1995

Akhmatova's Monument

American, born 1939

American poet and sculptor Barbara Chase-Riboud has lived most of her life in Europe and traveled widely in Africa and Asia, all of which has greatly influenced her work. Her sculptures typically combine contrasting textures: powerful cast-bronze forms are paired with skeins of braided, knotted, or wrapped fibers. Over time, she has incorporated references to African symbols as well as political themes in her work. This print, showing ideas for an unrealized sculpture, was made as an homage to the influential twentieth-century Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, best known for her tragic poem cycle “Requiem” about the terror of the Stalinist years.