Early 20th Century Figurative Sculptures

Demetre Haralamb Chiparus (also known as Dumitru Chiparus) (16 September 1886 in Dorohoi, Romania - 22 January 1947 in Paris, France) was a Romanian Art Deco* era sculptor who lived and worked in Paris. He was born in Romania, the son of Haralamb and Saveta. In 1909 he went to Italy, where he attended the classes of Italian sculptor Raffaello Romanelli. In 1912 he traveled to Paris to attend the Ecole des Beaux Arts* to pursue his art at the classes of Antonin Mercie and Jean Boucher. Demetre Chiparus died in 1947 and was buried in Bagneux cemetery, just south of Paris. The first sculptures of Chiparus were created in the realistic style and were exhibited at the Salon of 1914. He employed the combination of bronze and ivory, called chryselephantine*, to great effect. Most of his renowned works were made between 1914 and 1933. The first series of sculptures manufactured by Chiparus were the series of the children. The mature style of Chiparus took shape beginning in the 1920s. His sculptures are remarkable for their bright and outstanding decorative effect. Dancers of the Russian Ballet, French theatre, and early motion pictures were among his more notable subjects and were typified by a long, slender, stylized appearance. His work was influenced by an interest in Egypt, after Pharaoh Tutankhamen's tomb was excavated. He worked primarily with the Edmond Etling and Cie Foundry in Paris administrated by Julien Dreyfus. Les Neveux de J. Lehmann was the second foundry which constantly worked with Chiparus and produced the sculptures of his models. Chiparus rarely exhibited at the Salon. In 1923 he showed his Javelin Thrower, and in 1928 exhibited his Ta-Keo dancer. During the period of Nazi persecution and the World War II, the foundries discontinued production of work by Chiparus. The economic situation of that time was not favorable to the development of decorative arts and circumstances for many sculptors worsened. Since the early 1940s almost no works of Chiparus were sold, but he continued sculpting for his own pleasure, depicting animals in the Art Deco style. At the 1942 Paris Salon, the plaster sculptures Polar Bear and American Bison were exhibited, and in 1943 he showed a marble Polar Bear and plaster Pelican. Sculptures of Dimitri Chiparus represent the classical manifestation of Art Deco style in decorative bronze ivory sculpture. Traditionally, four factors of influence over the creative activity of the artist can be distinguished: Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, ancient Egyptian art, and French theatre. Early motion pictures were among his more notable subjects and were typified by figures with a long, slender, stylized appearance. Some of his sculptures were directly inspired by Russian dancers. Quite often, Chiparus used the photos of Russian and French dancers, stars and models from fashion magazines of his time. After the tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered in 1922, the art of ancient Egypt...

Circle of Henri-Gaudier-Breska 1891-1915 Reclining Figure Carved marble Height 5 inches Born Henri Alphonse Séraphin Marie Gaudier near Orléans in France, Gaudier-Brzeska started using his hyphenated name in 1910 when he met the Polish writer Sophie Brzeska. They moved to London together in January 1911 and adopted their new names and the identity of brother and sister in order to make their cohabitation respectable. Gaudier-Brzeska started to establish himself as a sculptor in 1912. Initially influenced heavily by Rodin, he later assimilated more influences from the modernist movement of cubism and from examples of non-European art he saw in London’s museums. He met the sculptor Jacob Epstein in June 1912, who further encouraged him to break with classical Greek tradition. While working from 25 Winthorpe Road in 1913–14, Gaudier-Brzeska became increasingly involved in London’s avant-garde art scene. He exhibited at the London Salon in July 1913, where he met the poet and arts patron Ezra Pound. Pound described Brzeska as ‘like a well-made young wolf or some soft-moving, bright-eyed wild thing’. Gaudier-Brzeska subsequently became associated with the vorticist movement led by Wyndham Lewis, contributing two important articles to Lewis’s magazine Blast and signing his name against the vorticist manifesto. He was also a founding member of the London Group, which formed when the all-male Camden Arts Group joined with independent artists to challenge the dominance of the Royal Academy of Arts. Other founding members included Walter Sickert, Robert Bevan and Spencer Gore...

Lady with caskets by Léo LAPORTE-BLAIRSY (1865-1923) Bronze a nuanced brown patina signed on the side of the base "Léo Laporte-Blairsy" old cast Stamped with a number "60765 / 6" F...

Gorgeous Sculpture “Woman blowing bubbles”, Bronze and marble, Art Nouveau, 1920 – Germany Refined antique solid bronze sculpture depicting a woman blowing bubbles. This piece is of...

Painted Cast-Metal Tiger Continental School, circa 1900 8.75 x 19.5 inches Ex. Collection Interior Designer Joseph Cicio Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Joseph Cicio followe...

Diosa. Original bronze multiple. Esculpture Modernist Julien Caussé (also given as Cadet-Julien Caussé, Cadet Julien Caussé and Julien Cadet Caussé) (1869–1914) was a prolific French...

Dog in the style of Tang/Sancai, Early 20th Century Drip glaze ceramic 9.5 x 13 inches Sancai is a versatile type of decoration on Chinese pottery using glazes or slip, predominantl...

Bronze Sculpture with Black Patina dated 1929 Signed G.L.BADEAU and dated 1929 on the corner of the base Seal of the founder BISCEGLIA on the base Put on an independent marble Pedest...

Signed on base. This was exhibited at the Goldscheider Pavilion at the 1925 Paris Exhibition Marble base has loss to right edge and very small lose to center edge. , Bronze is in ve...

Susi Singer-Schinnerl (Austrian-American, 1891-1965) Man with Two Dogs, c. 1925 Ceramic Manufactured by the Wiener Werkstätte, model number 682 Stamped on bottom 13 x 5.5 x 4 inches...

Jose Cardona Ferro: 1878-1923. Well listed Spanish artist also known as just Jose Cardona. He has had auction prices over $4000. This charming bronze of a...

She’s certainly no beauty, possibly in her 30s, but there’s a strength and clarity about this woman. She does her long hair into a complex chignon, a practical style in those years p...

Edouard Drouot, 1859 Sommevoire – 1945 Paris Bronze signed 40 cm hoch Very good state of preservation, expressive design. Édouard Drouot (1859–1945) was a French sculptor known for ...

Louis Armand Bardery (French, 1879-1952) Muse of Dance Bronze with green and brown patination Signed and stamped with foundry mark 18 x 6 inches Louis Armand Bardery was a student o...

Hugo Wolfgang Reinhard Oberlahnstein 1853 - 1900 Berlin Monkey with Skull, circa 1900 Bronze, signed Foundry: Gladenbeck "HG" Size: approx. 12.5 x 6 x 8 cm, plus 2 cm base Rare cas...

Questa maschera guatemalteca del inizio del XX secolo, scolpita in legno e utilizzata per la danza della Riconquista (Baila de la Conquista) , raffigura vividamente un uomo europeo, ...

Franz Bergmann, Austrian (1861 -1936) - Slave Trader, Year: circa 1900, Medium: Bronze sculpture on wooden base, Size: 5.25 x 3 x 3 in. (13.34 x 7.62 x 7.62 cm), Description: "Re...

William Zorach (American 1891-1966) First Steps, 1918 Bronze 8.5 x 5 x 4 inches, including base Born in 1887 in Lithuania, William Zorach immigrated with his family to the United States when he was just four years old, settling in Cleveland, Ohio. Zorach displayed an exceptional artistic talent at a young age and, at the recommendation of his seventh-grade teacher, began studying lithography at night at the Cleveland School of Art. It was not long before he was apprenticing at a lithography company in Cleveland. It was there that he realized he wanted to become an artist - to escape the commercial end of the field in which he was suddenly immersed. In 1907, Zorach saved enough money to move to New York and study art at the National Academy of Design, where he received several awards for his paintings and drawings. He continued his studies in Paris in 1910 at La Palette. This year abroad would turn out to be quite fruitful because in Paris he was greatly influenced by the Cubist and Fauvist movements and had several paintings exhibited at the Salon d'Automme. This influence and subsequent success fueled his career back in the states where he was honored with his first one-man exhibition. Due to this new-found stability, he married a young woman he met at school in Paris, and they moved to New York and set up a studio. Shortly after, their work was accepted into the famous 1913 Armory Show. For the next nine years, Zorach continued to think of himself as a painter, although he had already begun to experiment in sculpting. He was experiencing modest success with his painting and was therefore reluctant to abandon it completely. However, he was impelled toward sculpting, and in 1922, he painted his last oil. Zorach's involvement with sculpture began largely be accident. While he was working on a series of wood-block prints, Zorach suddenly became more interested in the butternut panel than the print and turned the panel into a carved relief. With no formal training as a sculptor, Zorach's first sculptures were of wood and his carving tools were primitive, such as a jack-knife. I n fact, his early works have a certain stylized look, suggesting the influence of various primitive arts such as African and American folk. Zorach found his sculptural direction by instinct, but was not unaware of what other sculptors were doing, both here and abroad. He soon allied himself with a growing number of modern sculptors who believed in the esthetic necessity of carving their own designs directly in the block of stone or wood rather than modeling them in clay. From the beginning he found a deep satisfaction in the slow and patient process of freeing the image from its imprisoning block, watching the forms emerge and appear. "The actual resistance of tough material is a wonderful guide," Zorach said in a lecture on direct sculpture in 1930. The sculptor "cannot make changes easily, there is no putting back tomorrow what was cut away today. His senses are constantly alert. If something goes wrong there is the struggle to right the rhythm. And slowly the vision grows as the work progresses." Zorach also found that the material itself had a constantly modifying effect on the artist's vision. The grain of the wood, the markings in the stone, the shape of the log or boulder all set limits and suggested possibilities. He was always sensitive to the characteristic qualities of his material and occasionally let them play a major role in determining his forms. In works such as these, the feel of the original material is preserved in the finished piece and is often heightened by leaving parts of the original surface untouched and other areas roughly marked by the sculptors tools...

Oscar Lenz Echo, 1904 Signed and dated on base: Oscar L Lenz 1904 Bronze 70 1/4 x 25 x 25 1/4 inches Oscar Lenz was an American sculptor born at Providence, Rhode Island. He receiv...

Nature unveiling in front of Science by Louis-Ernest BARRIAS (1841-1905) Bronze sculpture with triple patina, old-gilt, light brown and dark brown patina. Signed on the side of the...

Franz Bergmann, Austrian (1861 -1936) - Soldier, Year: circa 1900, Medium: Cold painted Bronze sculpture, Size: 5.5 x 3 x 2 in. (13.97 x 7.62 x 5.08 cm)

Edith Baretto Parsons (1878-1956) pair of lost-wax cast patinated bronze dog sculptures. The seated pup is signed in the cast “E.B. Parsons” and cold stamped Gorham Co. OFFW. It measures 5 3/4"high x 6 7/8"long x 2 1/2"wide. The leaping pup is signed in the cast “E.B. Parsons,” dated 1911 and cold stamped B. Zoppo Foundry, N.Y. It measures 6 1/2"high x 6 3/4"long x 2 ½"wide. These are part of Parsons' series of playful terrier dogs and are highly desirable. They are in excellent condition with no damage. Born in Virginia, Edith Parsons studied at the Art Students League in New York with John Twachtman, Daniel Chester French...

Very rare Art Deco three dimensional terracotta sculpture of Adam and Eve by the Austrian artist, Virgil Rainer. Hand painted by the artist. Signed bott...

Paul Ludwig Kowalczewski (1865 Mieltschin - 1910 Berlin), Field worker with rake, around 1900. Brown and brown-greenish patinated bronze with ...

Outstanding image of the Virgin Mary Immaculate, made of wood pulp. This sculpture originated from the Olot School, created at the beginning of the 20th century in the Spanish town o...

Ludwig Eisenberger (active in Berlin between 1895-1920), Spear Fighter, around 1910. Brown patinated bronze with residual gilding on a cast terrain plinth with marble base (8 cm high...

Margarett W. McKean Sargent Stepping Out, 1916 Signed and dated on base Bronze 14 x 6 x 8 inches Provenance Private Collection, Hingham, Massachusetts Walker-Cunningham Fine Art, St. Louis, Missouri, 2007 Exhibited New York, Hawthorne Fine Art...

"Pioneer Family," 23 1/2 x 16 1/4 x 10 3/4 inPlaster. c. 1927. Unsigned. Realism The Smithsonian has a cast of this sculpture in its collection. Pictured on the cover of “The Sculpt...

RAFAEL RUS ACOSTA Spanish, Early 20th Century ALHAMBRA FACADE MODEL PLAQUE signed "Rafael Rus Acosta" (lower left), and inscribed "Granada" (lower righ...

Head of Man is an artwork realized by Amedeo Bocchi in 1920 ca. This little sculpture is made in  gilded bronze with a brown/gold patina. Signed and numbered on the right side. Edi...

Franz Bergmann, Austrian (1861 -1936) - Two Cats Dancing, Year: circa 1900, Medium: Cold painted Bronze sculpture, Size: 2.25 x 1.5 x 1.5 in. (5.72 x 3.81 x 3.81 cm)

Kuznetsov porcelain - Butter dish duck, porcelain h 13 cm; L 19 cm; W 10 cm Kuznetsov Porcelain Factory in Riga was founded in 1841 as a factory ...

Signed Wrede Bas Relief - Angel with torch Bronze 106,6 x 34,7 cm with the wood panel Signed on lower right

Medusa and Andromeda, is a unique three dimensional terra cotta sculpture/vase, created by the German firm Magdeburger Kunstwerkstatten, Reps and Trinte, a studio that specialized in fine works in terra cotta. This monumental piece depicts the entire story of the Medusa, who holds Andromeda captive by chaining her to rocks in the ocean. You can see the chains at her wrists and ankles. Medusa charges the Leviathan (dragon) as guard over the captive Andromeda. Andromeda was rescued by her future husband Perseus who killed the dragon and saved his future bride. This is one of the most unique works of its kind that has been seen to date. It was probably a sculpture/vase designed and created for presentation at one of the yearly Salon exhibitions in Europe. We have consulted experts in European ceramics...

Persian Cat by Théophile-Alexandre STEINLEN (1859-1923) A bronze sculpture with a nuanced dark brown patina Titled on the base "Chat de Perse" Signed on the base "Steinlen" Old pos...

Circa 1910 bronze cast medal by the French sculptor, Pierre Charles Lenoir. Edge mark, cornucopia. Pierre Lenoir was a French sculptor and medallist and was one of the Breton sculp...

Richard Claude Belt (English, 1851-1921) Signed: R. Belt 1918 (base verso) " Casualties of War " 1918 Bronze Height 26" Width 15" Depth 13" In very good original condition w...

A rare Art Deco patinated metal sculpture modelled as an athletic male walking alongside a stylized lion utlizing cubist elements. The work is set on a black polished stone base whic...

This bronze sculpture by Bessie Potter Vonnoh, from 1911, is a charming rendering of a young woman draped in an early 20th-century dress. Vonnoh became one of the so-called "White Rabbits", women artists who assisted Lorado Taft on the sculpture program for the Horticultural Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...

This bronze sculpture is a model of the one of the Naiads of the Fountain of the Naiads in Piazza Esedra, Rome, Italy. Realized by Mario Rutelli in 1905 ca. Very good condition.

RICHARD LOUIS GARBE, RA (1876-1957) Helios Signed and dated 1929 Plaster with patinated surface 86 cm., 33 ¾ in. high Garbe was born in Dalston, London, the son of Gustave Garbe,...

Bronze head sculpture realized by Giulio Aristide Sartorio, an Italian painter, sculptor and film director from Rome. Having attended the Rome Institute of Fine Arts, Sartorio presented a Symbolist work at the 1883 International Exposition of Rome. He made friendships with Nino Costa and Gabriele D’Annunzio, and associated with the painters and photographers of the Roman countryside. His period of greatest renown came at the beginning of the century, when he produced decorative friezes for the 5th Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte of Venice (1903), the Mostra Nazionale of Fine Arts (Milan, Parco Sempione...

This bronze sculpture by Bessie Potter Vonnoh, from 1911, is a charming rendering of a young woman dressing. Vonnoh became one of the so-called "White Rabbits", women artists who a...

Chien à la sauterelle, Sandoz, Dog, Sculpture, Bronze, Animal, 1910's Chien à la sauterelle Susse Fondeur circa 1918-1930 Bronze with brown patina and shade of green 13 x 13 x 9 cm Signed and seal of the foundry on the base : Sandoz, Susse Fondeur Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre sculpté de Edouard Marcel Sandoz, sculpteur figuriste et animalier 1881-1971, by Félix Marcilhac, Les Editions de l'amateur, 1993...

Claude-Lévy, 1895 – 1942 Alice Nikitina in the role of Flora, from the Dukelsky/Braque production of the ballet Zephyr & Flore at the Ballets Russes, 1925 Cast Stone Signed and dated: Claude-Levy 1925 on rear face of self-base. The present sculpture is as rare as it is delightful. Mademoiselle Claude-Levy, as the catalogues of the period list her, was one of the truly original talents of the Art Deco period. Painter, architect, decorator, and sculptor, she was a friend of the Parisian, Modernist sculptors, Chana Orloff, Henri Laurens and the Martel brothers, to whom her work was often compared. The ingenuity of her models brought her great critical acclaim, but she seems to have stopped producing in the early 1930s. Her output, although fine, is rare. Claude-Levy’s gentle Cubism might be better described as Purism in sculpture. It is characterized by simplified surfaces, rounded (as opposed to angular) forms, and smooth, lustrous surfaces. The Purist movement included the painters Léger, Ozenfant and Le Corbusier in its ranks. Claude-Lévy, along with other artists of the avant- garde living in the Gallic capital (Czaky, Zadkine, Archipenko, Lipchitz, Lambert Rucki Miklos, Nadelman, Vörös, Orloff) helped to develop a collective twentieth century figurative sculptural idiom that exploited the daring and rich possibilities of geometric abstraction. The present work is Claude-Lévy’s Commedia dell’Arte figures inspired by the Stravinsky/Picasso Ballet...

Emile GALLE Tall Cameo Glass Vase with Umbels ornaments Crafted in Nancy (Lorraine) c. 1905 Bearing Galle signature in cameo Made of white opalescen...

Franz Iffland (1862 Tempelhof - 1935 Berlin), Javelin thrower, after 1910. Olive-black patinated bronze with cast plinth mounted on a white-veined black marble base (7 cm high). Tota...

This sculpture "The Foundry Worker" c.1925 is a bronze sculpture by German artist Albert Caasmann, 1886-1968. The signature is impressed in the bronze. The subject size is 11.15 x 8.15 x 3.15 inches, including marble base, the size is 13.15 x 8.15 x 5 inches. It is in excellent condition. about the artist: Albert Caasmann (2 June 1886 – 23 March 1968) was a German sculptor and porcelain artist. Caasmann designed toy figures for the Berlin toy company Lineol and from 1919 to 1952 was the lead designer and production manager for the company. He designed figurines for the porcelain companies Rosenthal AG and Volkstedt. Caasmann's work for the company Rosenthal are exhibited in the Porzellanikon's Rosenthal Museum. Lineol toy figures modeled by Caasmann are in the Historical Toy Museum in Freinsheim and the Toy museum in Havelland. Albert Caasmann was born on 2 June 1886 in Berlin, Germany. From 1909 to 1919, he worked as a freelancer for the Berlin toy company Lineol, founded by Oskar Wiederholz in 1906. After service as a soldier in the First World War, he became the leading designer and production manager of Lineol from 1919 to 1952. He designed over 600 figures for Lineol, including soldiers, animals, Indians, knights, fairy figures, and railroad figures. His toy figures were widely used in the region by children. Lineol ceased operations in 1965, and in 1985 the company Lineol Duscha has the trademark rights to Lineol. Lineol Duscha reproduces Lineol figures modeled before 1945. Lineol toy figures modeled by Caasmann are in the Historical Toy Museum in Freinsheim and the Toy museum in Havelland. Caasmann spent time in the Berlin Zoo, where he modeled his animal models. He made a model for a porcelain cheetah...

Origin: Thai Artist: Unknown Age: Early XXth Century Title: Lotus Medium: Bronze Sculpture with Patina Size: 62 x 16 x 14 in.

Vestal with Jug is an original modern sculpture realized by an italian Artist of the early 20th Century. Bronze sculpture and marble base. Signature on the basement. Decor your sp...

A sculptor of animals, Sirio Tofanari (Florence 1886 – Milan 1969) is not inclined to the school discipline, he decides to learn and train as self-taught by travelling around Europe ...

"Bronze Statue - Ife, Nigeria" is a bronze sculpture created in circa 1920. This figure has short legs and a short torso, but a large head. They held out their hands with two objects...

These cast figures and objects express status, prestige, and power. This cast metal figure exhibits the technical skill and artistry that Dogon blacksmiths brought to their work. Mad...

Max Kalish The Road Builder inscribed M. KALISH 23, with Meroni-Radice foundry mark, on top of base bronze with dark brown patina, on an ebonized rectangular plinth Height: 13 1/8 in. not including base Provenance: Spanierman Gallery, New York BIO Max Kalish (1891 – 1945) Born in Poland March 1, 1891, figurative sculptor Max Kalish came to the United States in 1894, his family settling in Ohio. A talented youth, Kalish enrolled at the Cleveland Institute of Art as a fifteen-year-old, receiving a first-place award for modeling the figure during studies with Herman Matzen. Kalish went to New York City following graduation, studying with Isidore Konti and Herbert Adams...

Document from the Nashvile Art Association dated 1925. The marble was purchased in Florence, Italy at an exhibit of The Association of of Italian Artists.

Bedouin Mother with Child by Céline LEPAGE (1882-1928) Bronze with a dark greenish brown patina signed on the base "Lepage" cast by "Alexis Rudier, fondeur, Paris" (with the foundry...

Antique, Art Nouveau bronze of a beautiful maiden in the Neo-Classical manner by Emmanuel Villanis, Circa 1900. The bronze, titled "Phryne" depicts a beautiful Neo-Classical maiden, ...

A very large & finely modeled antique Italian cold-painted Orientalist bronze of a young Arab girl, by the Italian sculptor Ferdinando de Luca, circa 1900. Ferdinando de Luca (also k...

Fine Group of Sculptures in Bronze after Jean de Boulogne (Giambologna) The torturously twisting Rape of the Sabine Women is one of the finest and most technically difficult sculpt...

This Golek puppet was made by an unknown Indonesian artist using wood and cloth. It is approximately 23" tall. Traditional Wayang Golek plays can be comp...