Migrating Pedmarks

Artist Lynda Benglis (American, born 1941)

Datedesigned 1998, cast 2008

Dimensions86 × 108 × 96 in. (218.4 × 274.3 × 243.8 cm)

Mediumcast bronze with patina

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LineGift of The Georgia Welles Apollo Society in honor of Georgia and David K. Welles

Object number

2008.108

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Sculpture Garden

Label TextLynda Benglis is deeply concerned with the physicality of form and how it affects the viewer. Though essentially abstract, her sculptures simultaneously suggest images of contemplation and of physical power. Since the 1960s Benglis has created a diverse body of work in many mediums, often pushing traditional materials in new and unusual ways. For Migrating Pedmarks she started with equal-sized rectangles of clay, which she then twisted, pierced, and marked in a variety of ways. She next assembled the separate pieces together into one form. The mark of the artist’s hand is literally embedded in the clay through her fingerprints (what she calls “pedmarks”). These potentially fleeting gestures were made permanent when the clay shape was cast in bronze.Published ReferencesToledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 356, repr. (col.).Exhibition HistoryToledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Inspired Giving: The Apollo Society 25th Anniversary Exhibition, October 15, 2010-February 13, 2011, p. 39, repr. (col.) p. 39.