Raymond D. Nasher

1921 - 2007

Explore Selected Works

This free-standing marble sculpture shows a man’s abstracted head and shoulders carved in angular planes. The top third of the piece is a smooth head, perhaps bald, with a curling, pointed oval shape coming down the middle of his forehead. The middle third is the elongated, rectangular face. Closed eyes are suggested by thin ridges carved in deep recesses on either side of a long nose, which is shaped by flat planes. The mouth is delineated by a thick, downturned, upper lip, and a narrow goatee hangs from the pointed chin. The bottom third is the shoulders, suggested by a downward-facing arch carved on the side we can see. The surface is rough and unpolished with a few streaks of gray in the sand-colored marble. This photograph shows the sculpture angled to our right against a pale gray background.
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Hieratic Head of Ezra Pound, 1914, marble, Gift from the Collection of Raymond and Patsy Nasher, 2009.72.1

Hieratic Head of Ezra Pound

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska · 1914 · marble ·  Accession ID  2009.72.1

Carved from a slab of white marble, the top surface of this sculpture is covered with shallow, cuplike and deep rectangular depressions of various sizes. We look slightly down onto the slab in this photograph. The surface is divided into three vertical sections, which are defined by incised lines. The cuplike depressions are in the sections to the left and right. Two tiny, carved, dark wooden objects, like game pieces, stand upright in a cup with one the left and one to the right. Each piece is flat with a symmetrical design and a point at the bottom that inserts into the cup. The left piece has a disk flanked by triangular protrusions with a clover shape at top. The second piece has four stacked, small circles, and a U-shaped form to suggest the outline of a person with raised arms. Three smaller but deep rectangular cavities are carved into the middle section, and each one has a lid. Two lids sit askew on the top surface of the board near their respective openings, and inside are additional wooden pieces. A blank, rectangular section outlined with lightly inscised lines in the lower right is carved with reversed script letters that read, “on ne joue plus.” The entire surface has beveled edges, so it sits on a stepped base.
Alberto Giacometti, No More Play, 1931-1932, marble, wood, and bronze, Gift of The Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Collection, Dallas, Texas, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1991.40.1

No More Play

Alberto Giacometti · 1931-1932 · marble, wood, and bronze ·  Accession ID  1991.40.1