With Fluted Figure, William Tarr transforms the human body into a twisting architectural form suspended between sculpture,landscape, and modernist structure. Carved in reinforced concrete, the work spirals upward through rhythmic vertical flutingthat simultaneously conceals and reveals the figure beneath. The body appears less modeled than eroded—shaped by movement,gravity, wind, and time. Despite the heaviness of its material, the sculpture carries an unexpected sense of fluidity and ascent.

Tarr occupies a unique position within the broader postwar conversation surrounding Abstract Expressionism and modernistsculpture. While many artists of the New York School explored gesture through paint, Tarr translated similar ideas of movement,energy, and emotional force into three-dimensional form. The sculpture’s twisting surface recalls both classical drapery and the physical velocity of de Kooning’s brushwork, while its architectural presence aligns it with the spatial ambitions of LouiseNevelson and postwar environmental sculpture.

Fluted Figure balances monumentality and vulnerability. The figure feels ancient and modern; sensual and abstract. The workspeaks to the expansion of postwar abstraction beyond painting—where gesture becomes physical structure and the body itselfbecomes a site of transformation.

Tarr moved to Springs, East Hampton in the mid-1970s after summering there for several years.