Robert Grosvenor at Fridericianum
August 30, 2025 – January 11, 2026
Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of documenta, the Fridericianum will present Robert Grosvenor’s first institutional solo exhibition in Germany and the first comprehensive museum presentation of his work in Europe in two decades. The exhibition at the Fridericianum will include over thirty works from all phases of Grosvenor’s career—from the early minimalist forms to the experimental, humorous sculptures and photographs of the following decades.
Born in New York in 1937, the sculptor, draughtsman, and photographer, who took part in documenta in 1977 and 1987, is regarded as a unique figure on the American art scene. During the 1960s, Grosvenor rose to prominence particularly with sculptural works in the context of Minimal Art, a movement characterized by reduced geometric forms, seriality, and industrial production methods. However, he quickly abandoned the clear categories and also the aesthetics of Minimalism looking towards more experimental forms and formulations, which he continued to develop with uncompromising determination for decades, right up to the present day. In Grosvenor's work spanning seven decades, more abstract formulations thus encounter ostensibly more concrete, more legible objects that seem like architecture or vehicles removed from time.
The exhibition, conceived especially for the Fridericianum, brings together more than thirty works from the period between 1965 and 2025. Thus, the show is not only an opportunity to gain a comprehensive understanding of the artist's ramified and idiosyncratic practice, but also to grasp its chronological progression. In addition, the presentation of selected letters, drawings, and ephemera from the holdings of the documenta archive traces the artist's participation in documenta 6 (1977) and documenta 8 (1987).
After studying in Europe and the United States of America – at the École des Beaux Arts in Dijon (1956), the École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (1957-1959), the Università di Perugia (summer 1958), and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (October–November 1959) – Grosvenor then settled permanently in New York. It was here that he came into contact with artists from various avant-garde movements and was involved in the founding of the legendary Park Place Gallery, a cooperative exhibition institution, in 1963. While his work initially focused on painting, sculpture moved into the focus of his work in this context.
Realized by Grosvenor between 2005 and 2006, Quadrum represents a new decade in the artist's oeuvre. The work consists of three elements, one of which suggests a center, while two behave like satellites.
The central object has a different shape to the similar satellites: A flat, bubble-like shape in bright light blue rises up from a low, dark brown base. This is reminiscent of works by the artist Hans Arp as well as speech bubbles from comics. The two antenna-like satellites made of welded steel are positioned at short distances from this aluminum object. They are less voluminous than the central sculpture and are also dark brown in color.
This contrast between colors and shapes marks a clear shift from Grosvenor's earlier creations. In addition, Quadrum reflects allusions to art and design history as well as everyday culture, which can be found repeatedly in Grosvenor's work from the 1980s onwards but are even more noticeable here. They reveal one of several parallels to Postmodernism. Postmodernism is characterized by a rejection of functionalism and a turn towards a freer, playful approach to different, sometimes historical forms.
During the 1980s, Grosvenor steadily developed his practice further. Although the works that often appear formally reduced or brittle, but still suggest a decipherability.
The so-called "trailer piece", created in 1987/88 and presented at the Fridericianum as an untitled work, is one such production. The 190 cm high, 244 cm wide, and 622 cm long object can best be read as a kind of tin hut. Grosvenor derived the work from a trailer, which was designed in the form of a typical caravan of the time consisting of a very thin aluminum shell. After initially using the towing vehicle to store tools and other objects, the artist subjected it to a transformation process. In order to make the structure more resistant, he covered it with corrugated sheet metal. He then removed the interior, took off the roof and floor, and left one side of the structure open. He then stood the entire object on short metal legs.
The result is a structure that alludes to architecture but denies central functions. You can enter the space-like structure, but it offers no protection. The object has an unclear use as well as an unclear purpose. As Klaus Ottmann aptly explains: "In his installations, Grosvenor creates an intermediate space, neither recognizable nor completely unknown, neither familiar nor alien [...]. At first glance, his sculptures seem strangely familiar or strange in a familiar way: objects and arrangements do not quite make sense – they are not quite 'right'."[1] This makes them timeless and placeless.
One of his earliest works in the artistic discipline of sculpture is Topanga, created in 1965. The work was first presented at the Park Place Gallery in the year it was made and formed part of the ground-breaking exhibition Primary Structures: Younger American and British Sculptors[2] at the Jewish Museum in New York in 1966. For the presentation in Kassel, the work, now considered lost, was specially re-executed as an exhibition copy. Made of a metal substructure and yellow and silver wood paneling, the sculpture consists of a vertically positioned, cuboid base section followed by a much longer, uniform diagonal element. The latter does not reach to the floor but ends a few centimeters above it, meaning the work appears to defy gravity. This places it within the group of "cantilevered sculptures"[3] dominating Grosvenor's practice at the time.
This tendency to develop his work more freely against the backdrop of the groundbreaking movements of the time is also evident in the 1969 work 3 Wheeled Car, a minimalist-looking vehicle hinting at an indefinable time. Consisting of aluminum, green-yellow enamel paint, Plexiglas, a car seat, wheels, and a steering device, the object sports an irregular pyramid shape with an embedded cockpit. Due to its unusual form, the vehicle is reminiscent of the Dymaxion car designed by architect and inventor Richard Buckminster Fuller in 1933, although Grosvenor was not familiar with it at the time.[4]
The sculpture Untitled from 1970 […] consists of a 975.3 cm long, sandblasted aluminum tube with a diameter of 10.1 cm, which hangs from the ceiling at eye level on two metal straps. The object is inclined at an angle of 5 degrees in the middle, with the horizontal section directly touching a wall, while the welded-on, inclined element ends without a connection point in the exhibition space. It represents nothing but what it is – an aluminum tube in space – and thus deliberately eludes traditional expectations of art.[5] In its spatial placement and its reduced but precisely calculated form, the work underscores the idea of the autonomous existence of objects as advocated by Minimalism. At the same time, because the work was realized as a single piece and not produced in series, it once again departs from the principles of many contemporary stances.
Similar qualities also characterize the works Untitled, 1971, Untitled, 1975, and Untitled, 1976/77, which are presented in the exhibition in one room, together with the aforementioned hanging work. The earliest of these three objects consists of a wooden beam 756 cm long, 12.7 cm high, and 22.9 cm wide. Treated with tar oil, it is also broken in three places so that the squared timber rests on the floor in a zigzag formation.
Displaying a comparable attitude, tendency or strategy is the work Untitled from 2009. A separate room in the Fridericianum is also dedicated to this work. The sculpture consists of two contrasting parts. One element is a wide, fence-like grid made of silvery aluminum. This functions less like a defensive barrier than a compositional design element. The other object is a fiberglass construction with a red, flocked surface. Its shape is reminiscent of a bridge fragment, while its regular, cushion-like structure conveys an impression of softness and lightness.
As with many of Grosvenor's works, the space between the elements is deliberately included here. He uses the so-called negative space with great precision to lend his work a specific effect. This creative act contributes significantly to the special tension inherent in the overall structure. At the same time, the work itself invites a variety of thought-provoking games and encourages reflection on the broad knowledge of forms we use to decipher images.
Overall, the Fridericianum showcases a practice that leaves unambiguity behind and remains subject to continuous change. This is already true of the earliest formulations and continues in the works of the following periods. With ingenuity, humor, and continual searching, Grosvenor established a body of work that stands for maximum creative freedom and from which irrevocably significant impulses for the art of the 20th and 21st centuries emanate.
The exhibition initiated by the Fridericianum is the latest in a series of institutional honors that underscore Grosvenor's art-historical significance. In addition to his participation in the documenta exhibitions in 1977 and 1987, the artist has taken part in numerous other key international exhibitions, including the Biennale d'Art Contemporain de Lyon (2003), the Whitney Biennial in New York (2010), and the 59th Biennale di Venezia (2022). He has held solo exhibitions at P.S.1 – The Institute for Art and Urban Resources in Long Island City in New York (1984), at Kunsthalle Bern (1992), the Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Fundação de Serralves in Porto (2005), the Renaissance Society in Chicago (2017), the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami (2019), and the Power Station in Dallas (2023), among others. His works are represented in the collections of major American and European institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, Fundação de Serralves, and the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo. Younger artists such as Tauba Auerbach, John Bock, Wade Guyton, Rachel Harrison, Helen Marten, and Richard Prince regard Grosvenor as an "artists' artist" – as an important point of reference whose practice uniquely unites formal rigor with sensual openness and continuous inventiveness.
Known primarily as a sculptor, Robert Grosvenor (b. 1937, New York) has eluded artistic categorization during his more than fifty-year career, producing diverse, singular works that explore the spatial dynamics between object, architecture, and viewer. His work was included in the seminally important group exhibitions Primary Structures (Jewish Museum, 1966) and Minimal Art (Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, 1968), which helped define minimalism. He soon diverged from this movement to create challenging works that resist assimilation to any of the prevailing art movements. One-person exhibitions of Grosvenor’s work have been presented at the Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland (1992); the Fundação de Serralves, Porto, Portugal (2005); the Renaissance Society, Chicago, IL (2017); and the ICA Miami (2019). Grosvenor’s work is in the collections of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Storm King Art Center, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Serralves Museum, Porto; and the Centre Pompidou, Paris. Grosvenor lives and works in Long Island, New York.
[1] Klaus Ottmann: "Robert Grosvenor as an American", in: Robert Grosvenor, exhib. cat. Museu Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Fundação de Serralves 2005, Porto 2005, p. 18.
[2] In 1968, Robert Grosvenor was also involved in the important Minimal Art exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.
[3] Cf. Ulrich Loock: "Perfect Ambiguity", in: Robert Grosvenor, exhib. cat. Museu Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Fundação de Serralves 2005, Porto 2005, p. 23.
[4] Cf. Hans-Ulrich Obrist: "Hypervolume in Hyperspace", in: Mousse Magazine, No. 52, February-March 2016, pp. 162-175, here: p. 167.
[5] Cf. for example Charlotte Posenenske: "Statement", in: Art International, 12, 5 (May 1968), p. 50.
All images: Installation view, Fridericianum, Kassel, 2025 © Robert Grosvenor, documenta and Museum Fridericianum gGmbH. Photo: Andrea Rossetti
All artwork: © 2025 Robert Grosvenor / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.