Variation within a Sphere, Number 10: The Sun

Richard Lippold was an American sculptor who worked primarily in welded metal, creating open-air geometric constructions that dematerialized form through intricate linear frameworks. His suspended and freestanding works, often executed in brass, copper, and stainless steel, transformed industrial materials into delicate, almost ethereal structures that engaged deeply with surrounding space. Active from the 1940s onward, Lippold developed a distinctive approach to abstraction that emphasized mathematical precision and the play of light across metal filaments, influencing postwar sculpture's relationship to architecture and the environment.