Deus

To create Deus (1953), Nivola first modeled the design of the bas relief in sand and then made a cast with a thin coat of “plaster of Paris,” a quick-setting gypsum plaster readily found in the areas surrounding the French capital. Executed as a detail study for a larger work, most likely the mural for the Olivetti showroom, Deus represents an abstracted human figure as well as what appears to be smaller breasted forms along the bottom half of the panel. The outer layer is richly textured, with tiny pebbles interspersed throughout. This work was first exhibited in 1954 at Peridot Gallery in New York and was then purchased by the Whitney Museum of American Art a year later. In this exhibition, Deus is displayed next to Imama, a visually and technically similar work, made the same year.