Photo by Henri Dauman, 1966.
Born in Riga, Latvia, in 1934, Sven Lukin was a New York–based painter, draftsman, and sculptor whose brilliantly colored, audaciously three-dimensional work mounted a challenge to the era’s high-modern orthodoxies. Christened the “father of the shaped canvas” by the New York Times in 1968, Lukin wielded canvas, Styrofoam, burlap-on-wood to create painting-sculpture hybrids that bulge and protrude into real space. Defined by their highly finished surfaces, immense curvilinear forms, and a bright, California-modernist palette, Lukin’s artworks are a testament to the myriad possibilities—and visceral power—of color, shape, and mass.
Lukin immigrated to the United States in 1948 at the age of 15. After graduating high school, he enrolled the architecture program at the University of Pennsylvania. There, Lukin encountered the work of influential architect and urban designer Louis Kahn, whose celebration of monumental scale, unadorned surfaces, and volumetric forms had a profound effect on the artist. After moving to New York in 1958, Lukin began to experiment with large, curved supports, occasionally bisecting these compositions with massive, unpainted wood beams. A trip to Venice, California, in 1963 inspired Lukin to shift his colors into a high key: “All that sun, and all those oranges” he once remarked. “I had to paint in lush, bright colors.”
Lukin’s mature work of the mid-1960s is unmistakably corporeal: sinuous shapes unfurl on the gallery floor like tongues; volumes of solid color allude to lips; folded bands recall bent legs. Untitled, 1969, an eleven-foot-tall, 120-foot-long wall painting at the Empire State Collection in Albany, New York, takes the form of a giant squiggle—or a coiled body gaining force and breaking free.
During the 1960s, Lukin had solo exhibitions at many of New York’s most influential and prestigious galleries, including: Betty Parsons Gallery (1961), Martha Jackson Gallery (1962), and the Pace Gallery (1963, 1964, 1966, and 1968). During this period, his work also figured prominently in many landmark museum exhibitions, such as The Quest and the Quarry (1961, Rome-New Art Foundation), The Shaped Canvas (1964, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum), Vormen van de Kleur (1966–1967, Stedelijk Museum), Color, Image, and Form (1967, Detroit Institute of Arts), Painting: Out from the Wall (1968, Des Moines Art Center), and L’art vivant aux États-Unis (1970, Fondation Maeght), among others. In 1972, at the height of his success, Lukin severed his ties with the Pace Gallery and refused to display his work in a commercial setting. His paintings were not seen again publicly until 1978, when the Los Angeles County Museum of Art mounted a solo exhibition of his work. In November 2010, a survey of the artist’s early work, Sven Lukin: Paintings, 1960–1971, opened at GARY SNYDER Project Space.
Lukin’s work is featured in the collections of major museums around the country, including: the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Sven Lukin
1934
Born: Riga, Latvia
2022
Died: New York, USA
EDUCATION
1953–1955
B.F.A. Program, The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1959
Sven Lukin: Paintings & Drawings, Nexus Gallery, Boston, March 3–28
1961
Sven Lukin: Paintings, Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, January 9–28
1962
Sven Lukin, Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, May 29–June 22
1963
Sven Lukin, Dwan Gallery, Los Angeles, October 27–November 23
1963–1964
Sven Lukin, The Pace Gallery, Boston, December 9, 1963–January 5, 1964
1964
Sven Lukin: New Paintings, The Pace Gallery, New York, October 13–November 7
1966
Sven Lukin: Recent Works, The Pace Gallery, New York, February 5–March 2
1968
Sven Lukin: Shaped Paintings, The Pace Gallery, New York, November 16–December 11
1978–1979
Sven Lukin: New Work, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 5, 1978–January 28, 1979
1981
Sven Lukin: New Work, Alex Rosenberg Gallery, New York, November 21–December 17
1987
Sven Lukin: Facing East from Manhattan, Gallery FACE, Tokyo, November 26–December 13
1992
Spudism, Machado Fine Arts, Watermill, New York
2011
Sven Lukin: Paintings, 1960-1971, Gary Snyder Project Space, New York, New York, November 11, 2010-January 29, 2011
2012
Sven Lukin, Gary Snyder Gallery, New York, New York, May 24–June 30, 2012
2019
Sven Lukin: Objects in Space, Hollis Taggart, New York, New York, June 6–July 19, 2019
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1961
The Quest and the Quarry, Rome-New York Art Foundation Inc., Rome, Italy, May–September
1961-1962
The 1961 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute, PA, October 27, 1961–January 7, 1962
1962-1963
Annual Exhibition 1962: Contemporary Sculpture and Drawings, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, December 12, 1962–Februrary 3, 1963
1964
The Classic Spirit in 20th Century Art, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, February 4–29
67th Annual American Exhibition, The Art Institute of Chicago, February 28–April 12
American Drawings, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, September-October
The Shaped Canvas, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, December
1965
Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
The 29th Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, February 26–April 18
1966
Art in Process: The Visual Development of a Structure, Finch College Museum of Art, New York, May 11–June 30
The Pace Gallery, New York
University of Colorado, Boulder
1966-1967
Vormen van de Kleur, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, November 20, 1966–January 15, 1967
Annual Exhibition 1966: Sculpture and Prints, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, December 16, 1966–February 5, 1967
1967
Formen der Farbe, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany, February 18–March 26
Color, Image, and Form, The Detroit Institute of Arts, MI, April 11–May 21
1967-1968
1967 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, December 13, 1967–February 4, 1968
1968
Painting: Out from the Wall, Des Moines Art Center, IA, February 16–March 10
1969
Highlights of the 1968-1969 Art Season, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT, June 22–September 14
Editions at Pace, The Pace Gallery, New York
1969-1970
One Man's Choice, Dallas Museum of Art, TX, December 14, 1969–January 18, 1970
1969 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, December 16, 1969–Februrary 1, 1970
1970
The Pace Gallery, New York
L'Art Vivant aux Etats-Unis, Fondation Maeght, Paris, July 16–September 30
1971
The Pace Gallery, New York
1974
Tenth Anniversary Exhibition, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT, September 15–December 15
1983
Beyond the Plane: American Constructions, 1930-1965, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, October 29–December 31
1987
Museum for Foreign Art, Riga, Latvia
2004
Four Americans, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, February 12–March 13
2013
Suddenness + Certainty, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, New York, September 12–October 19, 2013
2016
out/er.space: Apprehension of Nothingness, Chowaiki & Co., New York, New York, September 8–October 14
Remember the Future, Pace Prints, New York, New York, October 28–December 17, 2016
2018
Welcome Back, Pace Prints, New York, New York, September 12–October 27, 2018
2020
Multiple Visions, Sorry We're Closed, Brussels, Belgium, January 25–March 14, 2020
DeAccession, Benjaman Gallery, Buffalo, New York, July 16–August, 2020
2021
Line, Shape, Color, and Form, Hollis Taggart, Southport, Connecticut, November 6–December 30, 2021
2022
Collaborations, Pace Prints, New York, New York, April 15–May 21, 2022
2023
Field of Vision, Zuzeum Art Centre, Riga, Latvia, September 8–December 3, 2023
2024
Dynamic Rhythm: Geometric Abstraction from the 1950s to the Present, Hollis Taggart, New York, New York, January 11–February 10, 2024
The Library as an Art Center: Celebrating 120 Years of Art at Houston Public Library, Julia Ideson Building, Houston Public Library, Houston, Texas, August 24–October 8, 2024
SELECTED MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin
Empire State Plaza Art Collection, Albany, New York
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Queensborough Community College Art Gallery, Bayside, New York
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
SELECTED BOOKS AND CATALOGUES
Aldrich, Larry. Highlights of the 1968-1969 Art Season. Ridgefield, CT: The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, 1969.
Alloway, Lawrence. American Drawings. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1964.
Alloway, Lawrence. The Shaped Canvas. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1964.
Anderson, Dennis and Glenn Lowry. The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Art Collection and Plaza Memorials. New York: Rizzoli, 2002.
Ashton, Dore. L'Art Vivant aux Etats-Unis. Paris: Fondation Maeght, 1970.
Baro, Gene. Color, Image, and Form. Detroit, MI: The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1967.
Battcock, Gregory. Minimal Art: A Critical Anthology. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. Inc., 1968.
Baur, John. 1969 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1969.
Beeren, W.A.L. and E. de Wilde. Vormen van de Kleur. Amsterdam: Stedelijk Museum, 1966.
Blesh, Rudi. The Classic Spirit in 20th Century Art. New York: Sidney Janis Gallery, 1964.
Dyer, Carlus. Tenth Anniversary Exhibition. Ridgefield, CT: The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, 1974.
Goodrich, Lloyd. Annual Exhibition 1962: Contemporary Sculpture and Drawings. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1962.
Goodrich, Lloyd. Annual Exhibition 1966: Sculpture and Prints. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1966.
Goodrich, Lloyd. 1967 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Painting. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1967.
Halley, Donald M. Painting: Out from the Wall. Des Moines, IA: Des Moines Art Center, 1968.
Humblet, Claudine. The New American Abstraction: 1950-1970. Milan: Skira, 2007.
Judd, Donald. Donald Judd: The Complete Writings, 1959-1975. Halifax, NS: The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 2005.
Lukin, Sven. Sven Lukin: Facing East from Manhattan. Tokyo: Gallery FACE, 1987.
Maxon, John. 67th Annual American Exhibition. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1964.
Meyer, James. Minimalism: Art and Polemics in the Sixties. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004.
Pfahler, Georg K. Formen der Farbe. Stuttgart, Germany: Württembergischer Kunstverein, 1967.
Read, Herbert. The Quest and the Quarry. Rome, Italy: Rome-New York Art Foundation, Inc., 1961.
Sandler, Irving. The Empire State Collection: Art for the Public. Albany, NY: Empire State Plaza Art Commission, 1987.
Siegel, Jeanne. Artwords: Discourse on the 60s and 70s. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 1992.
Smith, Gordon M. Contemporary Art—Acquisitions, 1966-1969. Buffalo, NY: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1969.
Toher, Jennifer. Beyond the Plane: American Constructions, 1930-1965. Trenton: New Jersey State Museum, 1983.
Tuchman, Maurice. Sven Lukin: New Work. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1978.
Varian, Elayne. Art in Process: The Visual Development of a Structure. New York: Finch College Museum of Art, 1966.
Washburn, Gordon Bailey. The 1961 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Institute, 1961.
Weller, Allen. The Joys and Sorrows of Recent American Art. Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1970.
Williams, Herman Warner, Jr. The 29th Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting. Washington, DC: The Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1965.
SELECTED PERIODICALS
Ashton, Dore. “New York Commentary.” Studio International 177, no. 908 (1969): 95.
Ashton, Dore. “The Artist as Dissenter.” Studio International 171, no. 876 (1966): 166.
Baker, Elizabeth C. “Solid Anti-Geometry.” Art News 65, no. 1 (1966): 56-57, 74-76.
Benedikt, Michael. “New York Letter.” Art International 10, no. 10 (1966): 65.
Blok, Cor. “New Shapes of Color.” Art International 11, no. 2 (1967): 47.
Colpitt, Frances. “The Shape of Painting in the 1960s.” Art Journal 50, no. 1 (1991): 52-56.
Glueck, Grace. “Alone at Last—With a Trend.” New York Times, 1 December 1968, D41.
Goldin, Amy. “In the Galleries.” Arts Magazine 40, no. 6 (1966): 55.
Harwood, Alison. “Jane Holzer—The Lion-Hearted in Her New York Apartment.” Vogue, 1 November 1969, 210-217.
Judd, Donald. “In the Galleries.” Arts Magazine 36, no. 10 (1962): 53.
Krauss, Rosalind. “Lukin.” Artforum 4, no. 9 (1966): 50.
Lerman, Leo. “The Village Idea.” Mademoiselle, 1 June 1962, 71.
Lippard, Lucy. “New York Letter.” Art International 9, no. 2 (1965): 46.
Lippard, Lucy. “New York Letter.” Art International 10, no. 4 (1966): 76.
Lippard, Lucy. “The Third Stream: Constructed Paintings and Painted Structures.” Art Voices 4, no. 2 (1965): 44-49.
Mellow, James R. “New York Letter.” Art International 13, no. 1 (1969): 56-57.
Noah, Barbara. “Sven Lukin at L.A. County Museum.” Art in America 67, no. 3 (1979): 149, 153.
Rose, Barbara. “New York Letter.” Art International 8, no. 10 (1964): 51.
Rose, Barbara. “The Primacy of Color.” Art International 8, no. 4 (1964): 23-24.
Rubin, William S. “The International Style: Notes on the Pittsburgh Triennial.” Art International 5, no. 9 (1961): 32.
Sandler, Irving. “New York Letter.” Art International 5, no. 2 (1961): 44-45.
