Focus on this artwork and discuss the Artist.
Helaine Blumenfeld was born in New York in 1942. She obtained a PhD in philosophy from Columbia University before moving to Paris to work as an assistant in the Cubist sculptor's Ossip Zadkine's studio. She decided to begin sculpting after having interesting vivid dreams and realizing that words were not enough to express what she experienced. Her early works concentrated in transforming a figurative form into a symbolic meaning. Later she began exploring the relationship between more than one form. Blumenfeld believes that sculpture is not about narrative, but is instead centered on experience and process, having the potential to excite the viewer's imagination. She develops her ideas in clay to get a sense of the figure's form before translating them to their final materials. "Blumenfeld's daily practice remains grounded in the working of raw materials, a physical relationship that provides a channel for her imagination. She thrives in the solitary confines of her studio where she can think, dream, experiment and take risks without constraint." The artist relocated to Cambridge, England in 1976. She currently splits her time between Cambridge and her workshop in Pietrasanta, Italy.
New York Cambridge Ossip Zadkine Pietrasanta Columbia University Helaine Blumenfeld