so attractive. Instead of a closed, opaque body, he shows us an open and dynamic form, which despite all the movement, still displays a clear structure.