Marble Plinth Habitation sits on a 40mm high polished black marble plinth, with a recess cut out for the sculpture’s base plate to sit in. Though the first image of Habitation is without this plinth, similar marble plinths are shown in images of sculptures in the same César exhibition catalogue from the Hanover Gallery, London’s 1960…
Steel Wood Screw and Nail The steel wood screw is designed to hold two pieces of wood together. Screws have been used for thousands of years, but it wasn’t until the 1770s that screws made of metal were first mass-produced. The design of the wood screw has not changed significantly since then. The end of…
Marble Plinth Habitation sits on a 40mm high polished black marble plinth, with a recess cut out for the sculpture’s base plate to sit in. Though the first image of Habitation is without this plinth, similar marble plinths are shown in images of sculptures in the same César exhibition catalogue from the Hanover Gallery, London’s 1960…
Flattened Weld Area This section shows an amorphous area of wavy metal – a stark contrast to the flat regular shapes of the steel sheets seen elsewhere. It might be supposed that the surface of such an irregular section would be bumpy, like the areas of messy weld. However the surface of this section is…
Metalwork Punch This object is a steel punch, used in metalworking to make holes in steel sheets. Steel is a difficult material to drill through, so metal workers looking to make a hole will ‘punch’ through using an object like this one, with a bevelled (meaning sloped or tapering) end. This particular punch has a…
Metal Bar and Brackets This section of the sculpture has a metal bar enclosed within four steel brackets. The corrosion of this bar is different from the other metal on the sculpture. The texture is pitted and rough. This certainly suggests that it is somewhat older than the other metal, and would have lay in the…
Messy Welding This section shows messy welding, with large amounts of weld material, spatter, and popped bubbles on the surface. It is in contrast to the sections of neat weld found immediately below it. Though most of the sculpture is welded using an electric arc, some of this weld may have been created using a…
Neat Welding This section shows the neatest section of welding on the sculpture. It is somewhat reminiscent of patterns of brickwork or shingles on the exterior of a house. Each of the shapes visible here are separate pieces of steel sheet. At the top of this section, the artist’s hand movements are visible in the…
Flame-burnt Hole This section of the sculpture includes a steel sheet with a large hole, around 25mm across. The hole has been burnt through the sheet using a flame, as is indicated by the ridges of melt around the edges. The tool used to cut this hole was most likely an oxy-acetylene cutting torch. These…
Spoon Handle Here is a flattened section of steel with a semi-circular end that tapers into a more narrow piece of wire. The item closely resembles a cutlery handle, such as that of a tea spoon. Simple steel cutlery was common in the early and mid 20th century, with most people unable to afford sterling…
