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Introvert (1976) by Sorel Etrog

Artwork by Sorel Etrog, Introvert (1976)

Sorel Etrog
Introvert (1976)

bronze
stamped signature and editioned 5/7
14.5 x 12 x 10.5 ins ( 36.8 x 30.5 x 26.7 cms ) ( overall )

Auction Estimate: $15,000.00$12,000.00 - $15,000.00

Price Realized $18,000.00
Sale date: May 28th 2019

Provenance:
Collection of the artist
Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver
Private Collection, Vancouver
Mayberry Fine Art, Winnipeg
Private Collection, Toronto
Literature:
Sorel Etrog, quoted in Pierre Restany, Sorel Etrog, London/Munich, 2001, pages 32-33
Ihor Holubizky, Sorel Etrog: Five Decades, exhibition catalogue, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, April 27 - September 29, 2013, page 13
Following Sorel Etrog’s Screw and Bolt series, works from the Hinges series of 1973 to 1979 suggest the presence of a complex anthropomorphic energy, both physical and psychic. Of the two groups which comprise the series-Introverts and Extroverts-it is perhaps the former which most clearly exemplifies the artist’s ongoing pursuit of a simplified sculptural language for conveying the complexity of human experience. Like the “Link” motif, one of Etrog’s most profound expressions of existential ambiguity, the articulated hinge gives form to a tension between movement and stillness, between freedom and restraint. A metaphor for life itself, the contradiction inherent in such a state of suspended animation was a central preoccupation of the work of Etrog’s collaborators, the existential writers Eugène Ionesco and Samuel Beckett. The hinge, writes Ihor Holubizky, functions both as “a tangible link to the European avant-garde between the wars and a hinge to the past, the Mediterranean world of antiquity and non-Western culture; the hinges, metaphorically, bring the past into direct contact with the present.”

Sculptures from the slender, upright Extrovert series function by “employing hinges as an articulation device”, and resemble active walking figures “concerned with open space and implied movement,” Etrog explains. Exuding a dense psychic energy, the contrasting Introverts are studies in composure. In this elegant bronze work from 1976, a static rectilinear mass atop a gently fluted base turns inward from hinges along two of its vertical axes. For the artist, the hinge not only suggests an implicit range of motion with limitless permutations, but also serves as an effective metaphor for expressing the quiet interiority of the human psyche. This work is a particularly refined product of one of the artist’s most fruitful periods of experimentation.

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Sorel Etrog
(1933 - 2014) RCA

Current SalesHighlightsWatch Artist

Based in Toronto for more than fifty years, Sorel Etrog was born in Iasi, Romania, in 1933. He is most well-known as a sculptor, but he also illustrated books, painted, and wrote poetry, plays, and films. His sculptures were influenced by his adolescence spent under Soviet rule and an interest in philosophical writings that questioned the nature of post-war society. He was also inspired by his grandfather who was a carpenter. Etrog, along with his parents and sister attempted to flee Romania in 1946 but were caught. His parents were then imprisoned for several weeks. Finally, Etrog and his family left Romania in 1950 and made it to the Sha’ar Aliyaa refugee camp near Haifa, Israel.

While serving mandatory time in the Israel Defense Forces’ medical corps in 1953 he began studying art at Tel Aviv’s Arts Institute for Painting and Sculpture. Inspired by Cubist collage and modernist music, he created three-dimensional paintings, mimicking constructivist reliefs. In 1958, he received a scholarship to attend school at the Brooklyn Museum of Art School.

Upon arrival in New York City, Etrog became drawn to African and Oceanic art due to their expressive shapes and began incorporating these elements into his work. While trying to find gallery representation in New York City, Samuel J. Zachs purchased one of Etrog’s paintings and invited Etrog to spend the summer of 1959 in Southampton on Lake Huron with him. While in Southampton, Etrog created his first wooden sculptures and gained gallery representation from Gallery Moos in Toronto. This encounter inspired the young artist to apply for Canadian citizenship and eventually move to Toronto in 1963.

In his mature sculptural works, Etrog explores spontaneous symbols, primal elements and the relationship between form and symbol. The artist described his art as "tension created by pulling together and pulling apart, with being stuck and being freed, a world of grabbing and holding on and losing hold...bringing shapes together but at the same time giving each an independence."

After immigrating to Canada, Etrog had his first traveling exhibition in 1965. The show began at Gallery Moos, then traveled to New York City, Los Angeles, and Montreal. In 1966, Etrog, alongside Yves Gaucher and Alex Colville, represented Canada at the Venice Biennale. He later received several important commissions, including those for Expo ’67, Montreal; SunLife Centre, Toronto; Windsor Sculpture Garden, Windsor, Ontario; Los Angeles County Museum, and Olympic Park in Seoul, Korea. Before his death in 2014, Etrog’s art was included in a retrospective at Buschlen Mowatt in Vancouver in 2003.

Literature Sources:
"A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume I: A-F", compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1977

Mikulinsky, Alma, “Sorel Etrog: Life and Work,” Toronto: Art Canada Institute, 2018

We extend our thanks to Danie Klein, York University graduate student in art history, for writing and contributing this artist biography.