Skip to main content
Label Text Animal Pyramid was made specifically for its setting, and has a contextual relationship with both the park and the architecture of the Art Center, particularly the Richard Meier wing. Nauman stated that “the formal parts of the building, the squareness and then the curves, must have something to do with how I thought about the pyramid”. Although Nauman has worked in many different formats and media throughout his influential career, images of animals have appeared often. The absurd pose of Animal Pyramid is, like much of Nauman’s work, darkly humorous, and has several possible interpretations, from a strange circus act to a bizarre taxidermy display.
Published ReferencesNeal Benzra, Kathy Halbreich, Paul Schimmel and Robert Storr, essayists; Joan Simon with Janet Jenkins and Toby Kamps, general editor, BRUCE NAUMAN, (Exhibition catalogue and catalogue raisonne), Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, distributed Art Publishers, 1st edition, 1994, cat. no.442, color ill. p.323

AN UNCOMMON VISION: THE DES MOINES ART CENTER, Des Moines Art Center, 1998, ref. pp.35 & 209, b/w detail p.209, color ill. pp.208 & 209
DimensionsOverall: 12 × 7 × 4 ft. (3.7 × 2.1 × 1.2 m.)
Accession Number 1990.18
Classificationssculpture
Provenance(Dwight Hackett Projects, Santa Fe [fabricated 1990]); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from the artist, 1990]
Animal Pyramid
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Bruce Nauman
1989
Photo Credit: Paul Crosby
Phyllida Barlow
2013
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Bruce Nauman
1969
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Bruce Nauman
1971
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Bruce Nauman
1971
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Bruce Nauman
1971
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Rirkrit Tiravanija
1996
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Jaume Plensa
2007
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Ellsworth Kelly
1994