Expressionist Figurative Sculptures
EXPRESSIONIST STYLE
While “expressionist” is used to describe any art that avoids naturalism and instead employs a bold use of flattened forms and intense brushwork, Expressionist art formally describes early-20th-century work from Europe that drew on Symbolism and confronted issues such as urbanization and capitalism. Expressionist artists experimented in paintings and prints with skewed perspectives, abstraction and unconventional, bright colors to portray how isolating and anxious the world felt rather than how it appeared.
Between 1905 and 1920, Austrian and German artists, in particular, were inspired by Postimpressionists such as Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh in their efforts to strive for a new authenticity in their work. In its geometric patterns and decorative details, Expressionist art was also marked by eclectic sources like German and Russian folk art as well as tribal art from Africa and Oceania, which the movement’s practitioners witnessed at museums and world’s fairs.
Groups of artists came together to share and promote the themes now associated with Expressionism, such as Die Brücke (The Bridge) in Dresden, which included Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and investigated alienation and the dissolution of society in vivid color. In Munich, Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), a group led by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, instilled Expressionism with a search for spiritual truths. In his iconic painting The Scream, prolific Norwegian painter Edvard Munch conveyed emotional turmoil through his depiction of environmental elements, such as the threatening sky.
Expressionism shifted around the outbreak of World War I, with artists using more elements of the grotesque in reaction to the escalation of unrest and violence. Printmaking was especially popular, as it allowed artists to widely disseminate works that grappled with social and political issues amid this time of upheaval. Although the art movement ended with the rise of Nazi Germany, where Expressionist creators were labeled “degenerate,” the radical ideas of these artists would influence Neo-Expressionism that emerged in the late 1970s with painters like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Francesco Clemente.
Find a collection of authentic Expressionist paintings, sculptures, prints and more art on 1stDibs.
Style: Expressionist
Color: Brown
Carnavale, Avant Garde Carricature Plaque, Paris
By Arieh Merzer
Located in Surfside, FL
Arieh Merzer was a prominent Israeli artist and metal worker.
Arie Merzer, an artist who worked in hand-hammered copper, was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1905, the scion of a large Has...
Category
20th Century Expressionist Figurative Sculptures
Materials
Metal
Expressionist Wood Sculpture 1920's
Located in Berlin, DE
Expressionist completely hand carved wood sculpture ca. 1925-1927, unknown artist. Monogrammed with C Sch on the base. Expressively carved base. Small damage on the hand.
Measuremen...
Category
1920s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures
Materials
Wood
Colourful Mixed Media Sculptural 'Montage' , Manau Tupapau. Hommage to Gaugin.
By Armand Avril
Located in Cotignac, FR
Gaugin inspired 21st Century montage titled 'Manau Tupapau' (spirit of the dead watching) by French artist, Armand Avril. Mounted and presented in a custom built painted tray frame and signed and dated 2004 both front and back with a later sketch of his favourite dog Dimar in repose to the reverse.
This montage fully demonstrates Avril's inspiration drawn from tribal art and Gaugin's famous painting of a Tahitian nude whilst also expressing the humour and joy that he puts into all his work. A very strong sculptural image and a feast for the eyes in searching for and recognising the materials used in making this piece come alive. This montage is made from carved wood pieces, paint, clothespegs and cardboard .
Armand Avril was born in 1926 in Lyon. His father, Marcel Avril was a painter and collector of African art.
At 16 Armand became an apprentice shepherd in Provence. Avril could always be seen equipped with a sketchbook and a book on the history of art whilst tending his flock.
It was not until the age of 30, in 1956, that Armand embarked on painting as an autodidact, influenced by Raoul Dufy, Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse and the Lyonnaise School of Painting. He exhibited for the first time in 1957.
In 1960, he left for a one-year trip to Africa. There he met the painter Jean Arène who introduced him to the village of Cotignac in the Var and to Louis Pons...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Expressionist Figurative Sculptures
Materials
Acrylic, Cardboard, Wood
Four-Armed Man with Drum, Tribal Figurative Abstract Sculpture
Located in Soquel, CA
Figurative abstract tribal sculpture of a creature with four arms by Nathaniel Sirles (American, b. 1956). Signed and dated "Sirles 1973" on the bottom. Sirles completed this piece ...
Category
1970s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures
Materials
Stone, Alabaster
Carved Wood German Expressionist Sculpture Jewish Woman Refugee Artist Judaica
By Miriam Sommerburg
Located in Surfside, FL
Miriam Sommerburg (American female artist, born Germany, Hamburg, 1900–1980 New York)
Modernist Wood Carved Sculpture, Carving depictin...
Category
Mid-20th Century Expressionist Figurative Sculptures
Materials
Wood
"Chicken Pox, " Ceramic Platter with Chickens & a Man signed by Michael Gross
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Chicken Pox" is an original ceramic platter by Michael Gross. The artist signed the piece "Gross". It depicts a gray man with chicken pox and some yellow birds with teeth.
20" diameter
The ceramic sculptures of Wisconsin artist Michael Gross are personal narratives that reveal an unusual mix of earthly magic and primal vitality. The artist works in a variety of forms, including figurines, large vessels and furniture. With over a dozen museum exhibitions under his belt, the artist is a regular exhibitor at SOFA in New York...
Category
1980s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures
Materials
Ceramic
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bronze. signed and numbered
artist's edition of 4
foundry mark - L. Cappe
7.5 x 4.63 x 2.38
Overall: 8.25 x 4.63 x 2.38
RACHID KHIMOUNE, Algerian-French artist and sculptor.
Born in 1953 in Decazeville, France. Lives and works in Paris, France.
Rachid Khimoune graduated from the School of Art of Paris in 1974; he initially started to work with painting before choosing sculpture. In 1980 he won the first prize of the Foundation of France. He works in an Art Brut, Naif art style similar to Jean Dubuffet and Enrico Baj.
Being the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and an extensive oeuvre, Rachid Khimoune has been exhibiting since 1975 and his work can be found in several museums, and public and private collections.
The artist behind the project Rachid Khimoune, has been responsible for a number of major, successful public art installations in France. Most famously, the installation close to the Bibliothèque Nationale (National Library) ‘Les Enfants du Monde’ (The Children of the World). Rachid’s newer works are masks and totems cast in bronze: poetic images forged in a furnace. Rachid uses discarded objects and disused parts of machines, to create new human and animal forms. Here his interest in metal-working and Arab art-African art coincides with the assemblage of found objects; one mask is a collage constituted by a large model of the Eiffel Tower stuck into the end of a trumpet. Another has a jerry-can for a face, and the golden patina and surface-working of the bronze does not dispel the idea which this image creates: of a human mouth drinking oil. Born in France to parents from Algeria, Khimoune embraces the role of the artist as a global citizen, using art as a universal language.
Select Awards
Lauréat du Prix de la Fondation de France (1980)
Chevalier des Arts et Lettres (2002)
Grande Médaille de la Ville de Paris (2004)
Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (2007)
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2016 Musée Tavet Delacour, Pontoise, France
2015 Parvis de l’Hotel de ville, Paris
2015 Beirut Art Fair, Beyrouth, Liban
2015 Galerie Francoise Souchaud, Lyon
2014 Musée Rabelais, Seuilly, France
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Rare Chess Game: Liberty versus Slavery
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Bronze Sculpture Charles Dickens Figure American Boston Figural Modernist
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I have seen this piece identified as Wizard and as Micawber from Charles Dickens David Copperfield ("something will turn up")
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 at the school of the Museum of Fine Arts under Karl Zerbe, a German painter well known in the early 1900s. Aronson later taught at the school of the Museum of Fine Arts for fourteen years and founded the School of Fine Art at Boston University where he is today a professor emeritus. An internationally renowned sculptor & painter, Aronson has won acclaim for his interpretation of themes from the Hebrew Talmud and Kabala. His best known works include bronze castings, encaustic paintings, and pastels. His work is included in many important public and private collections, and has been shown in several museum retrospectives around the country. He is considered to be one of the most important 20th century American artists.
At twenty-two David Aronson had his first one-man show at New York's Niveau Gallery. The next year, six of his Christological paintings were included in the Fourteen Americans exhibition at Manhattan's Museum of Modern Art where Aronson’s work was included alongside abstract expressionists Arshile Gorky, Robert Motherwell and Isamu Noguchi. In the 1950s, Aronson turned more toward his Jewish heritage for the inspiration for his art. Folklore as well as Kabalistic and other transcendental writings influenced his work greatly. The Golem (a legendary figure, brought to life by the Maharal of Prague out of clay to protect the Jewish community during times of persecution) and the Dybbuk...
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20th Century Expressionist Figurative Sculptures
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Judaica Bronze Sculpture "Rabbi" Figure Jewish American Boston Figural Modernist
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...
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Materials
Bronze
H 8.5 in W 6.25 in D 8 in
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Bronze
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Bust of Woman
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Expressionist figurative sculptures for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Expressionist figurative sculptures available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add figurative sculptures created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of green and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including David Aronson, Doris Caesar, Chris Riccardo, and Jackie Shatz. Frequently made by artists working with Metal, and Bronze and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Expressionist figurative sculptures, so small editions measuring 3.54 inches across are also available. Prices for figurative sculptures made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $650 and tops out at $264,248, while the average work sells for $3,367.
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