Andre, Carl

Andre, Carl
born Sept. 16, 1935, Quincy, Mass., U.S.

U.S. sculptor.

The son of a draftsman for a shipbuilding firm, he attended Phillips Andover Academy and Northeastern University. He moved to New York City in 1957 and soon was producing large-scale horizontal sculptures out of steel plates, slabs of granite, styrofoam planks, bricks, and cement blocks, using a grid system based on simple mathematical principles. His work from this period was often intended to be placed directly on the gallery or museum floor; its monumental austerity was central to the Minimalist movement. Beginning in the 1970s he also experimented with large-scale wood sculpture.

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▪ American sculptor
born Sept. 16, 1935, Quincy, Mass., U.S.

      American sculptor associated with minimalism. Andre is known for abstract work made of repetitive blocks, bricks, and metal plates arranged directly on the floor. Like other minimalists of his generation, Andre constructed his works out of industrial materials that called attention to the inherent physical structure of the piece and to the architecture of the surrounding space. Eschewing metaphor and symbolism, Andre's work operates as a set of purely physical and perceptual concerns.

      Andre attended the Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., from 1951 to 1953. After serving in the army for a year, he moved in 1957 to New York City, where he met and later married the Cuban-born artist Ana Mendieta. He became associated with Frank Stella (Stella, Frank) in 1958 and worked in Stella's studio while developing his own drawings and sculpture. Stella's abstract paintings of that period were an important influence on Andre's developing aesthetic. A number of experiences—including four years of work in railway yards in the early 1960s and a trip to the prehistoric archaeological site of Stonehenge in England—solidified Andre's determination to work with modular units. Andre began his sculptural practice by carving into wood timbers, but then he became more interested in using the timber planks themselves as structural pieces. In 1965 he shifted from stacked wood pieces to commercially prefabricated materials—blocks and bricks—with the intent of demystifying the role of the artist's hand. He next became interested in placing square metal tiles onto larger squares, and he invited viewers to walk on these. For museum- or gallerygoers, who were more accustomed to keeping their distance from artworks, the effect of walking on a sculpture could be jolting.

      In 1985 Mendieta fell to her death from a window in their New York City apartment. Andre was tried for murder but was acquitted. Naked by the Window: The Fatal Marriage of Carl Andre and Ana Mendieta (1990) by Robert Katz is an account of the events leading up to the incident and the trial.

Additional Reading
Ian Cole (ed.), Carl Andre and the Sculptural Imagination (1996).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Andre, Carl — (n. 16 sep. 1935, Quincy, Mass., EE.UU.). Escultor estadounidense. Hijo de un dibujante de una empresa de construcción naval, asistió a la Academia Phillips Andover y a la Universidad Northeastern. Se mudó a Nueva York en 1957 y muy luego realizó …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Carl Andre — Carl André Pour les articles homonymes, voir André. Carl Andre 43 Roaring Forty (1968) Nai …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Carl André — Carl Andre (* 16. September 1935, in Quincy, Massachusetts) ist ein amerikanischer Bildhauer des Minimalismus. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Werk 3 Zitate …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • ANDRE (C.) — ANDRE CARL (1935 ) Depuis 1958, date de ses premières œuvres, le sculpteur américain Carl Andre poursuit une démarche singulière, assimilée parfois au minimalisme, appellation qu’il réfute, considérant qu’elle ne correspond à rien. Contrairement… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Carl André — Pour les articles homonymes, voir André. Carl Andre 43 Roaring Forty (1968) …   Wikipédia en Français

  • carl — carlish, adj. carlishness, n. /kahrl/, n. 1. Scot. a. a strong, robust fellow, esp. a strong manual laborer. b. a miser; an extremely thrifty person. 2. Archaic. a churl. 3. Obs. a bondman. Also, carle. [bef. 1000 (in compounds; see HOUSECARL);… …   Universalium

  • Carl — /kahrl/, n. a male given name, form of Charles. * * * (as used in expressions) Andre Carl Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Carl XVI Gustaf Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus Clausewitz Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Correns Carl Erich Cuno Wilhelm Carl Josef Ditters …   Universalium

  • Carl — ► (1895 1982) Compositor, director de orquesta y profesor alemán. Obras: Carmina Burana (1937), Catulli Carmina, El triunfo de Afrodita (1951) y Comoedia de Christi resurrectione (1955). * * * (as used in expressions) Andre, Carl Bach, Carl… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Carl Andre — (* 16. September 1935, in Quincy, Massachusetts) ist ein amerikanischer Bildhauer des Minimalismus. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Werk 3 Zitate …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Carl Andre — (born September 16, 1935) is an American minimalist artist.BiographyAndre was born in Quincy, Massachusetts and educated in Quincy public schools and at Phillips Academy Andover, where he became friends with Hollis Frampton and Michael Chapman.… …   Wikipedia

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