Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 17

John Davies
Rare Cast Painted Bronze Head Sculpture British Realist Sculptor John Davies

1991

About the Item

John Davies (Cheshire, 1946), British sculptor. Bronze sculpture head Unique cast (1/1) This was shown at Marlborough Fine Art (London) Ltd in a show called John Davies New Sculpture. approximately 13 X 10 X 10 on metal (bronze) base John Davies started his career in the field of painting, studying at art schools in Hull and Manchester and completing his training at the prestigious Slade School in London between 1968 and 1969. In 1972 he had his first solo exhibition, at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London, to which he returned three years later to present his sculptures: lifesize polychrome figures with a “realistic” appearance (fitted with fibreglass eyes and wearing outdoor or work clothes and shoes), generally arranged in pairs or groups, accompanied by a series of large heads with masks and other items that distorted their features. The dramatic theatrical effect of the installation surprised the public and the London critics, who discovered the work of a realistic figurative sculptor who kept his distance from the abstract modes that predominated in British sculpture at the time. His first works were inspired by Surrealism. In the early 1970´s he moved to a more realist style. He also worked in painting and drawing. During the eighties his work gradually abandoned the more or less illusionist references to reality and he began to paint his sculptures grey, avoiding giving them a “natural” appearance and even incorporating drawing in them. During this period he worked on several series of small or life-size sculptures, showing self absorbed nude figures climbing ropes or steps or hanging on trapezes as if they were circus acrobats. Among his best known works are the series of heads made in the eighties and nineties on various scales, from life-size and polychromed painted small items to cyclopean heads of more than 2 meters high. This series reveals how Davies handles the scale and texture devices with technical ease. His work can be related to other contemporary figurative painters and sculptors who deal with the representation of man Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Alberto Giacometti, Edward Kienholz, George Segal, Duane Hanson and in a closer context to Antonio López, among others- Davies still has a singular place in the British sculpture because of his personal vision of the human representation. Davies’s sculptural work concentrates on the human figure, although he has also worked intensely in the field of drawing. In 1970 he won a Sainsbury Award, and his sculptures and drawings have been included in numerous group exhibitions in Europe and the United States. He had a major solo exhibition was at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester in 1996. He currently lives and works in London.
  • Creator:
    John Davies (1946, British)
  • Creation Year:
    1991
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 13 in (33.02 cm)Width: 10 in (25.4 cm)Depth: 10 in (25.4 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Surfside, FL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU38213880592
More From This SellerView All
  • Rare 1966 Original Bronze Sculpture "The Two Nikes" edition of 6 Salvador Dali
    By Salvador Dalí­
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Salvador Dali (1904-1989) – The Two Nikes, Lilith, The Double Victory of Samothrace, Homage to Raymond Roussel Literature: Descharnes, Robert, Salvador Dalí, and Nicolas Descharnes. "Dalí, the hard and the soft: spells for the magic of form : sculptures & objects." (Azay-le-Rideau: Eccart, 2004), p, 114 (entry 270). Rare original bronze from edition of 6. This is exceedingly rare as most of his editions run into the hundreds. this is a true authentic Dali original sculpture. This was recently authenticated and comes accompanied by a Report of Authenticity from Frank Hunter, the Director of the Salvador Dalí Archives. Löpsinger 270 Executed in 1966, this bronze statue is incised with the artist’s signature and numbered ‘5/6’ on base. Published by Berrocal Foundry, the work measures 7 3/8 inches in height. Salvador Dalí (Spanish, 1904-1989) A leading proponent of Surrealism, Salvador Dalí is perhaps as well-known for his flamboyant personality as his superb technical skill. Dalí became acquainted with André Breton, a key figure of the Surrealist movement, in 1929. “The Persistence of Memory” is often cited as the most important work of this style. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, held a retrospective of the artist’s work in 1941. The next year, he began a more classical series of paintings, incorporating history, science and religion. In addition to painting, Dalí also made prints, photographs, films, jewelry and sculpture. His works can be found in collections worldwide, including the National Gallery, Washington, DC and the Salvador Dalí Museum. In 1928 Dali went to Paris where he met the Spanish painters Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro. He established himself as the principal figure of a group of surrealist artists grouped around Andre Breton, who was something like the theoretical "schoolmaster" of surrealism. Years later Breton turned away from Dali accusing him of support of fascism, excessive self-presentation and financial greediness. By 1929 Dali had found his personal style that should make him famous - the world of the unconscious that is recalled during our dreams. The surrealist theory is based on the theories of the psychologist Dr. Sigmund Freud. Recurring images of burning giraffes and melting watches...
    Category

    1960s Surrealist Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • Bronze Sculpture Relief Rhinoceros with Tree American Modernist Leonard Baskin
    By Leonard Baskin
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Leonard Baskin (1922-2000) Fruitfulness From Permanence signed, edition 3/8 Bronze, 1967 19.5 X 16 X 1.5 inches The inspiration for this work was a Bernini sculpture Elephant Carrying Obelisk, a 17th century commission outside an ancient temple dedicated to Minerva the goddess of wisdom. It was one of several works from 1967 on a theme of continuity Leonard Baskin (August 15, 1922 – June 3, 2000) was an American sculptor, illustrator, wood-engraver, printmaker, graphic artist, writer and teacher. Baskin was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. While he was a student at Yale University, he founded Gehenna Press, a small private press specializing in fine book production. From 1953 until 1974, he taught printmaking and sculpture at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Subsequently Baskin also taught at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He lived most of his life in the U.S., but spent nine years in Devon at Lurley Manor, Lurley, near Tiverton, close to his friend Ted Hughes, for whom he illustrated Crow. Sylvia Plath dedicated Sculpto to Leonard Baskin in her famous work, The Colossus and Other Poems (1960). The Funeral Contege (1997) bronze, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, D.C. His public commissions include a bas relief for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and a bronze statue of a seated figure, erected in 1994 for the Holocaust Memorial in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His works are owned by many major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Boca Raton Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Udinotti Museum of Figurative Art and the Vatican Museums. The archive of his work at the Gehenna Press was acquired by the Bodleian Library at Oxford, England, in 2009. The McMaster Museum of Art in Hamilton, Ontario owns over 200 of his works (some religious and biblical), most of which were donated by his brother Rabbi Bernard Baskin. Contemporary Religious Imagery in American Art. Catalog for an exhibition held at the Ringling Museum of Art, March 1-31, 1974. Artists represented: David Aronson, Leonard Baskin, Max Beckmann, Hyman Bloom, Fernando Botero, Paul Cadmus, Marvin Cherney, Arthur G. Dove, Philip Evergood, Adolph Gottlieb, Jonah Kinigstein, Arman, Rico Lebrun, Jack Levine, Louise Nevelson, Barnett Newman, Abraham Rattner, Ben Shahn, Mark Tobey, Max Weber, William Zorach and others.In 1955, he was one of eleven New York artists featured in the opening exhibition at the Terrain Gallery, they showed many great artists, Chaim Koppelman, for many years, headed the gallery's Print Division; printmakers such as Will Barnet, Leonard Baskin, Robert Conover, Edmond...
    Category

    20th Century Modern Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • German Expressionist Bronze Relief Plaque Mans Best Friend, a Man and His Dog
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Mans Best Friend C.M. Junghans 1985 This is done in a German Expressionist style. It is bronze over some sort of fill. It depicts a man gentleman and his dog. a Cocker Spaniel or Co...
    Category

    20th Century Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • Bronze Sculpture Figure with Beast American Modernist Leonard Baskin Museum Art
    By Leonard Baskin
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Leonard Baskin, American 1922-2000 Homage to the Un-American Activities Committee Bronze relief sculpture plaque This is not editioned, nor signed or numbered, on the piece but according to the catalog there was 12 or less. A number of these are in museum and university art collections and one of them was exhibited at MoMA NY. This was done to commemorate the communist witch hunts of the Mccarthy era. An important, historic piece. Leonard Baskin (August 15, 1922 – June 3, 2000) was an American sculptor, illustrator, wood-engraver, printmaker, graphic artist, writer and teacher. Baskin was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. While he was a student at Yale University, he founded Gehenna Press, a small private press specializing in fine, small edition, book production. From 1953 until 1974, he taught printmaking and sculpture at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Subsequently Baskin also taught at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He lived most of his life in the U.S., but spent nine years in Devon at Lurley Manor, Lurley, near Tiverton, close to his friend Ted Hughes, for whom he illustrated Crow. Sylvia Plath dedicated Sculpto to Leonard Baskin in her famous work, The Colossus and Other Poems (1960). The Funeral Cortege (1997) bronze, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, D.C. His public commissions include a bas relief for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and a bronze statue of a seated figure, erected in 1994 for the Holocaust Memorial in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His works are owned by many major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Boca Raton Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Udinotti Museum of Figurative Art and the Vatican Museums. The archive of his signed work at the Gehenna Press was acquired by the Bodleian Library at Oxford, England, in 2009. The McMaster Museum of Art in Hamilton, Ontario owns over 200 of his works (some religious and biblical), most of which were donated by his brother Rabbi Bernard Baskin. Contemporary Religious Imagery in American Art. Catalog for an exhibition held at the Ringling Museum of Art, March 1-31, 1974. Artists represented: David Aronson, Leonard Baskin, Max Beckmann, Hyman Bloom, Fernando Botero, Paul Cadmus, Marvin Cherney, Arthur G. Dove, Philip Evergood, Adolph Gottlieb, Jonah Kinigstein, Arman, Rico Lebrun, Jack Levine, Louise Nevelson, Barnett Newman, Abraham Rattner, Ben Shahn, Mark Tobey, Max Weber, William Zorach and others.In 1955, he was one of eleven New York artists featured in the opening exhibition at the Terrain Gallery, they showed many great artists, Chaim Koppelman, for many years, headed the gallery's Print Division; printmakers such as Will Barnet, Leonard Baskin, Robert Conover, Edmond Casarella...
    Category

    1950s Modern Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • Polish Modernist Charging Rhino Bronze Expressionist Rhinoceros Sculpture
    By Dominik Albinski
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Signed bronze from small edition of 8. plus 4 artists proofs Dominik Albiński (born 1975, South Africa) Dominic Albinski, was born in South Africa, in 1975. He started sculpting, at a young age, at the Art Classes of Mercia Desmond, in Johannesburg. From the start, his talent for capturing movement, and character in his human, and animal figures was remarkable. Dominic had a happy childhood, spending his time in the studio, where he studied art and anatomy, which was later to become one of the major themes of his sculptures. He also spent a lot of time on the South African coast; Durban, North Coast and Cape, Plettenburg Bay and in the bush Kruger Park, Okovango Swamps, Chobe and Pilansberg game reserves. He was a good student, but preferred sculpting in his studio, among his artworks, than studying. After finishing High School (St John’s College), he left for Paris, to start a life of independence, in the French capital, famous for artists like Rodin, Bugatti, Carpeaux, Daumier, Giacometti, and Picasso, who inspired him. He was excepted into the prestigious Institute of Political Science. However, his passion for sculpture, made him choose sculpture as a career. He started studying sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and with the British Sculptor, James Butler in England. Here, he learnt observation and techniques that would stand him in good stead later, when he came back to France, as a Professor of Communication at the renowned Ecole Francaise D’Attache de Presse near the Champs Elysees. He had his first major exhibition at the Arnaud Gallery in Verneuil sur Avre in Normandy. A collector, found interest in his work, and created a vast collection of his bronzes, as well as promoting Dominic in various galleries in the region of Normandy, and Touraine, such as Galerie 21 and Club de Arche de Noe, in Tours and Galerie des Remparts, and Eclat de Verre, in Le Mans. He also exhibited in La Rochelle in the Galerie Hourdin, and Bordeaux at the Galerie des Remparts. During this period he studied Literature at the Sorbonne. In Paris, several galleries took Dominic’s work, including Galerie Arcima, on Rue St Jaques, Galerie Herouet, in the Marais, Galerie Etienne de Causans on rue de Seine, or Galerie Mouvances, on Place des Vosges. Dominic participated in a wildlife exhibition in Trocadero Center, and at the Hotel de Ville of Puteux. His sculpture Madness, was chosen to be exhibited as a finalist at the Brain-Up competition, in the Palais de Congres. This impressive sculpture, measuring 1m 60 is in the collection of the Hospital in Lille, and the Mandela Collection in Sandton South Africa, among other collections. In Poland, he had an exhibition in the Canadian Embassy Residence, in the South African Embassy, and in the French Embassy. His work “Man with Pipe” is in the collection of the Canadian Ambassador. His work “Portrait of Agnes” was acquired by the South African Ambassador who, opened Dominic’s exhibition in the Jagellonian University in Krakow, Holiday Inn, and in Galeria Mokotow, in Warsaw. He had an exhibiton in the Warsaw Financial Center on Emili Platter Street, and in the Sculpture Gallery on Jana Pawla street. Later, he exhibited in the Gallery of the Polish War Museum on Krakowskie Przedmiescie, on Nowy Swiat 44, in the Center of Promotion of Culture, Mazowieckie Center of Culture and in the Jan Nowak Jezorianski Center. His work was showcased in the Napiorkowska Gallery, Zapiecek Gallery on the square of the Old Town in Warsaw, Hunters Gallery, and Warsaw Art Gallery in the Marriot Hotel, and sold on various Auctions, such as Rempex, Agra Art, and Polswiss. Back in South Africa, Dominic had much success among his native art galleries, having his first major exhibition at the Mandela Square Gallery, in Sandton. Art Galleries, hearing of his exhibitions in France, took his work, such as the Cherie de Villiers Gallery, in the Mall, in Rosebank, and the Van den Berg Gallery, in Potchefstroom. Dominic also took his work to the USA, where he exhibited at the Modern Show in New York, and at the Dauphin Descours Gallery on Madison Avenue, and the Yew Tree House Antiques Gallery in New York, as well as the Geary Gallery, in Darion, and the Lions Gallery...
    Category

    Early 2000s Modern Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Granite, Bronze

  • Judaica Bronze Sculpture "Rabbi" Figure Jewish American Boston Figural Modernist
    By David Aronson
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Aronson, David 1923- David Aronson, son of a rabbi, was born in Lithuania in 1923 and immigrated to America at the age of five. He settled in Boston, Massachusetts where he studied a...
    Category

    20th Century Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

You May Also Like
  • Surreal Figurative Sculpture, "Lovers"
    Located in San Diego, CA
    This is a one of a kind original bronze surrealist figurative sculpture by San Diego artist, Debbie Korbel. Its dimensions are 41" x 42" x 34". A certifi...
    Category

    2010s Surrealist Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • Antique Italian Grand Tour Bronze Marble Bust Sculpture Dante Alighieri 1880
    Located in Portland, OR
    A good antique Italian Grand Tour Bronze and marble bust of Dante Alighieri, circa 1880. The bronze is most likely Florentine and mod...
    Category

    Late 19th Century Italian School Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Marble, Bronze

  • Love (5/18) - Solid Bronze Whale Sculpture
    By Mireia Serra
    Located in Los Angeles, CA
    Mireia Serra creates sensuous bronze and iron sculptures showing the beauty of snapshots caught in life which are full of emotions and feelings along the life journey. Her metal artw...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Metal, Bronze, Iron

  • WHITE HINGED POEM DRESS,
    By Lesley Dill
    Located in New York, NY
    LESLEY DILL WHITE HINGED POEM DRESS, 1994 patinated bronze 55 x 37 x 30 in. 139.7 x 94 x 76.2 cm. Edition of 4
    Category

    1990s Contemporary Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • Growing in a Fragmented Landscape
    By Jennyfer Stratman
    Located in Los Angeles, CA
    There is a metaphorical interplay between the natural imagery international artist, Jennyfer Stratman, uses and its multiple meanings. While the human figure features strongly, it is...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Metal, Bronze, Enamel, Steel, Copper

  • Cefiro - Renaissance Inspired Bronze Sculpture of an Acrobat set on Tall Stand
    By Jesus Curia Perez
    Located in Chicago, IL
    Cefiro is derived from the Spanish word for Zephyr, meaning a soft gentle wind which brings spring to the Mediterranean. The word also depicts beauty and playfulness. This figure p...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze, Steel

Recently Viewed

View All