Advanced Search 
View: In gallery
Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.
Confessional
Martin Puryear (American, born in 1941)
1996–2000
Medium/Technique
Wire mesh, staples, nails, steel rods, tar, various woods
Dimensions
Overall: 196.2 x 247 x 114.3 cm (77 1/4 x 97 1/4 x 45 in.)
Weight (Combined weight of object and crate - approximate): 1135 lb. (514.83 kg)
Weight (Object - approximate): 600 lb. (272.16 kg)
Weight (Crate - approximate): 450 lb. (204.12 kg)
Height x width (dimensions of wooden door - widest width): 59 x 37 in. (149.9 x 94 cm)
Weight (Combined weight of object and crate - approximate): 1135 lb. (514.83 kg)
Weight (Object - approximate): 600 lb. (272.16 kg)
Weight (Crate - approximate): 450 lb. (204.12 kg)
Height x width (dimensions of wooden door - widest width): 59 x 37 in. (149.9 x 94 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by the Ives Family Fund, Towles Contemporary Art Fund, Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser Fund, The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection, Joyce Linde, Carol Wall, and partial gift of Mickey Cartin
Accession Number2012.1019
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsContemporary Art, Americas
ClassificationsSculpture
Puryear is known for shape-shifting, hand-hewn forms that evoke ideas of deliverance. Here the title suggests a secret or sacred interior space, like a Catholic confessional, where sins of the mind, body, and soul are laid bare. Does its hollowness seem heavy or uplifting, damning or saving? The artist deliberately seeks this ambiguity: “The most interesting art for me retains a flickering quality, where opposed ideas can be held in a tense coexistence.”
ProvenanceConsigned by the artist to the Donald Young Gallery, Chicago; 2007, sold by Donald Young Gallery to Mickey Cartin, Hartford, CT; 2012, consigned by Mickey Cartin to Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston; 2012, sold by Barbara Krakow Gallery, and partial gift of Mickey Cartin, to the MFA . (Accession Date: December 12, 2012)