21 Jul “found objects” in the fields of american terra cotta with fred sommers and richard nickel
i ran across a number of richard nickel letters and images that shed some light on a stories i’ve heard about “the king,” fred sommer, and the “found objects” assignment.
based on what nickel wrote to fellow id classmate len gittleman and someone who’s identity eludes me (maybe a letter to w.g. purcell), nickel took sommer out to the fields of american terra cotta in 1958, where piles of old terra cotta molds were scattered about.
nickel was looking for molds made for sullivan ornament, while sommer was just in awe of the number of “found” objects surrounding him. although nickel failed to turn up any sullivan molds (he was tipped off by modeler kristian schneider’s daughter-in-law) he did find one of a king’s head that all involved were crazy about.
in fact, there’s an image of the king’s head resting against a marble mantel in a home i could never identify. after digging a bit further, i’m convinced the room was in siskind’s apartment in lakeview.
however, i’m still am not sure what significance “the king” held, especially since no one could identify the building from which it came. still, to see the image of siskind’s apartment with that poster and sommer in the field surrounded by “found objects” was a nice discovery (for me anyway). there’s much more to the story that i will hope to explore further when time permits.
additional images diditized on 7-15-2021:
