{{Short description|American sculptor (1947–2019)}} {{Infobox person | name = Robert Therrien | image = | caption = | birth_name = Robert Edward Therrien | birth_date = {{Birth date|1947|11|17}} | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2019|6|17|1947|11|17}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | alma_mater = California College of the Arts<br/>Brooks Institute<br/>University of Southern California | employer = | occupation = Sculptor | political_party = | spouse = | children = | parents = | relatives = }} alt=|thumb|320x320px|Robert Therrien, ''No title (table and four chairs)'', 2003, on display at The Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast in 2012 '''Robert Therrien''' (November 17, 1947 – June 17, 2019) was an American artist known for his large-scale sculptures.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/24/arts/robert-therrien-dead.html |title=Robert Therrien, Sculptor, Dies at 71; He Made the Mundane Monumental |first= Richard|last= Sandomir|date=June 24, 2019 | website = The New York Times |access-date=June 25, 2019}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Robert Therrien|last=Zelevansky|first=Lynn|publisher=LACMA|year=2000|isbn=9780875871868|location=Los Angeles|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/roberttherrien00zele}}</ref> His work reimagined and reinvented objects from everyday life, such as a set of table and chairs or stacks of plates, turning them into monumental immersive sculptures.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-me-robert-therrien-obituary-20190618-story.html|title=Robert Therrien, sculptor who made the ordinary extraordinary, dies at 71|date=2019-06-19|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-24}}</ref> Los Angeles–based, Therrien was described as being possessed by a sense of wonder over commonplace experiences<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Robert Therrien|last=Yau|first=John|publisher=Parasol unit|year=2016|isbn=9780993519529|location=London}}</ref>

==Early life== Therrien was born in 1947 in Chicago, Illinois.<ref name="artnewspaperobit">{{cite news |last1=Kenney |first1=Nancy |title=Robert Therrien, whose outsize art teetered between fantasy and reality, has died at 71 |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/robert-therrien-whose-outsize-art-teetered-between-fantasy-and-reality-has-died-at-71 |access-date=June 19, 2019 |work=The Art Newspaper |date=June 18, 2019}}</ref><ref name="artnewsobit">{{cite news |last1=Greenberger |first1=Alex |title=Robert Therrien, Maker of Whimsical Sculptures That Enlarge the Everyday, Dead at 71 |url=http://www.artnews.com/2019/06/17/robert-therrien-dead-71/ |access-date=June 19, 2019 |work=ARTnews |date=June 17, 2019}}</ref><ref name="artforumobit">{{cite news |title=Robert Therrien (1947-2019) |url=https://www.artforum.com/news/robert-therrien-1947-2019-80117 |access-date=June 19, 2019 |work=Artforum |date=June 18, 2019}}</ref> He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with his family when he was around five years old. After high school, he began his formal art education in Oakland at the California College of the Arts but then moved to Southern California. In 1970, he enrolled at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara where he received a degree in photography while also studying painting at the affiliated Santa Barbara Art Institute.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/arts/design/robert-therrien-gets-a-solo-show-at-the-albright-knox.html|title=If Gulliver Were a Conceptualist ...|last=Gopnik|first=Blake|date=2013-07-12|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-08-24|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="artnewsobit"/> He went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.<ref name="artnewspaperobit"/><ref name="artforumobit"/>

== Career == Therrien began exhibiting in galleries in Los Angeles and New York in 1975. His first major solo museum exhibition was at Los Angeles's then-brand new Museum of Contemporary Art in 1984.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.artsy.net/news/artsy-editorial-robert-therrien-sculptor-made-giant-versions-everyday-objects-died-age-71|title=Sculptor Who Made Everyday Objects Giant Dies at 71|date=2019-06-18|website=Artsy|language=en|access-date=2019-08-24}}</ref>

In 1991, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía presented a major survey of his work.<ref name="artnewspaperobit" /> The works during this time were described as poetically reductive sculptures and paintings of simple but evocative shapes like snowmen, keyholes<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.artnet.com/magazine/reviews/drohojowska-philp/drohojowska-philp4-27-00.asp|title=artnet.com Magazine Reviews - Minimalist Fantasia|website=www.artnet.com|access-date=2019-08-24}}</ref> and chapels. The artist has said he has always been interested in "subjects with fables attached."<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Robert Therrien|last=Rowell|first=Margit|publisher=Rizzoli|year=2008|isbn=978-0-8478-3164-7|location=New York|pages=26}}</ref> The objects he chose to recreate not only had to be beautiful to his eyes but they had to have a "universal" shape that is recognizable to everyone.<ref name=":3" />

Therrien's work underwent a shift in emphasis in the early 1990s, his sculptures becoming larger in scale and more clearly representational.<ref name=":0" /> He moved from making modestly sized handmade objects to industrially fabricated, large-scale immersive works.<ref name=":1" /> Around this time the artist said that "...as (my work) becomes less and less abstract in appearance—its shape more obviously derived from common objects—it also gets more thickly surrounded by abstractions, in the sense of associations or ideas it may refer to."<ref name=":0" />

The artist's solo exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2000 examined the work at what proved to be a crucial moment in his career.<ref name=":0" /> The show featured monumental new sculptures, including Under the Table, 1994, No title (blue plastic plates), 1999, and three gigantic beards. "Therrien's recent work is at once playful and dark," critic Christopher Knight proclaimed in his review of the LACMA show. "Therrien has been making exquisitely crafted sculptures that are easily recognized as objects encountered in the daily world. Yet, however recognizable the object, the sense of estrangement in these new sculptures is more pronounced than ever before."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-feb-27-ca-2958-story.html|title=The Playground of Memory|date=2000-02-27|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-24}}</ref>

Therrien died on June 17, 2019, at the age of 71.<ref name="artnewspaperobit" /><ref name="artnewsobit" />

== Selected Museum Exhibitions == * Public Art Fund, New York, ''Robert Therrien: Table and Six Chairs'', 2005 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.publicartfund.org/exhibitions/view/table-and-six-chairs/|title=Table and Six Chairs - Public Art Fund|website=www.publicartfund.org|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref> * Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, California, ''Robert Therrien'', 2007 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mcasd.org/exhibitions/robert-therrien|title=Robert Therrien|date=2009-08-21|website=Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego|language=en|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref> * Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland, ''Robert Therrien: Works on Paper'', 2008 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kunstmuseumbasel.ch/en/exhibitions/2008/robert-therrien|title=Robert Therrien|last=zephir.ch|website=kunstmuseumbasel.ch|language=en|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref> * Tate Modern, London, ''ARTIST ROOMS: Robert Therrien'', 2009-2010 <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.artistrooms.org/rooms/robert-therrien-tate-modern|title=Robert Therrien, Tate Modern {{!}} Artist Rooms|website=www.artistrooms.org|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref> * De Pont museum, Tilburg, Netherlands, ''Robert Therrien: Sculptures and drawings'', 2011 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://depont.nl/en/exhibitions/archive/robert-therrien/|title=archive|website=De Pont museum|language=en|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref> * The MAC (Metropolitan Arts Centre), Belfast, Northern Ireland, ''Robert Therrien: No title (table and four chairs)'', 2012 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://themaclive.com/exhibition/robert-therrien-no-title-table-and-four-chairs|title=Robert Therrien: No Title (Table and Four Chairs) {{!}} The MAC|website=themaclive.com|language=en|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref> * The Contemporary Austin, Texas, ''Robert Therrien'', 2015 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecontemporaryaustin.org/exhibitions/robert-therrien/|title=Robert Therrien at The Contemporary Austin|website=The Contemporary Austin|language=en|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref> * Denver Art Museum, Colorado, ''Robert Therrien: The Power of the Image'', 2016 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://denverartmuseum.org/exhibitions/robert-therrien|title=Robert Therrien|website=Denver Art Museum|language=en|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref> * Parasol unit, London, ''Robert Therrien: Works 1975-1995'', 2016 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://parasol-unit.org/whats-on/robert-therrien-works-1975-1995/|title=Robert Therrien: Works 1975-1995|website=Parasol unit|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref> * Tate Modern, London, ''ARTIST ROOMS: Robert Therrien'', 2018 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.artfund.org/whats-on/exhibitions/2018/08/18/artist-rooms-robert-therrien-exhibition|title=ARTIST ROOMS: Robert Therrien|website=Art Fund|language=en|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref> * The Broad, Los Angeles, ''Robert Therrien: This is a Story,'' 2025-2026<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Therrien: This is a Story {{!}} The Broad |url=https://www.thebroad.org/art/special-exhibitions/robert-therrien-story |access-date=2025-12-19 |website=www.thebroad.org}}</ref>

==Collections== His artwork is included in museum collections worldwide, including: *the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, * The Broad,<ref name="thebroadtherrien">{{cite web |title=Robert Therrien |url=https://www.thebroad.org/art/robert-therrien |website=The Broad |access-date=June 19, 2019}}</ref> * the Museum of Modern Art, New York, * the Tate Modern, London, * the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent, Belgium,<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://smak.be/en/artist/18295 |title = Artist}}</ref> * the Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland, and * the Centre Pompidou in Paris.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="lacmatherrien">{{cite web |title=Robert Therrien |url=https://collections.lacma.org/node/169071 |website=LACMA |access-date=June 19, 2019}}</ref>

==Art market== Therrien was represented Leo Castelli in New York and Konrad Fischer in Düsseldorf throughout the 1980s and 90s, during which time his work received increasing international recognition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://artdaily.com/news/114510/Artist-Robert-Therrien-passes-away-at-the-age-of-seventy-one#.XWCaeehKhyw|title=Artist Robert Therrien passes away at the age of seventy-one|website=artdaily.com|access-date=2019-08-24}}</ref> He was represented by Gagosian Gallery at the time of his death.<ref name="artnewsobit" /> The artist's estate has been represented by David Zwirner Gallery since 2026.<ref>Alex Greenberger (6 May 2026), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/robert-therrien-estate-leaves-gagosian-joins-david-zwirner-1234784222/ Robert Therrien Estate Leaves Gagosian After Nearly Three Decades and Joins David Zwirner] ''ARTnews''.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://www.davidzwirner.com/artists/robert-therrien Robert Therrien at David Zwirner]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Therrien, Robert}} Category:1947 births Category:2019 deaths Category:Artists from Chicago Category:Sculptors from Los Angeles Category:California College of the Arts alumni Category:Brooks Institute alumni Category:University of Southern California alumni Category:American male sculptors Category:20th-century American sculptors Category:20th-century American male artists