A historicized artist figure for her emblematic pieces made with wood scraps (pieces of décor, furniture legs, railings, parapets) found around in Manhattan and hoarded in apparent chaos, Nevelson used these assemblages, wither painted uniformly in black, white, or gold, to analyse the concept of memory – both personal (her father and grandfather traded in wood) and collective (the collection of these scraps paid homage to ancient trades, pushed aside by growing consumerist society.
