- Title
- Topanga Seed
- Date Made
- 1969-1970
- Medium
- Dolomite rock and transfer letters
- Dimensions
- 38 × 47 × 46 in. (96.52 × 119.38 × 116.84 cm)
Weight: 1 Ton 1200 lb. (1451.5 kg)
- Accession Number
- M.2004.319
- Collecting Area
- Modern Art
- Curatorial Notes
For Topanga Seed, Wallace Berman transferred Hebrew letters onto a one-and-a-half-ton boulder that he found in Topanga Canyon, California, where he lived from 1964 until his death. Though the text does not translate to literal words or sentences, the sculpture reflects the artist’s deep engagement with the Jewish mystical tradition of the Kabbalah. Closely associated with the Beat movement, Berman was also a central figure in Topanga’s community of artists, actors, and musicians, which included George Herms, Dennis Hopper, Dean Stockwell, and Neil Young.
Wall label, 2021.
