{"data":{"id":"539","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":539,"topgoose_id":2118,"tms_id":539,"display_name":"Robert Grosvenor","sort_name":"Grosvenor Robert","display_date":"1937–2025","begin_date":"1937","end_date":"2025","biography":"\u003cp\u003eRobert Grosvenor grew up in Rhode Island\nand Arizona and studied art and design\nin Europe. In the 1960s he began to make\nlarge-scale, abstract geometric sculptures,\nexhibiting with a group of artists at the\npioneering Park Place gallery in New York.\nHis first one-person exhibition was\npresented there in 1965, and the following\nyear his sculpture was included in the Jewish\nMuseum’s landmark \u003cem\u003ePrimary Structures\u003c/em\u003e\nexhibition, one of the first museum\npresentations of Minimalist sculpture in the\nUnited States.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1966 Grosvenor made \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/1601\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eTenerife\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e,\na reflective, maroon sculpture that is\ncantilevered from the ceiling and projects\ninto the room, hovering like a high-speed\nvehicle trapped in the confines of an\ninterior space. Titled after one of the Canary\nIslands, \u003cem\u003eTenerife\u003c/em\u003e, like all of Grosvenor’s\nsculpture, has a strong material presence.\nThe pristine form and lacquer-covered\nfiberglass surface suggest an industrial,\nmachine-crafted object, but this work was\nactually made by hand. \u003cem\u003eTenerife\u003c/em\u003e was\nconstructed specifically for the dimensions\nof the Dwan Gallery in Los Angeles, where\nit was first shown in 1966; its horizontal\nstructure and the relationship it creates\nbetween the ceiling, floor, and viewer\nare significant formal elements of the work.\nThe perspectival quality of this sculpture\nis difficult to discern in a photograph;\n\u003cem\u003eTenerife\u003c/em\u003e is experienced most fully in person\nas one’s vantage point shifts within\nthe space. The geometric structure of\nGrosvenor’s early work is often associated\nwith a Minimalist sensibility, and his use\nof horizontal planes is reminiscent of Frank\nLloyd Wright’s design concepts. Yet it\nis the material and structural ambiguity,\nformal sophistication, and spatially\nastonishing experience of Grosvenor’s\nsculpture that makes it distinctive.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500053771","wikidata_id":"Q15432022","created_at":"2017-08-30T17:01:00.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-29T07:04:16.499-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/539/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/539/exhibitions"}}}}