Forms in Space

John Henry Bradley Storrs
United States, 1885-1956
Forms in Space
Bronze, 1923
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Norton S. Walbridge
1977:147
© San Diego Museum of Art

Born in Chicago, Storrs was the son of an architect who had made a fortune in real estate. Storrs studied sculpture, first with Lorado Taft at the Art Institute of Chicago, then with Charles Grafly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He departed for Paris in 1912 and the following year became a pupil in the atelier of the French master Auguste Rodin, where he spent the most formative years of his education. Storrs was soon Rodin’s favorite, and he remained in the studio until his mentor’s death in 1917.

Storrs began experimenting with Cubism just before World War I, and he returned to Cubist forms following the end of hostilities. By 1920 he was among the first to produce nonobjective sculpture.

It was during the period between the two world wars that Storrs made his contribution to the development of modern art with such Cubist-inspired celebrations of the machine and skyscraper as Forms in Space. Its verticality and setbacks suggest the skyscrapers being erected in New York throughout the 1920s. In particular, the zigzag angularity of Forms in Space was adapted for the stainless-steel Art Deco adornment at the top of the Chrysler Building, which was completed in 1930.

Discussion Questions

(For Grades K-2)

What material(s) is this sculpture made out of? Does it look rough or smooth?

Can you find repeating shapes? Where?

What do you think this sculpture is supposed to resemble?

Do you think this sculpture is supposed to have a function or was it made just to look at?