This book was published on the occasion of the exhibition Cy Twombly: Eight Sculptures at Gagosian, 980 Madison Avenue, New York. Focusing on new bronze sculptures, the presentation coincided with an exhibition of Twombly’s paintings titled Leaving Paphos Ringed with Waves—the inaugural show at Gagosian’s Athens gallery.

Beginning in 1946, Twombly produced sculptures incorporating everyday materials and objects, usually painted with white gesso. In 1979 he began casting some of them in bronze, further transforming their diverse components. But while the parts have often been abstracted by the casting process, some remain clearly demarcated. The surfaces of the sculptures illustrated here in particular evoke unearthed artifacts, some also alluding to Egyptian and Mesopotamian objects. The play between figuration and abstraction, and between ancient and modern, imbues each work with a unique tension.

The book reproduces all eight works in the exhibition, including multiple views and details for each sculpture. The essay “Eight Sculptures, Eight Bronzes“ by art historian Kate Nesin begins with Frank O’Hara’s poetic characterization of Twombly’s earliest exhibited sculptures as “witty and funereal.”