Woman Looking Out to Sea

Sculpture

-

Paul Harris Estate

Woman Looking Out to Sea, 1965, stuffed cloth on metal chair frame, 43 x 26 x 31 inches: Image remastered by MPW
Woman Looking Out to Sea, 1965, stuffed cloth on metal chair frame, 43 x 26 x 31 inches

Image remastered by MPW

Name/Title

Woman Looking Out to Sea

Entry/Object ID

315

Artwork Details

Medium

Stuffed cloth on metal chair frame

Made/Created

Artist

Paul Harris

Date made

1964 - 1965

Edition

Edition Size

1 of 1

Other Names and Numbers

Other Numbers

Number Type

Previous PH Estate Inventory Number

Other Number

58.00

Dimensions

Height

43 in

Width

26 in

Depth

31 in

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Notes

CA; Gift of Christopher and Nicholas Harris

Related Publications

Publication

Brown, Theophilus. <i>Paul Harris Sculpture</i>. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000.

Notes

fig. 42

Exhibitions

<i>Paul Harris</i>, Lanyon Gallery, Palo Alto, CA, April 27–May 22, 1965
<i>Paul Harris</i>, Poindexter Gallery, New York, NY, December 20, 1966–January 14, 1967
<i>Paul Harris</i>, Galerie M.E. Thelen, Essen, Germany, 1970
<i>Paul Harris Sculpture, Certain Pieces, 1958–1980</i>, Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando, FL, October 4–November 15, 1981
<i>Fabric Sculptural Works: Paul Harris</i>, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT, September 1–October 28, 2001

General Notes

Note Type

Remarks

Note

This sculpture was made in Bolinas, California. “Paul Harris’ ‘Woman Looking to Sea’ is a rather strikingly conceived picture…on a real live contour chair is sewn…an abstracted woman curled up with recognizable hair and head peering over the back of the chair…” —Dan Scarlett, “Sculptors, Not Sculpture?” <i>Pacific Sun</i>, January 21, 1966 “This uncanny edge between lifelike and abstract is further teased in works like <i>Woman Looking Out to Sea</i> (1965), in which a female figure lies almost prostrate, her legs swept beneath her and hidden under a floral skirt, on another striped chair, this one rounded with layers of orange and blue. The depicted woman rests her chin on a hand along the top edge of the chair, while her other stretches out behind her and onto the azure blossoms of her skirt. The woman's dark crimson hair appears windblown, pieced together with white seams, and our gaze naturally follows hers away from the sculpture and into its surroundings, as it does with <i>Woman in Blue Slacks</i>. Like the earlier work, the face in <i>Woman Looking Out to Sea</i> is but an absence, left for the viewer to project their own interpretations of what that countenance might be, thereby drawing on their own memories or experiences of similar scenes. Harris evoked gestures, patterns, and body language that, while extracted from his domestic and everyday life in Bolinas, nevertheless articulated something of an emotional universality.” —Leah Triplett, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, “Interior Interests,” 2026

Created By

[email protected]

Create Date

August 27, 2025

Updated By

[email protected]

Update Date

September 30, 2026