As early as the mid-1940s, Nevelson was creating sculpture with performative potential. Her 1945 Moving-Static-Moving Figures group exemplifies the dynamic character of her work: the terracotta masses are interchangeable, and they can be rotated on their axes to achieve an infinite number of orientations. When she embarked on sculptural environments in the 1950s, Nevelson further developed this system, often disassembling and reconfiguring elements to form smaller, freestanding sculptures.

Unlike many sculptors of her generation, Nevelson never adopted a hierarchical attitude toward materials. She valued the enduring quality of cast bronze as much as the more ephemeral plexiglass. She worked easily in a wide range of two- and three-dimensional media, employing materials as diverse as wood, metallic paint and paper, lead, and fabric. To achieve a subtle play of reflection and receding depth, she layered matte, metallic, and embossed papers in her collages. In one series of lithographs, she selected fabrics with fluid, nonlinear textures and patterns, such as lace, and pressed them onto the inked stone. Nevelson viewed all her work, regardless of medium, as a collection of elements constantly at play, a never-ending dialogue of juxtaposed relationships.

Text adapted from the brochure for the traveling exhibition "Louise Nevelson: Structures Evolving," which was held at the Whitney in 1998 and at the Portland Museum of Art from January through March 1999.