Interférences Optiques (Optical Interferences) — Martha Boto (Argentinean, 1925–2004). *Interférences Optiques* (*Optical Interferences*), 1965. Wood, aluminum, light, and motor, 25 1/2 x 25 1/2 x 14 inches (64.8 x 64.8 x 35.6 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1967 (K1967:6). © Estate of Martha Boto / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

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Martha Boto

Argentinian, active in France, 1925-2004

Interférences Optiques (Optical Interferences), 1965

wood, aluminum, light, and motor

overall: 25 1/2 x 25 1/2 x 14 inches (64.77 x 64.77 x 35.56 cm)

Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1967

K1967:6

More Details

Inscriptions

no inscriptions

Provenance

from the artist to Howard Wise Gallery, New York;
sold to Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1967;
donated by him to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, March 28, 1967

Class

Sculpture

Work Type

Construction (sculpture)

Information may change due to ongoing research.Glossary of Terms

In the early 1960s, Martha Boto began adding motors or tinted lights to her sculptural work to explore the effects of movement, illumination, and color. She was especially interested in the ability of different industrial materials, such as aluminum and stainless steel, to modify, absorb, and reflect light. In Optical Interferences light radiates through a series of slits in a concealed turning aluminum disc and is multiplied by mirrors installed on the interior surface of the box. This effect is further enhanced by sixteen polished metal tubes mounted to the front of the work through which the viewer experiences the overall composition. Critics of the time related Boto’s sculptures to science fiction and the mystery of space travel—in the same year that the artist first exhibited these works, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (Russian, 1934–1968) became the first human being to travel into space. About her work, Boto has said, “I have always been fascinated by the laws of harmony and equilibrium, which govern the cosmos through interrelations of light and movement, space, time, and color.”

Label from Giant Steps: Artists and the 1960s, June 30–December 30, 2018