Artist 48: Norman Carlberg

Norman Carlberg was born in 1928 in Minnesota.  He is a both a sculptor and a printmaker.  Before attending Yale he studied at the Minneapolis School of Art and at the University of Illinois.  In 1959 the Museum of Modern Art held an exhibition that featured his work.  After that he went to Chile to teach for a year and in 1961, Carlberg became the director of the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art, he taught there until 1966.  Carlberg likes to classify his sculptures as Modular Constructivism, but others also classify his work as Minimalist.  His art is very recognizable in the art community.  The aspect of Carlberg’s work that is modular is very easy for the viewer to spot.  His work characteristically has an element of repetition from a unit to a basic shape.  Many of his sculptures use geometric shapes, and hardedge designs, but they also combine straight edges with curves.  Most of his prints, which he made after 1970, they employ many of the same stylistic elements and are very simplistic.  Because each print contains a modular aspect, his prints can be rotated and repositioned to make a new image.  Carlberg is seen as one of the earliest artists to make Module Art.