Afrophoenix No. 1

Melvin EdwardsWW-1963-013257

1963·Steel·31.7 × 24.1 × 10.1 cm (12 1/2 × 9 1/2 × 4 in.)

In 1960 Melvin Edwards shifted his artistic practice from abstract painting to sculpture. Three years later, he began Lynch Fragments, a series of welded steel assemblages made in response to the tumultuous social climate of the Civil Rights movement. Edwards addressed African American identity within an abstract sculptural language. Afrophoenix No. 1, one of the earliest objects from the series, exemplifies how the artist physically transformed found objects and brought them together in poetically suggestive, tension-filled compositions. Here the formal arrangement of steel elements evokes an equestrian bridle and bit. Chains, hammers, nails, spikes, and screws magnify the sculpture’s associative power, recalling implements of labor and torture. At the same time, the title references the mythological phoenix—alluding to death, rebirth, and transformation. Suggesting a range of meanings, the work demonstrates Edwards’s desire to fuse abstraction with personal and collective histories.

Catalogue

Year: 1963
Medium: Steel
Dimensions: 31.7 × 24.1 × 10.1 cm (12 1/2 × 9 1/2 × 4 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Melvin Edwards

Artist

Melvin Edwards

Sculpture

Melvin Eugene Edwards Jr. is an American abstract sculptor, printmaker, and arts educator. Edwards, an African-American artist, was raised in segregated communities in Texas and an integrated community in Ohio. He moved to California in 1955, beginning his professional art career while an undergraduate student. Originally trained as a painter, Edwards began exploring sculpture and welding techniques in Los Angeles in the early 1960s, before moving again to New York in 1967.

Houston, United States

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