Curve X

With its frontal, planar, and pillar-like form, Curve X is reminiscent of an ancient funerary stele, but its streamlined shape and industrial material are a decidedly twentieth-century update to the weathered stone surfaces of antique monuments. Whether or not Kelly had this historical reference in mind when he produced Curve X in 1974, he made the allusion explicit when he gave the sculpture to the Harvard Art Museums in memory of Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., a newspaper publisher, art collector, Harvard alumnus, and benefactor of the Harvard Art Museums. Notably, the title of the work is derived not from the object itself, but from the form of the space that seems to press into it on either side of the plank. By drawing attention to the void that lies outside the sculpture, Curve X becomes a monument to loss.