Born in 1954 in Minnesota, Joseph Havel received a degree in fine arts from the University of Minnesota, and a master’s degree in ceramics from Pennsylvania State University. In 1979, Havel joined the faculty of Austin College in Sherman, Texas, where he began producing works combining sculpted pieces and found objects, such as tools, furniture, and kitchen implements. He first began to bronze-cast his sculptures in 1986.
Havel moved to Houston to become associate director of the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 1991, becoming director in 1996. In his work of the 1990s, he increasingly focused on urban and industrial subjects and producing large scale bronzes using a range of materials, from ship channel rope to Japanese paper lanterns. Today, Havel continues to work in bronze, but he has turned his attention to fabrics as well, using curtain, shirts, and clothing labels as his points of departure.
Havel is known for sculptures that transform ordinary objects into poetic, flowing compositions. This example, Curtain, is a bronze relief that was commissioned in 1998 by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, to frame the entrance to the newly constructed Audrey Jones Beck Building. In keeping with his tradition of utilizing commonplace objects as catalysts for his works of art, Havel selected muslin fabric to transform into two large, draping bronze panels—each weighing 900 pounds— to flank the building’s doors.
Curtain seems to cascade from the top of the building’s entrance, defying gravity as the panels stop a tense inch above the pavement. The fluidity with which Curtain falls and its ashen, pale green color give the bronze relief the appearance of actual aged cloth. Its deep folds and creased, imperfect surfaces also make these panels appear to be real drapes. Details such as raveled threads and worn edges are critical elements to the finished work, with the texture of the original muslin fabric still visible.
Though Curtain is monumental in size and evokes a sense of ceremony to the entrance of a grand space, the two panels have an unimposing appearance. The pallid hue of the bronze blends with the soft-tone gray stone of the museum building, while the familiar intimacy of domestic drapery quietly connects with the visitor.
A laborious process called lost-wax or direct casting is required for bronze-casting a work of this size. Several assistants skilled in bronze-casting help Havel manufacture his pieces. For this sculpture, created in a studio workroom in which humidity and temperature are controlled, Havel coated muslin fabric with wax and shaped into luxurious folds. The wax-stiffened draperies were then cut into pieces and covered in silica or plaster to make a mold. Curtain required 177 molds, followed by 177 separate castings.
When the molds are heated, the wax-saturated fabric burns out, giving the process the name “lost-wax casting.” Liquid bronze heated to approximately 2,200 degrees is poured into the mold to replace the space the wax-coated fabric occupied. After the bronze cools, the molds are removed from the cast segments. For Curtain, the bronze pieces were welded back together and buffed to remove evidence of seams. Havel gave the bronze a patina, a discoloration caused by a thin layer of corrosion, by acid-finishing the surface to an aged, whitish color.
