Vija Celmins. House #1 (1965.) Oil on wood, metal, fur, and plastic, House 7 ½ x 6 ½ x 10" (19.1 x 16.5 x 25.4 cm); roof 2 ¼ x 7 3/8 x 10 ½" (5.7 x 18.7 x 26.7 cm).
Artist Vija Celmins emigrated to the United States from Latvia just after World War II. During the war, her family spent a few years in Esslingen, [East] Germany. The sculpture Celmins made in the late 1960s replicated objects she had watched destroyed by war.
House #1, made in 1965, is a miniature replica of a building consumed by fire caused by aerial bombings. The fox fur, now faded with age, suggests the gingered tendrils and heat of fire.
