Winter’s Passage: Luxor (Rome)
- Year1985
- MaterialBronze
- Dimensions53 x 104 x 47.5 cm
- Year of acquisition2000
- Inventory numberUAB 461
- On viewUpper floor
More about the artwork
A narrow board lies on a level rectangular plane, above it a slightly concave board, and on top a small wooden block. Onto this block Twombly has nailed a thin, diagonally rising bar—a precisely positioned contrast to the horizontal layering of the other elements. Twombly cast the composition in bronze, and the process left a patina reminiscent of archaeological objects. Formally, the individual components recall a ship with an extruding mast or rudder. Twombly spent the winter months of 1984–85 in the city of Luxor in Egypt. He lived in the old wing of the Winter Palace, a historic colonial-style hotel with a view of the Nile. The flow of the water, the daily hustle and bustle on the river, and the passing ships became for him symbols of the passage of time.
