HERBERT FERBER (1906 - 1991)
Scott was among the first British artists to encounter the
emerging New York School painters in the early 1950's. He did
so through exhibiting with a major New York gallerist, Martha
Jackson. Here Scott met or became friendly with like-minded
artists such as the lesser known but vital sculptor Herbert Ferber
and the gestural painter Paul Jenkins. In the shadow of David
Smith, several sculptors like Ferber essayed the open, linear
and biomorphic manner taken from European surrealists some
of whom were exiled in New York City during the war. In both
painting and sculpture surrealist automatism exerted a literally
liberating and seminal influence on the post war American scene.
Peter Davies
Cage I, 1954
Soldered copper and brass, lead
Signed Ferber 54
Height (inclusive of wooden base): 50 cm; 19½ in
Provenance:
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York
William Scott
Mary Scott, hence by descent
Photograph: Courtesy of Edith Ferber, New York.
64
