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Yes! for Lady Day – by Mark di Suvero

1968-1969 / Railroad tank car, steel I-beams, cable.

Gift of Lewis Manilow.

Yes! For Lady Day was created over a period of two summers [1968-69] while diSuvero lived in a farmhouse on what was to become the GSU campus. Use of the house was loaned by Lewis Manilow, a prominent Chicago collector and philanthropist. The site became a gathering place for local sculptors: John Henry, Richard Hunt, John Chamberlain and others spent time there.

Yes! For Lady Day was constructed of salvaged steel I-beams and a railroad tank car that was cut at a diagonal ellipse by the artist. DiSuvero’s distinctive approach has created an object of rugged beauty that genbtly dances in the prairie breeze.

The title [Yes! for Lady Day] is inspired by American jazz musician and singer-songwriter Billie Holiday, who was nicknamed as Lady Day.

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The marker reads..

Mark di Suvero [born Marco Polo di Suvero in Shanghai, China] fled China at the outbreak of World War II with his Italian expatriat father and settled in San Francisco, California. After entry in University of California, Berkeley in 1953, he studied painting and sculpture, but earned a degree in philosophy, and graduated in 1956. He immediately traveled to New York City in New York where he gravitated towards a group of artists who were expanding the vocabulary of abstract sculpture that had been pioneered by American abstract expressionism sculptor David Smith.

In 1960, di Suvero was pinned beneath a freight elevator and severely injured. During his rehabilitation, he focused on learning arc-welding and began to define his personal approach to using large, cast-off construction materials to create oversized sculpture. Often his work have an interactive or moving component. DiSuvero personally fabricates each of his sculptures.

Yes! for Lady Day was created over a period of two summer [1968-69] while diSuvero lived in a farmhouse on what was to become the GSU campus. Loaned to the artist by Lewis Manilow, a prominent Chicago art collector and philanthropist, the site became a gathering place for sculptors such as Richard Hunt, John Chamberlain and others.

The sculpture was constructed of salvaged steel, I-beams and a railroad tank car cut at a diagonal ellipse by the artist. Its physicality possesses all the hard-earned swagger of mid 20th century US culture while the title directs us to a poignant note in American music history—the soulful and ultimately tragic blues singer Billie Holliday.

 

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RELATED LINKS

Official Website: Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park .. .. click here..

My Posts on Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park.. click here
NMSP: Collection Photo Gallery..click here..
NMSP: Collection Blogs.. click here
NMSP: Temporary Exhibitions.. click here..
NMSP: Articles..click here..
NMSP: Fundraising..click here..

Home: Public Art in Chicago.. click here..

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