As the design developed, Calatrava drew inspiration from the linear sculptural constructions of Naum Gabo and the spatial experiments of
Antoine Pevsner. The result, however, is unlike the finished work of either of these sculptors in terms of scale or in the way it solves - with an efficient and economic symmetrical plan shape - the need to create a new landmark in a drab environment, and a simple crossing.
The brothers Naum [Pevsner] Gabo (1890 - 1977) and
Antoine Pevsner (1886 - 1962) developed Tatlin's ideas of abstract constructions into sculptural experiments with form, space, and motion, making use of contrasting scales and planes, and set forth the movement's principles in the Realist Manifesto (1920).
What was not a surprise was the success of the superbly authoritative Constructivist wall relief sculpture Deux cones dans un meme plan by the Russian-born
Antoine Pevsner (Fig.
In his "Realistic Manifesto" of 1920 (cosigned by his brother
Antoine Pevsner), Naum Gabo declared, "We do not measure our works with the yardstick of beauty, we do not weigh them with pounds of tenderness and sentiments." But the works on view in this recent show--marvelous late-Cubist heads and space constructions that entangle the viewer in their intricacy--are in fact beautiful and emotionally evocative.