Installation view of “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art (Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026). Shown, MARTIN PURYEAR, “Aso Oke,” 2019 (bronze). © Martin Puryear, Jack Shear Collection. | Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions
THE SCULPTURAL WORKS of Martin Puryear (b. 1941) are poetic feats of master craftsmanship. Technically rigorous and thought-provoking, the conceptual and abstract works speak to global cultures, social history, and the natural world. Some of Puryear’s references include ceremonial Yoruba headwear, Jean Toomer’s novel “Cane” (1923), and Sally Hemings and the architecture of Monticello.
“Martin Puryear: Nexus” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is the first major survey of the renowned sculptor in nearly 20 years. Spanning his entire career, beginning in the 1960s, the exhibition brings together major sculptures across a range of materials, including wood, marble, and metal. More than 50 works are on view— sculptures, prints, drawings, and a video documenting “Lookout” (2023) the artist’s first brick work, which is installed outdoors at Storm King Art Center. CT
“Martin Puryear: Nexus” at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in Boston, Mass. from Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026. The exhibition travels next to the Cleveland Museum of Art (April 12-Aug. 9, 2026) and then heads to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Ga. (Sept. 25, 2026-Jan. 17, 2027)
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Installation view of “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art (Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026). Shown, left to right, “C.F.A.O.” (2006-07); “A Column for Sally Hemmings” (2021); “Malediction” (2006-07); “Big Phrygian” (2010-14). | Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Installation view of “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art (Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026). Shown, left foreground, “C.F.A.O.,” 2006–07 (painted and unpainted pine and found wheelbarrow). © Martin Puryear, Museum of Modern Art, New York. N.Y. | Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Installation view of “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art (Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026). Shown, left foreground, “Noblesse O.,” 1987 (red cedar and aluminum paint). © Martin Puryear, Dallas Museum of Art. | Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Installation view of “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art (Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026). Shown, left foreground, MARTIN PURYEAR, “Alien Huddle,” 1993–95 (red cedar and pine). © Martin Puryear, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro 2002.65. | Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Installation view of “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art (Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026). Shown, foreground, from left, “Bower,” 1980 (Sitka spruce, pine, and copper tacks). © Martin Puryear, Smithsonian American Art Museum; “Self,” 1978 (stained and painted red cedar and mahogany). © Martin Puryear, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska. | Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Installation view of “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art (Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026). | Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Installation view of “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art (Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026). Shown, MARTIN PURYEAR, “Big Phrygian,” 2010-14 (painted red cedar). © Martin Puryear, Glenstone Museum. Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery. | © Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Installation view of “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art (Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026). | Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
MARTIN PURYEAR (American, born in 1941), “Karintha” 2000 (woodcut on Kitakata paper), From the extra suite of seven prints for Cane. | © Martin Puryear, Lee M. Friedman Fund. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
MARTIN PURYEAR (American, born in 1941), “Carma,” 2000 (woodcut on Kitakata paper), From the extra suite of seven prints for Cane. | © Martin Puryear, Lee M. Friedman Fund. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Installation view of “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art (Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026). Shown, from left, “Confessional,” 1996–2000 (wire mesh, staples, nails, steel rods, tar, various woods) and “Lever #1,” 1988/89 (red cedar, cypress, poplar, and ash). | Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Installation view of “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art (Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026). Shown, from left, “Lever #1,” 1988/89 (red cedar, cypress, poplar, and ash) and “Confessional,” 1996–2000 (wire mesh, staples, nails, steel rods, tar, various woods). | Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Installation view of “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art (Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026). | Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Installation view of “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art (Sept. 27, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026). Shown, center, MARTIN PURYEAR, “Hibernian Testosterone,” 2018 (painted cast aluminum, American cypress). © Martin Puryear, Courtesy the artist and Matthew Marks Gallery. | Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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BOOKSHELF
A new exhibition catalog was published to accompany “Martin Puryear: Nexus.” Edited by Reto Thüring Emily Liebert, the catalog includes contributions by Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi, Alex Da Corte, Thelma Golden, Maya Lin, Kerry James Marshall, and Billie Tsien, among others. “Martin Puryear: Lookout” documents the artist’s project at Storm King Art Center. “Martin Puryear: Liberty / Libertà” accompanied the artist’s Venice Biennale exhibition in 2019. “Martin Puryear: Multiple Dimensions” was published on the occasion of the artist’s 2015 traveling museum exhibition with a contribution from Richard Powell. Also consider “Beauty Born of Struggle: The Art of Black Washington.” Martin Puryear is among the artists featured in the volume edited by Jeffrey C. Stewart.
