Richard Lippold

Richard Lippold (1915-2002), American sculptor, best known for his delicate geometric wire constructions. Along with Harry Bertoia, he represents a radical school of sculpture, in which space is an integral part of open, fragmented arrangements. His constructions are positioned in space by nearly invisible guy wires. Sun (1956, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City), the culmination of this style, is a large spherical starburst arrangement, as delicate and complex as a spiderweb, composed of 3.2 km (2 mi) of gold wire and 14,000 tiny welded points.