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Louise Nevelson is a sculptor of Ukrainian origin who moved to the United States as a child and later studied art in New York and Munich. In 1923, she traveled to Mexico, where she worked as an assistant to Diego Rivera on his mural projects. During this time, she was introduced to the civilizations of Central American Indigenous cultures and the Maya civilization of Mexico. The refined techniques of mural art, their monumental scale, and the improvisational quality of Jackson Pollock’s works had a significant influence on shaping her artistic vision.

In the 1930s, Nevelson continued working on figure drawings and flat works inspired by the principles of Cubism. However, starting in 1933, she began to focus on sculpture, using a variety of materials such as terracotta, wood, and stone. Influenced by her father, a lumberjack and junk dealer, she made wood a central element of her art. Additionally, during a challenging period after her divorce, when she and her son faced financial difficulties, she collected wood for firewood, which later became a material and conceptual motif in her work.

Eventually, the artist began to predominantly use black in her works, a color she described as encompassing everything. Black, combined with structured wooden fragments, imbued her ordinary materials with new energy, transcending their original contexts and transforming them into architectural compositions. This fusion allows viewers to observe new dimensions of sculpture, reflecting Nevelson’s ambition to explore the essence of art beyond the boundaries of traditional sculpture and painting.