Charcoal Figurative Sculptures

Luis Miguel Valdes (Cuba, 1949) "Ceramic #14", 2017 Ceramic plate in Uriarte's Talavera 45 x 45 x 4.5 cm. (17.75 x 17.75 x 1.75 in.) Hand-signed by author ___________________________...

1961 Coty Award Plaque Kenneth Hairdresser Jacqueline Onassis Bronze Fashion Bronze on wood. The wood plaque measures 12 3/4" by 20 3/4 inches. The bronze plaque itself is 13 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches and the the bronze inscription, which reads "COTY, American Fashion Critics Special Award 1961 to KENNETH of LILY DACHE...

Artist: Salvador Dali (1904-1989) Title: Piano surréaliste Year: 1984 Medium: Bronze Edition: 34/350, plus proofs Size: 26.3 x 15.7 x 12 inches Condition: Excellent Inscription: Inci...

Luis Miguel Valdes (Cuba, 1949) "Ceramic #43", 2018 Ceramic plate in Uriarte's Talavera 15.74 × 15.74 × 5.11 in (40 × 40 × 13 cm) Hand-signed by author ______________________________...

Sydney Kumalo. Features a bronze stylized female figural form sculpture fixed to a marble plinth and wood base. Bears signature on base. Measures 9 1/2" x 4 1/4". There is no edition number on the piece. Sydney Kumalo (1935 - 1988) was born in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, on 13 April 1935. His was one of the families who had to move out of the "white" city to the South Western Townships, or Soweto. Raised in Diepkloof and educated at Madibane High School, he took with him from old Sophiatown the curious and diverse heritage of its heyday. Art classes in the Catholic school, "Sof' town" blues and jazz, the vibrant street culture and growing defiance of its population of various races who were gradually forced out into separate race-group areas. So it was that these various aspects of his early life created for Kumalo a cultural mix of a Zulu family related to the traditional royal house; city schooling, nascent township music and lingo; growing urbanised political defiance and the deep-rooted Zulu pride and respect for the legends and ancient stories of a tribal people. This mix of old and new cultures was reinforced when he began his studies at the Polly Street Art Centre in 1953 where he became a member of Cecil Skotnes group of serious artists who were encouraged to acquire professional skills. Skotnes introduced a basic training programme with modelling as a component, which marked the introduction of sculpting (in brick-clay) at Polly Street. Kumalo was Skotnes’ assistant at Polly Street from 1957 to 1964, and having recognised his great talent as a sculptor, Skotnes encouraged him to become a professional artist. After Kumalo’s very successful assistance with a commission to decorate the St Peter Claver church at Seeisoville near Kroonstad, with painting designs, sculpture and relief panels in 1957, Skotnes arranged for Kumalo to continue his art training by working in Edoardo Villa ’s studio from 1958 to 1960. Working with Villa, he received professional guidance and began to familiarize himself with the technical aspects of sculpting and bronze casting. In 1960 he became an instructor at the Polly Street Art Centre. Kumalo started exhibiting his work with some of the leading commercial Johannesburg galleries in 1958, and had his first solo exhibition with the Egon Guenther Gallery in 1962. He was a leader of the generation who managed to leave behind the forms of African curios, reject the European-held paternalism which encouraged notions of "naive" and "tribal" African art, and yet still hold fast to the core of the old legends and spiritual values of his people. He introduced these subjects into his bronze sculptures and pastel drawings, evolving his own expressive, contemporary African "style". Together with Skotnes, Villa, Cecily Sash and Giuseppe Cattaneo, Kumalo became part of the Amadlozi group in 1963. This was a group of artists promoted by the African art collector and gallery director Egon Guenther, and characterised by their exploration of an African idiom in their art. Elza Miles writes that Cecil Skotnes’ friendship with Egon Guenther had a seminal influence on the aspirant artists of Polly Street: “Guenther broadened their experience by introducing them to German Expressionism as well as the sculptural traditions of West and Central Africa. He familiarised them with the work of Ernst Barlach, Käthe Kollwitz, Gustav Seitz, Willi Baumeister and Rudolf Sharf.” It is therefore not surprising that some of Kumalo’s sculptures show an affinity with Barlach’s powerful expressionist works. Guenther organised for the Amadlozi group to hold exhibitions around Italy, in Rome, Venice, Milan and Florence, in both 1963 and 1964. Kumalo’s career took off in the mid 1960s, with his regular participation in exhibitions in Johannesburg, London, New York and Europe. He also represented South Africa at the Venice Biennale in 1966, and in 1967 participated in the São Paulo Biennale. EJ De Jager (1992) describes Kumalo’s sculpture as retaining much of the “canon and formal aesthetic qualities of classical African sculpture. His work contains the same monumentality and simplicity of form.” His main medium for modelling was terra cotta, which was then cast in bronze, always paying careful attention to the finish of both the model as well as the final cast. He began casting the pieces he modelled in clay or plaster into bronze at the Renzo Vignali Artistic Foundry in Pretoria North. He worked throughout his life with its owners, the Gamberini family, and enjoyed learning the technical aspects of the casting process, refining his surfaces according to what he learned would produce the best results in metal. De Jager further writes that Kumalo’s distinctive texturing of the bronze or terra cotta is reminiscent of traditional carving techniques of various African cultures. “In many respects Kumalo thus innovated a genuine contemporary or modern indigenous South African sculpture”. Kumalo came to admire the works of the Cubists, and of British sculptors Henry Moore and Lynn Chadwick. He became noted for adapting shapes from them into his own figures. The success of his use of the then current monumental simplicity and purely aesthetic abstractions of natural forms has been emulated by many South African sculptors since the 1970s. He was in many ways the doyen of South African Black art. As such he was an important influence especially on younger African sculptors, by whom he is greatly revered. Through his teaching at Polly Street and at the Jubilee Centre, as well as through his personal example of integrity, dedication and ability, he inspired and guided students who in their own right became outstanding artists, for example, Ezrom Legae, Leonard Matsoso and Louis Maqhubela From 1969 onward, he allied himself with Linda Givon, founder of The Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg, where he exhibited regularly until his death in December 1988. Working with Givon also perpetuated his associations with his many friends of strong principles. Skotnes, Villa, Legae and later such peers from the Polly Street era as Leonard Matsoso, Durant Sihlali and David Koloane have all exhibited at The Goodman Gallery. Kumalo, Legae, and later Fikile (Magadlela) and Dumile (Feni) were among the leading exponents of a new Afrocentric art...

One flame candle holder putto made of gilded wood. Those kind of objects were present in churches or noble villas, specially during the Baroque times. The base is not coeval.

Canadian sculptor WW Hung has chosen another poignant and powerful pose to explore the human condition in this contemporary mixed-media piece. A nude male sit...

Jenik Cook Handmade ceramic vase or pot sculpture Hand signed by the artist. Fired clay with a luster bronze painted finish Jenik Esterm Simonian Cook is a painter and ceramicist ...

A very cool and stylish mini folding screen of carved figures hand painted by an unknown artist. It is likely from around 1970, the figures are a bit surrealist and match in a stiff ...

"Okapi" is a wonderfully morbid sculpture created by the Canadian artist Yulia Shtern. This piece is part of her Mini Zoo Series depicting beautifully decaying remnants of species on...

This cup is one of 48 that make up the installation, “Fragments of Our Love Story.” These cups feature feminine forms which recall the Venus of Willendorf and other historical fertil...

"Eastern Puma" is a wonderfully morbid sculpture created by the Canadian artist Yulia Shtern. This piece is part of her Mini Zoo Series depicting beautifully decaying remnants of species on our planet that are currently endangered. An unfortunate truth of our current society that is often forgotten. Shtern creates these beautiful pieces to draw the viewer in and force them to engage with reality head-on. Follow our gallery, or message us for more works by Yulia Shtern and special pricing. From the artist "My new series of sculptures Magical Zoo observes this calamity through the prism of the wonder and playfulness of the natural world, through the miracle and majesty that is found in each and every animal, big and small, aquatic and land. The medium of the series consists of post mass consumption up-cycled material: paper products, packaging, non-recyclable plastics, fabric leftovers, other items that would have otherwise gone to a landfill. All the color on the finished sculptures comes from swatches of the up-cycled material itself. The only other substance added to the work is the transparent varnish glue. The pieces in the series are produced in an environmentally sustainable manner. Magical Zoo creates its own reality through the dualism of a colorful, whimsical representation of an animal whose habitat has been destroyed by industrial expansion or deforestation. Or an animal that was a hair away from going extinct, or an animal that could be next unless we do something today to stop this tragedy. The element of magic makes it easier to cope with the fact that our planet is dying...