Albert Paley

Richly illustrated with over 150 color plates, this text offers the first comprehensive overview of the artist's public, private, and institutional passageways and also highlights key works - both built and imagined - in his long career. Spanning from his first major commission in 1974, Portal Gates, for the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. to his most recent, Iowa State's Transformation, this book presents the finest examples of Paley's distinctive...
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Richly illustrated with over 150 color plates, this text offers the first comprehensive overview of the artist's public, private, and institutional passageways and also highlights key works - both built and imagined - in his long career. Spanning from his first major commission in 1974, Portal Gates, for the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. to his most recent, Iowa State's Transformation, this book presents the finest examples of Paley's distinctive interpretation of gates, portals, and passageways. His success in transforming gates and portals from utilitarian objects to aesthetic symbols of "passage" is examined, as are his sources in nature and his investment in the collaborative process. The diversity and renowned quality of Paley's work are vividly presented through an analysis of its formal characteristics and the aesthetic, symbolic, and utilitarian functions that thematically tie them together.This book was published in conjunction with the exhibition Albert Paley: Portals and Gates (August 20, 2007 through March 9, 2008), presented by the Brunnier Art Museum and the Christian Petersen Art Museum, University Museums at Iowa State University.