Abstraction
1962 · Lithograph
composition (irreg.): 24 1/4 × 23 3/16" (61.6 × 58.9 cm); sheet: 27 5/16 × 32 5/8" (69.3 × 82.8 cm)
Museum of Modern Art
WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture
Robert Mallary
American, 1917
Toledo, OH, USA
Conceptual ArtConstructivism
Representation
None documented
8
Institutional Exhibitions
21
Works in Collection
45
Assets Indexed
4
Authority-backed Facts
0
Publications Referenced
80%
Profile Completeness
Cultural Positioning
Movements
- • Conceptual Art
- • Constructivism
Related Artists
No edges recorded
Influence Graph
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Selected Institutional Exhibitions
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The Artist as Adversary
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1971
No image
Younger Abstract Expressionists of the Fifties
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1971
No image
Twentieth-Century Art from the Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller Collection
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1969
No image
The 1960s: Painting and Sculpture from the Museum Collection
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1967
No image
Painting and Sculpture from the Museum Collection
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1964
About
Why this artist matters now
Robert Mallary was an American sculptor who pioneered the use of industrial and found materials in abstract form during the postwar period. Working primarily in welded steel, plastic, and discarded objects, he constructed monumental geometric compositions that rejected traditional carving and casting in favor of direct assembly and transformation of raw materials. His approach anticipated both constructivism and assemblage movements, positioning found-object sculpture as a rigorous conceptual practice rather than collage or bricolage. Mallary's investigations into material syntax and structural clarity established him as a formative figure in postwar American sculpture.
Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 26d ago
Graph relationships
Taste overlap and adjacency
Movement
Conceptual Art
Medium
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Related Artists
12 in graph
Institutional
Museum Collections
Canonical record
Artworks (21)
View all 21 artworks →
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Images
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Record
Movements and affiliations
Institutional
Representation & Collections
In collection
Museum of Modern Art
New York, US
Record