Edgar Tafur

Four Figures

ca. 1960

Reaching, ca. 1980. Cast bronze. Signed in lower region on wrist. A rare example from the artist's later period influenced by figurative abstraction with expressionist tendencies. James Edward Lewis (August 4, 1923 – August 9, 1997) was an African-American artist, art collector, professor, and curator in the city of Baltimore. He is best known for his role as the leading force for the creation of the James E. Lewis Museum of Art, an institution of the HBCU Morgan State University. His work as the chairman of the Morgan Art Department from 1950 to 1986 allowed for the museum to amass a large collection of more than 3,000 works, predominantly of African and African diasporan art.[1] In addition, he is also well known for his role as an interdisciplinary artist, primarily focused on sculpture, though also having notable examples of lithography and illustration. His artistic style throughout the years has developed from an earlier focus on African-American history and historical figures, for which he is most notable as an artist, to a more contemporary style of African-inspired abstract expressionism. Early and personal life James E. Lewis was born in rural Phenix, Virginia on August 4, 1923 to James T. Lewis and Pearline (Pearlean) Harvey.[5] Lewis' parents were both sharecroppers. Shortly after his birth, his father moved to Baltimore for increased job opportunity; James E. was subsequently raised by his mother until the family was reunited in 1925. They lived for a short time with distant relatives until moving to a four-bedroom house on 1024 North Durham Street in East Baltimore, a predominantly African-American lower-class neighborhood close to Johns Hopkins Hospital. Lewis' primary school, PS 101, was the only public school in East Baltimore that served black children. Lewis grew up in a church-going family, his parents both active members of the Faith Baptist Church, devoting the entirety of their Sundays to church activities. His parents worked a variety of different jobs throughout his youth:[6] his father working as a stevedore for a shipping company, a mechanic, a custodian, a mailroom handler,[6] and an elevator operator.] His mother worked as both a clerk at a drugstore[7] and a laundress for a private family.[4] Lewis' primary exposure to the arts came from Dr. Leon Winslow, a faculty member at PS 101 who Lewis saw as "providing encouragement and art materials to those who wanted and needed it." In fifth grade, Lewis transferred to PS 102. Here, he was able to receive specialized Art Education in Ms. William's class under the guidance of Winslow. He was considered a standout pupil at PS 102 as a result of his introduction to the connection between the arts and the other studies. His time spent in Ms. Pauline Wharton's class allowed for him to experiment with singing, to which he was considered a talented singer. His involvement in this class challenged his earlier belief that singing was not a masculine artistic pursuit. He was able to study both European classics and negro spirituals, which was one of his earliest introductions to arts specific to American black culture. Under Ms. Wharton's direction, he was also involved in many different musical performances,[6] including some works of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Theatre Project.[8] Lewis attended Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, where his love of the arts was heightened through his industrial art class with Lee Davis...

Beautiful abstract sculpture depicting a guitar player. Bronze on wood base measuring 15 x 9 x 4 inches. Actual cast piece without base measuring 17 x 7 x 3 inches. Signed indistinct...

Klaus Ihlenfeld (b.1934). Untitled, ca. 1960. Welded bronze. 8" h.; 5.5 " w; 3.25" d (base). Signed with initial under base. Provenance: Directly from estate of Harry Bertoia. The piece was a gift from Ihlenfeld and is a very early example created during Bertoia apprenticeship era. Excellent condition. Klaus Karl Otto IhlenfeldHe was born in Berlin, Germany in 1934. He studied art at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste and completed graduate work with the metal sculptor Hans Uhlmann. He visited the US in 1957 for the first time living in Durham, NC, where he befriended Dr. W. R. Valentiner, the Rembrandt authority and Director of the Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC. Through this friendship in 1960 he met and worked with the metal sculptor Harry Bertoia in Barto, PA. He joined the Staempfli Gallery in NYC and entered in many group and one-man shows. He has been an Artist-in-Residence in Ogden, Utah; Huntington Museum of Art in West Virginia, Penn State University at University Park; the Colorado State University in Denver; and Shippensburg University. He has large commissions at Kutztown University, Pottstown Hospital, and a monumental relief sculpture at the Emigrant Savings Bank in NYC. He has traveled extensively in Spain, Greece, and Mexico. He is living and working on a farm in Barto, PA welding bronze and forged iron metal sculptures and painting watercolors. Group Shows: North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC - 1957 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City - 1962 Staempfli Gallery in New York City - 1962, 1964 and 1965 Gallery Ludwig Lange in West Berlin, Germany - 1977 Gallery Herbert Remmert and Dr. Barth in Dusseldorf in West Germany - 1981 Jack Savitt Gallery in Macungie, PA - 1981 and 1984 Heinz Ortleb Gallery, West Berlin, Germany - 1992 Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce Show at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA - 1997 Berks Art Alliance Show at the Reading Art Museum in Reading, PA - 1997 Mayfair Festival of the Arts at the Allentown Art Museum - 1998 Baum School of Art in Allentown, PA - 1997 Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center Art Show in Pennsburg, PA - 2001 Reading Public Museum in Reading PA, 2014 Solo Shows: Kutztown University in Kutztown, PA - 1960 and 1965 Allentown Art Museum in Allentown, PA - 1960 and 1961 Staempfli Gallery in New York City - 1962 Penn State University in University Park, PA - 1964 and 1972 Berks Art Alliance in Wyomissing, PA - 1966 Bertha Eccles Art Center in Ogden, Utah - 1967 Mansfield University in Mansfield, PA - 1967 Huntington Museum of Art in Huntington, WV - 1971 Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, PA - 1972 Albright College in Reading, PA - 1973 Ianuzzi Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ - 1974 Gallery Heimat 85 in West Berlin, Germany - 1977 Jack Savitt Gallery in Macungie, PA - 1981 College Misericordia in Dallas, PA - 1983 Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center in Pennsburg, PA, 2013 Periodical Reference: Kaye, Ellen "The Obsessive Collector," Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Magazine Sptember 21, 1986 pp. 32-33. Chronology: 1-30-1934 Born in Berlin, Germany. Father, Kurt Ihlenfeld, Lutheran pastor, novelist, critic and publisher was born in 1901 in Colmar, Alsace Lorain. Mother, Annie Stuhlmann, was born in 1905 in Breslau, Lower Silesia. 1940 - 1950 Public schools in Berlin; Löwen, Lower Silesia; Coswig, Radebeul, Glaubitz, Saxony. Königin Luise-Gymnasium in Dahlem, Berlin. First artworks, drawings and paintings; few sculptures. 1950 - 1956 Studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in West Berlin, Germany. Graduate work with metal sculptor Hans Uhlmann. For 2 years maintained own studio at the Academy. Friendship with writer Günter Grass, and painter F. S. Sonnenstern. Met painters: Max Pechstein, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Carl Hofer, Max Kaus, and sculptors: Bernhard Heiliger, Renee Sintenis, and Richard Scheibe...

Duayne Hatchett ((1925-2015). Banner, 1958. Welded metal, sculpture measures 11 h. x 9 w. x 3.75 d. inches. Measuring a total of 17.5 inch high on base. Base measures 5.5 x 5.5 by 6 ...

Frank Arnold is viewed as one of the foremost abstract figurative painters and sculptors of our time. He is a living master guided by a personal mission to “turn on a light in the human soul,” through his passionate creation of “Messengers” from his deeper mind connection with Carl Jung's archetypal images, the collective unconscious, and Jungian Synchronicity. These unconscious forms from his deeper mind resonate as personal messages of universal acceptance, reaching out to the viewer. Arnold has been honored as IAD Artist of the year 2018 by International Artist Day, and 2013 FAC Horizon Artist Award. He has exhibited his artwork in numerous galleries, museums, and is in collections worldwide. Arnold divides his working days between oil painting in San Jose del Cabo, Baja Sur...

Robert Cook’s sculpture Rushing serves as an energetic reflection on the fast-paced nature of life—where so many of us are constantly in motion, hurrying from one place to another. H...

In 1983, returning to one of his earliest concepts, the standing figure, Barrett cast five small upright pieces that would become the Grande series. Barrett’s work became more organ...

Dutch, b. 1938 Renowned for his monumental sculpture created primarily for open-air public locales, Hans Van de Bovenkamp has been described as an artist-mystic whose work -- with i...