Drawn from Earth: Figurative Sculpture and Works on Paper by William Daley

Drawn from Earth Figurative Sculpture and Works on Paper by William Daley, showcases approximately 20 works of art, focusing on the significance of Daley’s figurative works of the 1960s. Celebrating a generous gift of art to Woodmere from the late artist’s family, a few of Daley’s large-scale ceramic vessels, which he would become known for, complement the show. These pieces welcome curiosity, offering discoveries in their interiors, on their surfaces, and in the mysterious relationship between inside and outside. While the figurative work is less well-known than Daley’s vessels, in the context of Woodmere, they represent a fascinating element within a broader cultural phenomenon. The sensuality and expressiveness of Daley’s work will be evident through this show.

 

Drawn from Earth also includes work on paper: preparatory studies associated with some of the works on view and drawings that stand on their own. The show also includes a selection from a series of self-portraits in marker, ink, xerox, and other experimental mediums. Shown for the first time, these works reach back in time and manifest the artist’s troubled memories of being a young American soldier in the European theater of World War II, who, in 1943, became a prisoner of war for ten months.

 

A full-color catalogue, which focus on the significance of Daley's figurative works of the 1960s is available in the Museum Store and on Amazon at Drawn from Earth: Figurative Sculpture and Works on Paper by William Daley: Art Museum, Woodmere, Valerio, William R., Valerio, William R.: 9781888008111: Amazon.com: Books.

 

In the early 1960s, the great ceramicist William Daley (1925—2022) shifted away from glazed, table-scaled pottery and ventured into an exploration of figurative sculpture. Daley’s approach to the figure was intensely expressive and varied greatly over a roughly ten-year period. This was a creative investigation in various directions that sometimes involved the integration of wood or metal with clay forms. By the late 1960s, Daley would settle back into making ceramic vessels. However, his sensibility had changed: these would be larger works—pottery on a human scale—with a unique balance of organic and geometric forms in thick, unglazed clay. These works would occupy him for five more decades.