American artist Cy Twombly drew inspiration from numerous sources: poetry, mythology, his travels, and a long-standing interest in symbols, which began during his time as a cryptographer in the United States military during the 1950s. Although best known for making large-scale gestural paintings incorporating scribbles and scratched lines, Room 11 of the Pavilions features a suite of five examples from Twombly’s sculpture practice. Designed in collaboration with the artist, the works on view consist of disparate materials one might find in an artist’s studio, including twine, palm leaves, ladles, and nails. Some of the materials come from Twombly’s hometown of Lexington, Virginia, while others were gathered in Gaeta, the Italian coastal city where he lived and worked for decades. In a decisive action, Twombly coated his sculptures in white paint, unifying the assembled materials into a coherent whole. Recalling traditions of Greco-Roman sculpture, Twombly noted, “White paint is my marble.”
–Samantha White, from the Glenstone Field Guide