Jackie Ferrara

(American, b.1929)

Step Pyramid

2000
Wood and glue
Signed, dated and inscribed “For Frederieke/Ferrara 5-19-2000″ on the underside
Overall: 1 5/8 × 3 7/8 × 1 7/8 inches (4.12 × 9.84 × 4.76 cm)

Executed in 2000, this work is unique.

Since the early 1970s, Jackie Ferrara, a self-taught artist, has explored the relationships between sculpture and architecture in her wood constructions, which have evolved from variously sized indoor pieces to increasingly large-scale outdoor works.

Price on request

Provenance:

Frederieke Sanders Taylor, New York (a gift from the artist in 2000)

Estate of Frederieke Sanders Taylor, New York

Her sale, DOYLE, New York, Works from the Estate of Frederieke Sanders Taylor, 26 September 2019

Anders Wahlstedt Fine Art, New York (from the above sale)

Directly from the above

Note:

Jackie Ferrara created her first Step Pyramid in 1973. That sculpture, an outdoor work consisting of 435 pieces of specially treated fir wood boards, is in the collection of the Neuberger Museum in Purchase, New York. Prior to the Neuberger  acquiring the work in 1998, Step Pyarmid  had been shown outdoors over the past 40 years at the Storm King Art Center in Newburgh, New York and Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza in Manhattan.  In 2012 the Neuberger rebuilt the work under the supervision of the artist.  Ferrara considers Step Pyramid (1973) one of her most significant works and as such it has inspired her to occasionally create small versions related to it.  

In the case of the present work and according to the artist: “Every now and then I make a little stacked pyramid with leftover wood pieces and give it as a gift. I never kept track of them and occasionally one will surface. I just looked up Frederieke’s birthday. It’s in May and in 2000 she turned 60. I’m quite certain it was a birthday present.”