Carl Andre

American Minimal sculptor and poet. Born in Quincy, Massachusetts. In 1954 worked for Boston Gear Works and travelled to England and France. Served in the US Army 1955-6. In 1957 moved to New York and worked for a publisher. Wrote poetry and made drawings and some abstract sculptures in perspex and wood, with geometric forms. Influenced by Brancusi and by Stella, his close friend. 1960-4 worked as railroad freight brakesman and conductor on the Pennsylvania Railroad; made few sculptures, but these show move away from carving to works constructed out of simple blocks of material. His sculpture first exhibited in a group show in 1964, followed by his first one-man exhibition at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, 1965; major retrospective exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1970. Made floor sculptures out of standard industrial units such as bricks or metal plates in simple arithmetic combinations; also experimented with scattered blocks and pieces of bent pipe, etc. Lives in New York.

Published in:
Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.9