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Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

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Period: Mid-20th Century
Large Hand Painted Abstract Ceramic Platter Stamped Madoura Plein Feu Brutalist
Located in Surfside, FL
Large Madoura Pottery Ceramic Platter Stamped "MADOURA PLEIN FEU" This is not marked Picasso. It is an early piece. i am uncertain who the artist is. It appears to be an abstract fi...
Category

Modern Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Enamel

Acid-Wave
Located in New York, NY
Striking 3-dimensional acrylic and wood on canvas sculpture by renowned Colombian painter an sculptor, Omar Rayo. Signed, titled, inscribed "New Yo...
Category

Op Art Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Acrylic

Brutalist Mid-Century Sunburst Wall Sculpture in Mixed Metals by Stuart Mathews
Located in Dallas, TX
Stuart Mathews was a prolific sculptor who studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and Cranbrook in the 1950s. His work is characterized by his ability to combine a variety of differ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Brass, Bronze, Steel

Brutalist Abstract Nail Sculpture in the Style of Harry Bertoia
Located in Dallas, TX
Brutalist Abstract Nail sculpture comprised of hundreds of hand welded flat nails with a rusticated patina. Would be great as a fireplace scree...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Steel

Swoosh, Large Bronze Sculpture on Wood Base by Leonardo Nierman
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Leonardo Nierman Title: Untitled (Sculpture A) Year: circa 1968 Medium: Bronze Sculpture, raised on Wood Base, signed Size: 41.25 x 14 x 15 inches (including base)
Category

Modern Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

American Modernist Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting Carving William Pellicone
Located in Surfside, FL
William Pellicone (American 1915-2004) Mixed media, pyrography, oil on wood carving painting. Dated 1958 Title - Enthymeme #14. Oil painting on carved and burnt distressed wood panel. Inscribed verso Enthymeme Wm. Pellicone #14, 9-4-58. Label on reverse with a typed definition for Enthymeme. Dimensions: 27 inches high, 42.5 inches wide. Metal wrap frame. Provenance: from a Shelter Island NY home that was designed by architect Henry J. Gazon - A.I.A. built in 1959. William Pellicone (1915-2004) was an American painter known for his abstract compositions and use of vibrant colors. He was born in New York City and studied at the Art Students League and the Brooklyn Museum Art School. Pellicone's early work was influenced by the Social Realist movement of the 1930s and 1940s, with his paintings often featuring realistic depictions of urban scenes and working-class people. However, in the 1950s he shifted towards abstraction, exploring the interplay of color and form. Pellicone's mature style was characterized by his use of vibrant, saturated colors, often applied in thick layers of paint. His paintings often featured geometric shapes and organic forms, with a strong sense of movement and energy. In addition to his painting, Pellicone was also a respected teacher and arts administrator. He taught at the New York Institute of Technology and the State University of New York, and served as the director of the Islip Art Museum on Long Island. Pellicone's artwork was exhibited widely during his lifetime, and he was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1977. Today, his paintings can be found in the collections of museums and galleries around the world, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. William Pellicone (Born 1915) is active/lives in New York. William Pellicone is known for Abstract expressionist, landscape and non-objective art. An American artist, sculptor, architect. He exhibited at Pennsylvania Academy Fine Arts...
Category

Abstract Expressionist Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Oil

Large Scale Freestanding Fiber Art Sculpture by Jane Knight Titled The Tree
Located in Dallas, TX
This monumental abstract fiber art sculpture was created in the mid-1960s by renowned Detroit artist, Jane Knight. She is best known for her elaborate large-scale wall textile installations...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wool

"Untitled, " Seymour Fogel, Geometric Abstraction, Texas Hard-Edge
Located in New York, NY
Seymour Fogel Untitled Oil on illustration board construction 10 x 7 1/2 inches Provenance: Estate of the artist Charles and Faith McCracken Larry and Trish Heichel Private Collection Seymour Fogel was born in New York City on August 24, 1911. He studied at the Art Students League and at the National Academy of Design under George Bridgeman and Leon Kroll. When his formal studies were concluded in the early 1930s he served as an assistant to Diego Rivera who was then at work on his controversial Rockefeller Center mural. It was from Rivera that he learned the art of mural painting. Fogel was awarded several mural commissions during the 1930s by both the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, among them his earliest murals at the Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, New York in 1936, a mural in the WPA Building at the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair, a highly controversial mural at the U.S. Post Office in Safford, Arizona (due to his focus on Apache culture) in 1941 and two murals in what was then the Social Security Building in Washington, D.C., also in 1941. Fogel's artistic circle at this time included Phillip Guston, Ben Shahn, Franz Kline, Rockwell Kent and Willem de Kooning. In 1946 Fogel accepted a teaching position at the University of Texas at Austin and became one of the founding artists of the Texas Modernist Movement. At this time he began to devote himself solely to abstract, non-representational art and executed what many consider to be the very first abstract mural in the State of Texas at the American National Bank in Austin in 1953. He pioneered the use of Ethyl Silicate as a mural medium. Other murals and public works of art done during this time (the late 1940s and 1950s) include the Baptist Student Center at the University of Texas (1949), the Petroleum Club in Houston (1951) and the First Christian Church, also in Houston (1956), whose innovative use of stained glass panels incorporated into the mural won Fogel a Silver Medal from the Architectural League of New York in 1958. Fogel relocated to the Connecticut-New York area in 1959. He continued the Abstract Expressionism he had begun exploring in Texas, and began experimenting with various texturing media for his paintings, the most enduring of which was sand. In 1966 he was awarded a mural at the U.S. Federal Building in Fort Worth, Texas. The work, entitled "The Challenge of Space", was a milestone in his artistic career and ushered in what has been termed the Transcendental/Atavistic period of his art, a style he pursued up to his death in 1984. Painted and raw wood sculpture...
Category

Abstract Geometric Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Oil, Board

20th Century Plaster French Art Deco Style Sailor Sculpture, 1940s
Located in Vicoforte, IT
French sculpture from the mid-20th century. Plaster work depicting a Sailor in Art Deco style, copy of the famous Meurice ceramic, Ideal Man scanning the...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Chalk

Modernist Brutalist Hand Forged Iron Menorah Sculpture Israeli Palombo Judaica
Located in Surfside, FL
Heavy Hand Forged Brutalist Iron Memorial Menorah Sculpture. David Palombo was an Israeli sculptor and painter. He was born in Turkey to a traditional family and immigrated to the...
Category

Arte Povera Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Iron

Modern Cross, Hand-Carved Wooden Sculpture by Antonovici c1950
Located in Long Island City, NY
Romania-born Antonovici is best-known as Constantin Brancusi’s protege. He worked closely with the master sculptor in his studio until he emigrated to the USA in 1953. Modern Cross,...
Category

Modern Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood

Three Graces, Bronze Sculpture by Constantin Antonovici
Located in Long Island City, NY
The three graces are described in Greek Mythology as the deification of beauty. These three sisters' role was to attend to the Olympians during feasts and other celebrations. Atonovi...
Category

Art Deco Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Eclate de Braise, Mid-Century Abstract Woven Tapestry
Located in Wilton, CT
Eclate de Braise, wool, 33" x 24", 1966. This mid-century abstract woven tapestry was done by Canadian textile artist, Mariette Rousseau-Vermet...
Category

Abstract Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Fabric, Textile, Tapestry, Wool

Vibrations Metalliques
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Jesús Rafael Soto (1923-2005) was a Venezuelan artist and key figure of Kinetic Art and Op Art, best known for his large-scale sculptures. After completing his artistic training at...
Category

Abstract Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal

Mid Century Modern Brutalist Welded Expressionist Sculpture After Paul Evans
Located in Surfside, FL
In this bronze sculpture the artist (unknown) has welded together a group of totems or monuments into a unified piece. T Neo-Dada Abstract Sculpture: Assemblages In contrast, abstra...
Category

Abstract Expressionist Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal

1967 Pop Art, May Wilson, Surrealist Feminist Junk Assemblage Painted Sculpture
By May Wilson
Located in Surfside, FL
May Wilson (1905–1986) was an American artist and figure in the 1960s New York City avant-garde art world. A pioneer of the feminist and mail art movement, she is best known for her Surrealist junk assemblages and her "Ridiculous Portrait" photo collages. Wilson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, into an underprivileged family. Her father died when she was young. She was reared by her Irish Catholic mother, who sewed piecework at home. Wilson left school after the ninth grade to become a stenographer/secretary to help support her family. When she turned 20, she married a young lawyer, William S. Wilson, Jr., and give birth to her first child. She continued to work until the birth of her second child, after which she devoted her energies primarily to mothering and homemaking. In 1942, the couple had prospered enough to move to Towson, Maryland, where she began to take correspondence courses in art and art history from several schools, including the University of Chicago. In 1948, after the marriage of their daughter, the couple moved to a gentleman's farm north of Towson, where she pursued painting and gave private art lessons to neighbors. She exhibited her paintings, scenes of everyday life painted in a flat, purposefully primitive manner in local galleries and restaurants. In 1952 and 1958, she won awards for work submitted to juried exhibitions at the Baltimore Museum of Art. In 1956, her son, the writer Williams S. Wilson, gave to Ray Johnson, the founder of the New York Correspondence School, his mother's address. This began a friendship and artistic collaboration between Johnson and Wilson, which would last the remainder of her life. Wilson became an integral part of Johnson's mail art circle and was initiated into the New York avant-garde through letters and small works that she exchanged with Robert Watts, George Brecht, Ad Reinhardt, Leonard Cohen, Arman, and many others. When her marriage dissolved, she moved to New York City in the spring of 1966, aged 61, taking up residence first in the Chelsea Hotel and then in a studio next door, where she threw legendary soirées and became known as the "Grandma Moses of the Underground". By the time she arrived, Wilson was already working with photomontage collage techniques. Encouraged by Johnson, who had sent her magazines through the mail, she scissored patterns into images of pin-up girls and muscle men until they resembled doilies or snowflakes, as Wilson called them. She decorated her hotel room and later her studio on West 23rd Street with these and other manipulated, found object images. Around this time, she also began her series of neo Dada "Ridiculous Portraits", for which she would ride the subway to Times Square, where she made exaggerated faces in photo booths. She then would cut and paste her photo-booth face onto postcards, along with Old Master reproductions, fashion shoots, and softcore Playboy magazine pornography. Long before artists such as Cindy Sherman and Yasumasa Morimura embarked on similar critical projects, Wilson's "Ridiculous Portraits" sent up the ubiquitous sexism and ageism that exists in popular and fine-art images of women. At the age of 70, she converted a nude photograph of herself into a stamp that she pasted on envelopes. Her collages and humorous self-portraits were made as gifts and mail-art items for her friends and were not widely known until after her death. Her work was contemporaneous with the Arte Povera artists Jannis Kounellis and ‎Michelangelo Pistoletto. She was also an innovator of junk art assemblages that incorporated real objects, such as high-heel shoes, bed sheets, sauce pans, toasters, liquor bottles, ice trays, and wrapped baby dolls. Her sculptures were inspired by Surrealist and Dada practices and are similar in spirit to Yayoi Kusama's contemporary accumulations. Wilson was the subject of a 1969 experimental documentary by Amalie R. Rothschild, "Woo Hoo? May Wilson". Since her death, May Wilson's work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and retrospectives at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland; Gracie Mansion Gallery, New York; the Morris Museum, Morristown, N.J.; the Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York City; and The University of the Arts, Philadelphia. Selected Exhibitions 2010 "Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists, 1958-1968", University of the Arts, Philadelphia (traveling exhibition) 2008 "1968/2008: The Culture of Collage", Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, City 2008 "Ridiculous Portrait: The Art of May Wilson", Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey 2008 "Woo Who? May Wilson", Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York City 1995 [Retrospective], The Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland 2001 "May Wilson: Ridiculous Portraits and Snowflakes", Gracie Mansion Gallery, New York, City 2001 "Inside Out: Outside In-The Correspondence of Ray Johnson and May Wilson", Sonoma Museum of Visual Art, California 1991 "May Wilson: The New York Years", Gracie Mansion Gallery, New York City 1973 "Sneakers", Kornblee Gallery, New York City 1973 "Small Works: Selections from the Richard Brown Baker Collection of Contemporary Art", RISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island 1971 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. 1970 "Sculpture Annual 1970", Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City 1965 The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland 1962 The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 1957 Bookshop Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland Public collections Whitney Museum of American Art (New York City) The Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, Maryland) Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, New York) References William S. Wilson, "May Wilson: Constructing Woman (1905-1986)", in Ann Aptaker, ed., Ridiculous Portrait: The Art of May Wilson, ed. Ann Aptaker, Morristown, N.J.: Morris Museum, Camhi, Leslie, "Late Bloomer", Village Voice, December 18, 2001 Giles, Gretchen, "Cosmic Litterers: Artists Ray Johnson and May Wilson: Taking the Cake", "Northern California Bohemian," June 14–20, 2001 McCarthy, Gerard, "May Wilson: Homespun Rebel", Art in America, vol. 96, no. 8, September 2008, pp. 142–47 Sachs, Sid and Kalliopi Minioudaki, Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists, 1958-1968. Philadelphia: The University of the Arts, 2010, ISBN 978-0789210654 Wilson, William S. Art is a Jealous Lover: May Wilson: 1905-1986, andy warhol...
Category

Surrealist Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal

"Make 300 Holes with Any Implement: This Is My Gift" Takako Saito, Concept Art
Located in New York, NY
Takako Saito Make 300 Holes with Any Implement: This Is My Gift , 1965 Wood box containing wood frame with paper and stamped ink 3 3/8 × 3 3/8 × 1 1/4 Takako Saito is a Japanese ar...
Category

Conceptual Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Paper, Ink

Brutalist Hand Forged Iron Sculpture Candelabra Candle Stick Israeli Art Palombo
Located in Surfside, FL
Hand Forged Iron Sconce Candelabra Holocaust Memorial Judaic table Sconce Sculpture David Palombo was an Israeli sculptor and painter. He was born in Turkey to a traditional family and immigrated to the Land of Israel with his parents in 1923. They lived in the Nahalat Shiva neighborhood of Jerusalem. In 1940 he began his studies at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, and from 1942 was a student of sculptor Ze’ev Ben-Zvi. For a period of time, Palombo was an assistant at Ben-Zvi’s studio and also taught at Bezalel. During this period he was also a member of the “Histadrut HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed” (The General Federation of Students and Young Workers in Israel). In the 1940s he took art lessons at night. In 1948 he went to Paris, where he visited the studio of the sculptor Constantin Brancusi whose work influenced him. Around 1958 he married the artist Shulamit Sirota. In 1960 he quit his job to devote himself to art. In 1964 he married for the second time to the artist Yona Palombo. The two of them went to live in an abandoned home on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. In 1966 he was killed when the motorcycle on which he was riding ran into a chain stretched across the street to prevent the desecration of Shabbat. His widow opened a museum in their home that was active until the year 2000. Work by Palombo is included in the Judaic collection of the Jewish Museum (a well known Hanukkah menorah). Palombo executed the impressive metal gates of the Tent of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem, the memorial to the martyrs of the holocaust, as well as the gates to the Knesset Building the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco award) awarded him a scholarship for study in Japan. He worked in marble, granite, bronze, iron and steel. as well as with glass mosaic tiles. Palombo’s early works, in the 1950s, were influenced by modernist sculptors such as Brancusi. These works were composed of abstract images from nature and were carved out of stone or wood. At the end of the 1950s he began making metal sculptors, using the technique of welding. His work took on a more abstract and expressive character. Education 1940 Painting with Isidor Ascheim, New Bezalel School for Arts and Crafts, Jerusalem 1942 Sculpture with Zeev Ben Zvi, Jerusalem 1956 Mosaic, Ravenna, Italy 1958 Welding Course Awards And Prizes 1966 UNESCO Award Exhibitions: Sculpture in Israel, 1948-1958 Mishkan Museum of Art, Kibbutz Ein Harod Artists: Zvi Aldouby, Yitzhak Danziger, Arieh Merzer, Dov Feigin, Aaron Priver, David Palumbo, Menashe Kadishman, Kosso Eloul, Yehiel Shemi, Zahara Schatz. The Spring Exhibition of Jerusalem Artists, Artists' House, Jerusalem Artists: Palombo, David Bezalel Schatz, Mordechai Levanon, Fima, Ludwig Blum 12 Artists, The Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem Avraham Ofek, Aviva Uri, Avigdor Arikha, Yosl Bergner, Lea Nikel, Palombo, Ruth Zarfati...
Category

Arte Povera Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Iron

Harry Bertoia Melt Pressed Bronze Figural Sculpture, 1970s
Located in Dallas, TX
A figurative vertical form with two protrusions on top constructed of melt pressed bronze (heated numerous times, squeezed, and shaped. Includes provenance and hand-signed COA from t...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

20th Century White Marble Italian Sculpture The Emancipation of Slavery, 1930
Located in Vicoforte, IT
Refined white marble statue from the first half of the 20th century. This is a very high quality copy of a work by the great Italian sculptor Giacomo Ginotti (1845-1897). Known as Th...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Marble

Assemblage Collage Painting/Sculpture with Pennies and Scrap Civil Rights Artist
By William R. Christopher
Located in Surfside, FL
Titled "In G-d We Trust" signed dated and titled verso. there is also a gallery label. Mixed Media wall hanging in a pop art style. Background of pennies and then the foreground is l...
Category

American Modern Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Mixed Media

Abstract Polished Chrome Sculpture by Chinni
Located in Long Island City, NY
This chrome sculpture by Peter Chinni, from 1968, is an modern abstract expressionist work. The reflective surface of the twist adds an element of i...
Category

Abstract Expressionist Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal

Gold Gilt Bronze Sculpture Necklace Art Israeli Tumarkin Abstract Surrealist
Located in Surfside, FL
Measures about 4 X 3.75 inches. Box frame is 17 X 13 inches. Signed by artist verso. From the literature that I have seen I believe the edition size was limited to 10, I do not know ...
Category

Modern Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Gold, Bronze

Abstract Signed Cubist Bronze Sculpture "Cats" Chicago Bauhaus Woman Modernist
Located in Surfside, FL
This listing is just for the sculpture. (the picture of the ad is for reference and is not included.) Marie Zoe Greene-Mercier was an artist, writer and arts activist who worked in t...
Category

Cubist Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Travertine, Bronze

"Summer/Indian Island" Silver Sterling Sculpture, Abbot Pattison (1916-1999)
Located in Palm Desert, CA
This rare sterling silver sculpture by American modernist Abbott Pattison features four stylized figures in an expressive Brutalist style—one of which appears to be an abstracted can...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Marble

Gold Gilt Bronze Sculpture Brooch Art Israeli Tumarkin Abstract Surrealist
Located in Surfside, FL
Measures about 4 X 3.75 inches. Box frame is 17 X 13 inches. Signed by artist verso. From the literature that I have seen I believe the edition size was limited to 10, I do not know ...
Category

Modern Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Gold, Bronze

Mouse
By Margery Kahn
Located in Wiscasett, ME
Table top and of a diminutive size, signature stamped on underside of top. Margery worked during the mid-20th century at the Met in NYC.
Category

Abstract Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal

Mouse
Mouse
$3,200 Sale Price
34% Off
Abstract Papier Mache Composition, 1950-60 - papier mache, 83x65x4 cm., framed
Located in Nice, FR
Paper mache "Les Argonautes" Artist: JS. Ferlay Vallauris Workshop "Les Argonautes", Vallauris: Isabelle Ferlay (1917-?) And Frédérique Bourguet (1925-1997) Isabelle Ferlay and Frédérique Bourguet founded their ceramic workshop in Vallauris in 1953, which they named "Les Argonautes", in reference to the famous Greek epic. Isabelle studied painting at the Fine Arts school of Lyon in 1940, then she attended the Fine Arts in Marseille. Finally, she finished her artistic training in Montpellier, at the Fontcarade national school, where she learned ceramics. Françoise dit Frédérique Bourguet studied at the Beaux-Arts in Montpellier until 1945 and it was in Sèvres, in Françoise Bizette's studio, that she trained in the art of ceramics. She created her first workshop in Paris in 1945, which she shared with Valentine Schlegel until 1951. The two women ceramicists then practiced modeling technique. It was in 1953 that she met Isabelle Ferlay and together, they decided to set up a workshop in Vallauris. They produce shaped pieces, sometimes molded, made of earthenware, enamelled in bright colors. In the 1970s they made stoneware cooked over a wood fire. Some ceramists frequented their workshop, notably the very talented Jacques Innocenti and François Raty.
Category

Abstract Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Papier Mâché

Modern Brutalist Metal Sculpture of an Abstract Skeletal Figure in a Locker
Located in Houston, TX
Modern abstract brutalist metal sculpture by Houston artist Bob Fowler. The work features a skeletal figure welded in a box or locker. Firmly attached to a white and natural wood bas...
Category

Modern Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal

Modern Abstract Texas Surrealist Carved Wooden Spade Sculpture
Located in Houston, TX
Modern surrealist abstract wooden sculpture by Texas artist Roy Fridge. The work features a prominent spade shape with two open recesses. The top opening exposes a teardrop shape and the bottom shows more machine-like forms. Currently mounted onto a stable, black base. Artist Biography: A native of Beeville, Fridge was an only child who made his own toys. After serving in the U.S. Navy, he graduated from Baylor University in Waco with a degree in filmmaking. In the 1960s, he and his best friends, sculptors Jim Love and Dave McManaway, became known as the "unholy trio" of Texas contemporary art. In 1963, Fridge left a career in television advertising and "ran away to the beach." He settled in the sleepy town of Port Aransas...
Category

Modern Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood

Buste de faune, Picasso, Ceramic, Terracotta, Faune, Mythological, Design, 1950
Located in Geneva, CH
Buste de faune, Picasso, Ceramic, Terracotta, Faune, Mythological, Design Buste de faune Unique piece Partially glazed terracotta 18.5 x 9.3 cm 40 x 32 cm (with frame) Certificate o...
Category

Post-War Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Terracotta

Sheeba
Located in Indianapolis, IN
Embossed monogram signature. Referenced in "Beyond Time; The Art of Alfred Van Loen" SunStorm c.1993, p. 38. Van Loen was a highly influential modern artist and teacher of German de...
Category

Modern Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Plaster, Wood

Modern Abstract Rhino Head Metal Sculpture
Located in Houston, TX
Abstract metal rhino head metal sculpture by Mexican artist and sculptor. Signed and editioned by artist at the left side. Artist Biography: Sergio Bustam...
Category

Abstract Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal

"Bobo Mask Burkina Fasso-Upper Volta, " Carved Painted Wood created c. 1945
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Bobo Mask Burkina Fasso-Upper Volta" is a wood carved sculpture with painted details. It features the image of an abstracted face with a large almost elepha...
Category

Tribal Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood

Untitled
By Tony Rosenthal
Located in New York, NY
This stunning Mid Century Modern welded bronze sculpture was realized by the esteemed 20th Century artist Tony Rosenthal circa 1965. Signed and dated by the artist (and with an inclu...
Category

Abstract Expressionist Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

"Untitled #2 (Tupperware)" Red, Yellow, White Realistic Beeswax Cup Sculpture
Located in Houston, TX
Modern collection of realistically rendered tupperware cups made out of beeswax and pigment by California artist George Stoll. The piece features a set of...
Category

Pop Art Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wax, Pigment

Modern Texas Mixed Media Sculpture of a Mummified Portrait Bust in a Box / Crate
Located in Houston, TX
Modern mixed media sculpture by Texas artist Roy Fridge. The work features a mummified portrait bust encased in a red, white, and blue flag placed in a wooden box or crate. Artist Biography: A native of Beeville, Fridge was an only child who made his own toys. After serving in the U.S. Navy, he graduated from Baylor University in Waco with a degree in filmmaking. In the 1960s, he and his best friends, sculptors Jim Love and Dave McManaway, became known as the "unholy trio" of Texas contemporary art. In 1963, Fridge left a career in television advertising and "ran away to the beach." He settled in the sleepy town of Port Aransas...
Category

Modern Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Mixed Media

Maquette for Laureate (unique sculpture)
Located in New York, NY
Seymour Lipton Maquette for Laureate, ca. 1968-1969 Nickel silver on monel metal Unique 18 × 8 1/2 × 7 inches Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York Acquired from the above by the previous owner, 1969 thence by descent Christie's New York: Monday, June 30, 2008 [Lot 00199] Acquired from the above Christie's sale This unique sculpture by important Abstract Expressionist sculptor Seymour Lipton is a maquette of the monumental sculpture "Laureate" - one of Lipton's most iconic and influential works located on the Riverwalk in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Laureate is a masterpiece that was commissioned by the Allen-Bradley Company in memory of Harry Lynde Bradley and as an enhancement for the newly constructed Performing Arts Center. It is located on the east bank of the Milwaukee River at 929 North Water Street. The Bradley family in Milwaukee were renowned patrons of modernist sculpture, known for their excellent taste who also founded an eponymous sculpture park. For reference only is an image of the monumental "Laureate" one of Milwaukee's most beloved public sculptures. According to the Smithsonian, which owns a different unique variation of this work, "The full-size sculpture Laureate was commissioned by the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts in Milwaukee. In the initial drawings, Seymour Lipton combined details from the architectural plan with a wide variety of images, ranging from musical instruments to a lighthouse on the island of Tobago. He transformed the basic shapes from these sketches into a welded sculpture, which evokes a figure composed of columns, harp strings, and coiled rope. Lipton created this piece to celebrate achievement in the arts. The dramatic silhouette commands your attention, reflecting the title Laureate, which means worthy of honor and distinction. The final version of the piece is over twelve feet high and stands out against the pale, flat buildings of the arts center.,," Provenance Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York Acquired from the above by the previous owner, 1969 thence by descent Christie's New York: Monday, June 30, 2008 [Lot 00199] Acquired from the above Christie's sale About Seymour Lipton: Born in New York City in 1903, Seymour Lipton (1903-1986) grew up in a Bronx tenement at a time when much of the borough was still farmland. These rural surroundings enabled Lipton to explore the botanical and animal forms that would later become sources for his work. Lipton’s interest in the dialogue between artistic creation and natural phenomena was nurtured by a supportive family and cultivated through numerous visits to New York’s Museum of Natural History as well as its many botanical gardens and its zoos. In the early 1920s, with the encouragement of his family, Lipton studied electrical engineering at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and pursued a liberal arts education at City College. Ultimately, like fellow sculptor Herbert Ferber, Lipton became a dentist, receiving his degree from Columbia University in 1927. In the late 1920s, he began to explore sculpture, creating clay portraits of family members and friends. In addition to providing him with financial security, dentistry gave Lipton a foundation in working with metal, a material he would later use in his artwork. In the early 1930s, though, Lipton’s primary sculptural medium was wood. Lipton led a comfortable life, but he was also aware of the economic and psychological devastation the Depression had caused New York. In response, he generally worked using direct carving techniques—a form of sculpting where the artist “finds” the sculpture within the wood in the process of carving it and without the use of models and maquettes. The immediacy of this practice enabled Lipton to create a rich, emotional and visual language with which to articulate the desperation of the downtrodden and the unwavering strength of the disenfranchised. In 1935, he exhibited one such early sculpture at the John Reed Club Gallery in New York, and three years later, ACA Gallery mounted Lipton’s first solo show, which featured these social-realist-inspired wooden works. In 1940, this largely self-taught artist began teaching sculpture at the New School for Social Research, a position he held until 1965. In the 1940s, Lipton began to devote an increasing amount of time to his art, deviating from wood and working with brass, lead, and bronze. Choosing these metals for their visual simplicity, which he believed exemplified the universal heroism of the “everyman,” Lipton could also now explore various forms of abstraction. Lipton’s turn towards increasing abstraction in the 1940s allowed him to fully develop his metaphorical style, which in turn gave him a stronger lexicon for representing the horrors of World War II and questioning the ambiguities of human experience. He began his metal work with cast bronze sculptures, but, in 1946, he started welding sheet metal and lead. Lipton preferred welding because, as direct carving did with wood, this approach allowed “a more direct contact with the metal.”[ii] From this, Lipton developed the technique he would use for the remainder of his career: “He cut sheet metal, manipulated it to the desired shapes, then joined, soldered, or welded the pieces together. Next, he brazed a metal coating to the outside to produce a uniform texture.”[iii] In 1950, Lipton arrived at his mature style of brazing on Monel metal. He also began to draw extensively, exploring the automatism that abstract expressionist painters were boasting at the time. Like contemporaries such as Jackson Pollock, Lipton was strongly influenced by Carl Jung’s work on the unconscious mind and the regenerative forces of nature. He translated these two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional maquettes that enabled him to revise his ideas before creating the final sculpture.The forms that Lipton produced during this period were often zoomorphic, exemplifying the tension between the souls of nature and the automatism of the machine. In the years following the 1950s, Lipton’s optimism began to rise, and the size of his work grew in proportion. The oxyacetylene torch—invented during the Second World War—allowed him to rework the surfaces of metal sculptures, thus eliminating some of the risks involved with producing large-scale finished works. In 1958, Lipton was awarded a solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale and was thus internationally recognized as part of a small group of highly regarded avant-garde constructivist sculptors. In 1960, he received a prestigious Guggenheim Award, which was followed by several prominent public commissions, including his heroic Archangel, currently residing in Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall. A number of important solo exhibitions of his work followed at The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC (1964); the Milwaukee Art Center and University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (1969); the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond (1972); the Everson Museum in Syracuse, NY (1973); the Herbert E. Johnson Museum of Art of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY (1973); the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum) in Washington, DC (1978); and a retrospective in 1979 at The Jewish Museum in New York. In 1982 and 1984 alone, two exhibitions of his sculpture, organized respectively by the Mint Museum (Charlotte, NC) and the Hillwood Art Gallery of Long Island University (Greenvale, NY), traveled extensively across museums and university galleries around the nation. In 2000, the traveling exhibition An American Sculptor: Seymour Lipton was first presented by the Palmer Museum of Art of Pennsylvania State University in University Park. Most recently, in 2009, the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill, NC mounted The Guardian and the Avant-Garde: Seymour Lipton’s Sentinel II in Context. Since 2004, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery has been the exclusive representative of the Estate of Seymour Lipton and has presented two solo exhibitions of his work—Seymour Lipton: Abstract Expressionist Sculptor (2005) and Seymour Lipton: Metal (2008). In 2013, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery presented Abstract Expressionism, In Context: Seymour Lipton, which included twelve major sculptures by the artist, along with works by Charles Alston, Norman Bluhm, Beauford Delaney, Willem de Kooning, Jay DeFeo, Michael Goldberg, Adolph Gottlieb, Hans Hofmann, Lee Krasner, Norman Lewis, Conrad Marca-Relli, Boris Margo, Alfonso Ossorio, Richard Pousette-Dart, Milton Resnick, Charles Seliger...
Category

Abstract Expressionist Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal, Silver

Ellen Key Oberg Modernist Ceramic Sculpture, Impetuous Person
Located in Phoenix, AZ
Ellen Key Oberg exhibited with all the major artists of her time including Alexancer Archipenko and William Zorach. This piece received an honorable mention in one of the many exhibi...
Category

Modern Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Clay

Untitled
Located in New York, NY
This sophisticated sculpture was realized from lymed French oak circa 1950. The perimeter of the piece consists of a mosaic of rectilinear blocks, while the interior rectangular pane...
Category

Abstract Geometric Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Oak

Welded Brushed Steel Sculpture - geometric abstraction (Unique, signed)
By Michael Todd
Located in New York, NY
Michael Todd Welded Brushed Steel Sculpture - geometric abstraction, 1968 Welded Brushed Steel Hand signed and dated 1968 in marker on surface....
Category

Abstract Geometric Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Steel

"Hitch Hiked" Hayward Oubre, Painted Wire Sculpture, Southern Black Artist
Located in New York, NY
Hayward Oubre Hitch Hiked, 1960 Signed on Base: OUBRE 60 Painted wire sculpture 45 H. x 21 W. x 19 D. inches Provenance: Estate of the Artist Deeply at...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wire

Large Sculptural Cubist Abstract Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Large colorful sculptural abstract painting by Texas artist Patrick Cronin. Painted with acrylic paint and mixed media, dated 1986.
Category

Abstract Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Mixed Media

Abstract Geometric Modern Metal Etching
Located in Houston, TX
Modern geometric etching on a metal sheet in an abstract style. The piece is not framed. Artist Biography: Dick Wray, a native Houstonian, born in Heights Hospital in 1933 was prima...
Category

Abstract Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal

"Rape of a Sabine Woman" Bronze Sculpture, Abbott Pattison (1916-1999)
Located in Palm Desert, CA
This dynamic bronze and subtly polychromed sculpture by Abbott Pattison interprets the dramatic moment of the Rape of the Sabine Women—an iconic episode from Roman mythology—in a dis...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Marble, Bronze

Abstract Sculpture Mid 20th Century Modern Non Objective Biomorphic Plaster WPA
Located in New York, NY
Modern artist George L.K. Morris created this abstract biomorphic nonobjective plaster sculpture during the WPA era of the 1930s / 40s. Monogrammed. Though George Lovett Kingsland Morris studied with realist painters John Sloan and Kenneth Hayes Miller at the Art Students League, the influence of their points of view was replaced by that of abstractionists Amedee Ozenfant and Fernand Leger. The paintings of Morris were two-dimensional, hard-edged and brightly colored. Born in New York City in 1905, Morris became a full-fledged abstractionist and a founder in 1936 of the American Abstract Artists. He edited "The World of Abstract Art, the group's publication, and was their president from 1948-1950. Morris had graduated from Yale in 1928 and studied at the League until 1930, when he went to Paris to attend the Academie Moderne. A sculptor, writer, art critic and teacher in addition to abstract painter Morris himself later taught at the Art Students League from 1943-1944, as well as St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland, 1960-1961. Morris' intrinsic abstract bent was made even clearer by his positive feeling for Hans Arp's sculpture. He and Arp edited the French art magazine, "Plastique." Morris also edited the "Bulletin of the Museum of Modern Art" and "Partisan Review." He died in 1975 in New York City. George LK...
Category

American Modern Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Plaster

SMU Southern Methodist Unversity School of Arts Sculpture Mid Century Modern
Located in San Antonio, TX
SMU Architectural Bronze Dimensions: 16.75 H x 4.75 W x 4.25 D Medium: Bronze "Southern Methodist University"
Category

Modern Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Modern Abstract Expressionist Metal Etching
Located in Houston, TX
Modern abstract expressionist style etching is done on a metal sheet. The sheet is attached to a wood backing for easy hanging. The work is not framed. Artist Biography: Dick Wray,...
Category

Abstract Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal

Claude Conover Mid-Century Modernist Ceramic Pot “Venel” 1960s Stoneware
Located in Denver, CO
This exceptional 1960s ceramic pot by renowned 20th-century artist Claude Conover (1907–1994) exemplifies mid-century modern ceramic artistry. Titled Venel and signed on the base, th...
Category

Modern Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Ceramic

Warp Ikat Spiral, Mid-Century Abstract Woven Tapestry, Textile Wall Sculpture
Located in Wilton, CT
Warp Ikat Spiral, weaving, 36"x108", 1962. This mid-century geometric abstract tapestry was done by American textile artist, Ed Rossbach (1914-2002, Chica...
Category

Abstract Geometric Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Fabric, Textile, Tapestry

Village of Iseh, Bali (1948)
Located in Amsterdam, NL
Theo Meier (1908-1982) View of the Village of Iseh, painted from the house of Theo Signed and dated 48 Theo Meier lower left Oil on canvas, 68.5 x 50 cm In original frame carved by the artist. Note: Theo Meier arrived in Bali in 1936 with the intention of going on to Tahiti where he had been before. However Bali turned out to be the paradise he had been searching for in his dreams and he had no desire any more to move elsewhere. Bali at that time was still a very traditional place where society lived according to an acient religious system and in a luscious tropical setting the modern world was ignored. Here he met Walter Spies...
Category

Expressionist Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Canvas, Rosewood, Oil

Seraph or Angel Figural Scultpure
Located in New York, NY
What makes this sculpture special is the wonderful melding of abstraction with content and the textured approach to surface of the bronze. What is also striking is the form of the A...
Category

Abstract Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Untitled
By James Guy
Located in New York, NY
Signed (at lower center): Guy
Category

Abstract Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Steel

Abstract Head with Carved Pedestal
Located in New York, NY
Joseph Goethe was one of America's finest early modernist carvers in wood. He experimented with exotic woods often collected in his native California and from other countries. This...
Category

Abstract Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood

Angelo Di Benedetto 3D Abstract Painting – Shaped Canvas Mobile, c.1950
Located in Denver, CO
This rare and striking mid-century modern abstract painting was created circa 1950 by celebrated Denver modernist Angelo Di Benedetto (1913–1992). Painted on a shaped, three-dimensio...
Category

Abstract Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

"Tool Relief II, " Original Stoneware Cylinder Vase signed by David Barnett
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Tool Relief II" is an original sculptural stonework vase by David Barnett. It is signed and dated on the bottom. 13" H x 3.50 D David Barnett, an artist, collector, appraiser and ...
Category

Contemporary Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Stoneware

"Fire Spitter s Mask/Senufo Mask of Worship Ceremonies, " Wood from Ivory Coast
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Fire Spiter's Mask/Senufo Mask of Worship Ceremonies" is made of wood and was created in the Ivory Coast circa 1930. This mask has to heads on either side...
Category

Tribal Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood

"Tool Relief III, " Original Conceptual Stoneware Sculpture by David Barnett
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Tool Relief III" is an original conceptual sculpture by David Barnett, signed and dated on the bottom. Made of stoneware and ceramic, the cylinder contains imprints of various tools...
Category

Contemporary Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Ceramic, Stoneware, Mixed Media

Gallo
Located in Roma, RM
Leoncillo Leonardi (Spoleto 1915 – Roma 1968), Gallo Scultura in ceramica policroma di cm 35 x 30 x 6. Provenienza: Il pittore Carlo Socrate.
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Ceramic

Futurist abstract figurative plaster statue with religious theme
Located in Florence, IT
this plastic group, depicting "the Annunciation," is a sketch for a bronze that the artist would exhibit between 1957 and 1960 at his solo shows at the Strozzina in Florence, the Coc...
Category

Futurist Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Chalk

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