Sorel Etrog created his very first sculptures in 1959 while living in New York City and studying at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. During this time, the artist was fascinated by the museum’s collection of African and Oceanic art. Etrog was also becoming acquainted with the sculpture of Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Constantin Brancusi. The combination of these new sources of inspiration would influence Etrog’s work in the years to come. “La Mer Study” was completed in 1964, one year after leaving New York to settle in Toronto. The abstract bronze sculpture bears similar qualities to both the work of the modernist sculptors and to the expressive African and Oceanic art, while its title is suggested by its anchor-like form and the rolling waves near its base.
