About the Art:
Signal #2
1968
Bronze
9 × 4 × 3 inches
Provenance: Fort Wayne Museum of Art, IN | Acquired from the previous by the present owner
Dorothy Dehner Signal #2 is a great example of how her abstract forms and dynamic compositions highlights her ability to convey movement and emotion through non-representational shapes. A rather birdlike figure, the intricate design plays with light and shadow creating a sense of depth and complexity.
About the Artist:
Dorothy Dehner (American, b. 1901) was born in Cleveland, Ohio. After studying at the University of California, Los Angeles (1921-2), Dehner moved to New York, and in 1925, after a trip to Europe that included six months in Italy, Switzerland and Paris, and stimulated by European modernism, Dehner enrolled in New York’s Art Students League. Although during her life she painted and experimented in other mediums, such as engraving and print making, it wasn’t until the 1950’s she began a career as an abstract sculptor. Dehner learned wax sculpting techniques and created sculptures in bronze. Her recuring use of geometric elements create a visual movement of totemic, composition, and reference to the natural world create a biomorphic form that is peaceful and enduring.