Untitled (Wheel Piston, Machine Parts), 1918

John Storrs is perhaps best known for his columnar, architecture-inspired sculpture made of metal and stone of the early 1920s. Yet Storrs created masterful works in many other media throughout a career spanning nearly fifty years and two continents. He began his artistic training in the United States before moving to Paris in 1911. There he formed not only artistic but also personal alliances. While in Paris, Storrs developed an early friendship with Jacques Lipchitz whom he met in art school.  He also met and married a French writer, Marguerite De Ville Chabrol in 1914.

In the 1920s, Storrs developed an aesthetic based on the stylization of Art Deco, using sleek metal forms that suggested skyscrapers and evoked the urban landscape. His work was included in exhibitions in Europe and America, including several organized by the Société Anonyme in New York. A 1923 one-artist exhibition at the Société Anonyme in New York, which also traveled to the Arts Club of Chicago, established Storrs as a member of the international avant-garde. Included in this exhibition were drawings along with twenty-one sculptures, and those executed after the 1920 show Storrs moving more and more in the direction of architectonic sculpture.

Text courtesy the Estate of John Storrs