Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 9

Karel Appel
Karel Appel Colorful Expressionist Hand Painted Wood Cobra Sculpture Pop Art

1977

About the Item

This is an original wooden sculpture with hand painting on both sides. it does not appear to be signed or numbered and does not currently have any label. I believe this might be the proof, There was an edition of these and this is a unique variant. All done by hand. It is on a base and revolves and rotates easily as there are ball bearings. It is very well made. Christiaan Karel Appel (1921-2006) was a Dutch artist, painter, sculptor, and poet. Born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, he died in Zurich, Switzerland. He started painting at the age of fourteen and studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in the 1940s. He was one of the founders of the avant-garde movement Cobra in 1948. He was also an avid sculptor and has had works featured in MoMA, the Stedelijk and other museums worldwide. At fourteen, Appel produced his first real painting on canvas, a still life of a fruit basket. For his fifteenth birthday, his wealthy uncle Karel Chevalier gave him a paint set and an easel. An avid amateur painter himself, Chevalier gave his namesake some lessons in painting. From 1940 to 1943, during the German occupation, Appel studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, and it was there he met the young painter Guillaume Corneille and, some years later, Constant; they became close friends for years. Appel had his first show in Groningen in 1946. In 1949 he participated with the other CoBrA artists in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; this generated a huge scandal and many objections in the press and public. He was influenced by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and the French brute-art artist Jean Dubuffet. In 1947 he started sculpting with all kinds of used materials (in the technique of assemblage) and painted them in bright colors: white, red, yellow, blue, and black. He joined the Experimentele Groep in Holland together with the young Dutch painters Anton Rooskens, Theo Wolvecamp, and Jan Nieuwenhuys. Later the Belgian writer Hugo Claus joined the group. In 1948 Appel joined CoBrA (from Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam) together with the Dutch artists Corneille, Pierre Alechinsky, Ernest Mancoba, Constant, Asger Jorn and Jan Nieuwenhuys (see also Aart Kemink), and with the Belgian poet Christian Dotremont. Their working method was based on spontaneity and experiment, and they drew their inspiration in particular from children’s drawings, Graffiti, primitive art forms and from the Surrealist work of Paul Klee and Joan Miro. Cobra was a milestone in the development of Tachisme and European abstract expressionism. The new art of the CoBrA group was not popular in the Netherlands, but it found a warm and broad welcome in Denmark. By 1939, Danish artists had already started to make spontaneous art and one of their sources of inspiration was Danish and Nordic mythology. Appel moved to Paris in 1950 and developed his international reputation by travelling to Mexico, the USA, Yugoslavia, and Brazil. He also lived in New York City and Florence. His first American gallery exhibition took place in 1954 at the Martha Jackson Gallery. The following year his painting Child and Beast II (1951) was included in the influential exhibition, The New Decade at the Museum of Modern Art which featured the work of twenty-two European painters and sculptors including newcomers like Francis Bacon, Jean Dubuffet, and Pierre Soulages. He is particularly noted for his mural work. After 1990 he became much more popular in the Netherlands; he had several big shows in Amsterdam and Brussels, organized by director Rudy Fuchs. Also, the CoBrA-museum in Amstelveen organized several shows featuring his work. He became the most famous Dutch CoBrA artist. Appel's work has been exhibited in a number of galleries, including the Anita Shapolsky Gallery in New York City, Galerie Lelong in Paris, Galerie Ulysses in Vienna, and Gallery LL in Amsterdam. Appel died on 3 May 2006 in his home in Zürich, Switzerland. He suffered from a heart ailment. He was buried on 16 May 2006 at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France. Public collections Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle, The Netherlands Rijksmuseum, The Netherlands The Phillips Collection, Washington DC, USA Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo U The Museum of Modern Art, New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Tate Modern, London Centraal Museum, Utrecht Cobra Museum voor Moderne Kunst Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam Moderna Museet, Stockholm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza Madrid IVAM, Centre Julio González Valencia Spain Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Spain Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City National Museum of Art Osaka, Japan Collezione Peggy Guggenheim, Venice Tel Aviv Museum of Art Tel Aviv, Israel Museum Ludwig
  • Creator:
    Karel Appel (1921 - 2006, Dutch)
  • Creation Year:
    1977
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 30.5 in (77.47 cm)Width: 28 in (71.12 cm)Depth: 14 in (35.56 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    good. minor wear.
  • Gallery Location:
    Surfside, FL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU3826647402
More From This SellerView All
  • Bronze Sculpture Abstract Brutalist Goat or Ram WPA Artist Mounted on Base
    By Benedict Michael Tatti
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Benedict Tatti (1917-1993) worked in New York city as a sculptor, painter, educator, and video artist. He studied stone and wood carving under Louis Slobodkin at the Roerich Museum. He later attended the Leonardo da Vinci School of Art studying under Attilio Piccirelli. In l939 he taught adult classes with the Teachers Project of the WPA and attended the Art Students League for three and a half years on full scholarship. He studied under William Zorach and Ossip Zadkine and later became Zorach’s assistant. Later in his career, he attended the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts. During World War II, Tatti served in the United States Army Air Force, where he spent three years assigned to variety of projects. In 1948, Benedict Tatti married Adele Rosenberg in New York City. Throughout his career, Tatti continuously experimented with various media. From 1952-1963, Tatti executed sculptural models of architectural and consumer products for the industrial designers, Raymond Loewy Associates; later he became a color consultant for the firm. In the 1960s, influenced by the Abstract Expressionists, Tatti turned from carving directly in wood and stone to creating assemblage architecture sculptures, using bronze metal and other industrial materials. He was included in the important show "Aspects de la Sculpture Americaine", at Galerie Claude Bernard Paris, France, in October 1960 along with Ibram Lassaw, Theodore Roszak, David Smith, Louise Bourgeois, Danese Corey, Dorothy Dehner, Lin Emery...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • French Pop Art Heavy Bronze Sculpture Chess Game Gambit Arman Accumulation
    By Arman
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Arman, French American (1928-2005) Gambit (Chess pieces) Cast Bronze Sculpture with patina Incised signature near lower edge, 48/70 with impressed "Bronze Romain & Fils" foundry ma...
    Category

    Early 2000s Abstract Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • Abstract Geometric Cubist Painted Wood Sculpture Head Italian Neo Figurative Art
    By Italo Scanga
    Located in Surfside, FL
    This painted wood assemblage sculpture by Italo Scanga, epitomizes the characteristics of his oeuvre. Polychrome head portrait bust. This was signed on a brass or bronze plaque but that has gone missing. It is unsigned. I believe there might be a studio stamp on the bottom. Italo Scanga (June 6, 1932 - July 7, 2001), an Italian-born American artist, was known for his sculptures, prints and, paintings, mostly created from found objects. In his youth in Calabria, Italy he worked as a cabinetmaker's apprentice and studies sculpture with a man who carved statues of saints. Italo Scanga was an innovative neo Dada, neo-Expressionist, and neo-Cubist multimedia artist who made assemblage, collage, sculptures of ordinary objects and created prints, glass, and ceramic works. Modern Italian abstract geometric folk art. Scanga's materials included natural objects like branches and seashells, as well as kitsch figurines, castoff musical instruments and decorative trinkets salvaged from flea markets and thrift shops. He combined these ingredients into free-standing assemblages, which he then painted. Although visually ebullient, the results sometimes referred to gruesome episodes from Greek mythology or the lives and deaths of martyred saints. He considered his artistic influences to be sweepingly pan-cultural, from African sculpture to Giorgio de Chirico. He often collaborated with the sculptor Dale Chihuly, who was a close friend. Constructed of wood and glass, found objects or fabric, his ensembles reflect a trio of activities—working, eating, and praying. These activities dominate the lives of those who live close to the land, but they are also activities that are idealized by many who contemplate, romantically, a simpler, bucolic life. Italo graduated from Michigan State University where he befriended fellow artists Richard Merkin and David Pease. He studied under Lindsey Decker who introduces him to welding and sculpture after his initial interest in photography. Also studies with Charles Pollock, the brother of Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock. His first teaching job was at University of Wisconsin (through 1964). where he met Harvey Littleton, a fellow instructor. He later moves to Providence, Rhode Island,I to teach at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Is colleagues with artists Richard Merkin and Hardu Keck. Starts a correspondence with HC Westermann. Spends summers teaching at Brown University; colleague of Hugh Townley. Moves to State College, PA, and teaches at Pennsylvania State University for one year. Meets artists Juris Ubans, Harry Anderson, Richard Frankel, and Richard Calabro, who remain friends throughout his career. 1967: David Pease helps him get a tenure track position at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA, . Artists he works closely with include Ernest Silva, Lee Jaffe, Donald Gill, and William Schwedler. Meets graduate student Dale Chihuly while lecturing at RISD and develops a lifelong friendship. 1969: One person exhibition, Baylor Art Gallery, Baylor University, Waco, TX. Works very closely with students Larry Becker and Heidi Nivling (who later run a gallery in Philadelphia, PA), and Harry Anderson. Welcomes many artists into his home including Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Bruce Nauman (a former student), Vito Acconci, Ree Morton and Rafael Ferrer. 1973: "Saints Glass" at 112 Greene Street Gallery, NYC. Installation at the Institute of Contemporary Art at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Meets Gordon Matta Clark and contributes to an artist cookbook. Goes to Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA, founded by Dale Chihuly, as a visiting artist. He continues to work there annually through 2001. Works over the years with Pilchuck artists Richard Royal, Seaver Leslie, Jamie Carpenter, Joey Kirkpatrick, Flora Mace, Robbie Miller, Billy Morris, Buster Simpson, Toots Zynsky, Howard Ben Tre...
    Category

    1980s Cubist Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Wood, Oil

  • Blas Castagna Hand Painted Wooden Constructivist Sculpture Toy Horse Carved Wood
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Blas Alfredo Castagna was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1935. He studied at the Manuel Belgrano National School of Fine Arts and at the Prilidiano Pueyrredón School, where he obtained the title of National Professor of Drawing and Decorator Painter. In 1959 he traveled to Italy and in Sicily he attended the metal-beating workshop at the Scuola d´Arte di Comiso. A year later, he had a solo show of oil painting and gouaches at the “Alcora” Gallery in Buenos Aires, also presenting it in the province of San Juan. In addition to his artistic activity, he worked between 1974 and 1976 as a teacher in the Department of Plastic Arts, Faculty of Humanities, of the National University of San Juan. In 1982 he was invited to exhibit plates and monotypes at the Galerie de L´Université - Tour Mauran in Toulouse, France. A year later he exhibited in our country at the Van Riel Gallery, where a long connection with this room begins. In 1998 he exhibited again in Toulouse, at the Espace Croix Baragnon, an exhibition entitled "Origins, Mémoide", also presenting that year, at the Enrique Larreta Museum of Spanish Art in Buenos Aires, his "Obra Figurativa 1973-1993". Collectively, he presents his works in Uruguay, Cuba, Spain, at the Museum of Modern Art in Buenos Aires and at the National Museum of Fine Arts, at the Borges Cultural Center (2007 and 2008), at the Museum of Modern Art in Bahia ( Brazil, 2005), at the Sainsbury Center Norwich (United Kingdom, 2004), Centro Cultural Recoleta (1999), at the Fortabat Foundation (1985), at the II Biennial of Havana (1986) and at the ARCO fair in Madrid ( 1987). In 1990 he was awarded the Spirit of Greece Award for engraving, and in 1992 the “Konex Platinum Award. His work is influenced by the Latin American geometric constructivism present in Argentina and Uruguay as well as the European influences of Surrealism and Dada Art. He showed at the prestigious van Riel Gallery. For over 80 years the Frans van Riel Gallery has exhibited at the forefront of Argentinean art. Beginning with Alfredo Hlito “Grupo de Artistas Modernos de la Argentina” (Argentinian Modern Artists). The avant-garde of the 1950s and the work of Kenneth Kemble, Leónidas Gambartes and the Grupo Litoral, Juan Del Prete, Aldo Paparella sculpture, Julio Llinás, Aldo Pellegrini, Juan Batlle Planas, Libero Badii, Malena Babino, Horacio Butler, Alejandro Corujeira, Juan Del Prete, Kirin, Luis Felipe Noé...
    Category

    20th Century Neo-Constructivist Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Fabric, Wood, Paint

  • Helen Shirk Sculpture Hand Crafted Studio Vessel, Copper Patina, Colored Pencils
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Title: Red Pod, CV110V, San Diego, 1997 Fabricated, hammered copper, colored pencils, patina. This is not signed. It bears a label on the interior and the artist has kindly confirmed the attribution to me. Helen Shirk...
    Category

    1990s American Modern Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Copper

  • Czech Art Deco Carved Natural Resin Cubist Dove Bird Sculpture Joseph Martinek
    Located in Surfside, FL
    American sculptor Joseph Martinek was born in Chicago in 1915. He was a second generation apprentice to Auguste Rodin. He studied sculpture at the State Industrial School of Art, Pra...
    Category

    20th Century Art Deco Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Resin, Wood

You May Also Like
  • Sculptur limited Edition "The Cannon Dancer" Robert Combas French Sculptor
    By Robert Combas
    Located in Paris, FR
    The art market confirms that Robert Combas is the most successful living French artist with Pierre Soulages. During the last two years, the value of his works has multiplied by 5 , proof with the last Artcurial auction sale from December 4th 2019. This sculpture "The Cannon Dancer" is one of the most interesting of his major works from the 90s where he touched on themes dear to him like: battles, war, religion, love, sex, women, mythology, music, genre scenes... - "Le danseur au canon", The Cannon Dancer Painted polychrome resin sculpture. This is a limited édition signed Combas, dated 95 and numbered 4/8 on the base. - Is it a carnival ? a character, a buffoon representing power by a cannon exhibited as a phallic object that symbolizes power. "The moment when the official hierarchies collapse, where the powerful become ridiculous and the fools the only wise respected. The moment of inversions, negations, derision and extravagance. Abel and Cain, Salome and Saint John the Baptist : whatever the time and the weapons, it is almost always the same story", said Combas. Robert Combas love to Deforms when, allowing itself disproportions, exaggerations and deletions, it gives birth to creatures with noses, lips or feet disproportionately inflated or stretched, even monstrous and comic. In this case, Combas flirts with satire, farce, the grotesque. Make love better than a war ! Robert COMBAS has been pursuing a unique approach since the 1980s. His eccentric and powerful representations of the world make this genius one of the emblematic figures of French contemporary art. The artist's work is now the subject of numerous retrospectives and institutional exhibitions. The enthusiasm of collectors becomes more important with each new public sale and its rating climbs which confirms the sustainable nature of the art of Robert COMBAS. He brought at the dawn of the 80s a new figurative painting. Present on the artistic scene since 1979 he is the creator of a movement that the artist Ben called the Free Figuration, movement comprising: Rémi...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Resin, Acrylic

  • UNTITLED, Abstract/Figurative, Black Welded Steel, Cass Corridor Artist, Detroit
    Located in Detroit, MI
    SALE ONE WEEK ONLY The "Untitled" abstract sculpture by Robert Sestok has a very deliberate aura of strength in its columnar shape. It does become more ...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Expressionist Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Steel

  • ‘Reconstruction 2’
    Located in London, GB
    The self-portraits were destroyed and reconstituted, which saw Tucker scraping his own image o the glass then taking the dried slabs of paint and forcing them into a mesh which he h...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Oil

  • ‘Reconstruction 3’ (self-portrait)
    Located in London, GB
    The self-portraits were destroyed and reconstituted, which saw Tucker scraping his own image o the glass then taking the dried slabs of paint and forcing them into a mesh which he h...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Oil

  • 1980 Italy Wood Abstract Kinetic Sculpture
    By Bruno Chersicla
    Located in Brescia, IT
    This sculpture is one of a kind piece, no other one exists, and it was realized in 1980 by the well known Italian artist Bruno Chersicla. This is a kinetic abstract sculpture, most ...
    Category

    1980s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Wood

  • Figure with Hat
    By Varujan Boghosian
    Located in Milford, NH
    A fine abstract polychromed plaster bust of a figure with hat by American artist Varujan Boghosian (1926-2020). Boghosian was born in New Britain, CT and after serving in the United ...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Abstract Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Metal

Recently Viewed

View All