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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.

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Style: Expressionist
Period: 1960s
Romeo and Juliet Bronze interactive sculpture
Located in Brookville, NY
Miguel Ortiz Berrocal has created these interactive sculptures, some with Jewlery hidden inside, others, like this "Romeo and Juliet" with romantic gestures to the viewer. His work ...
Category

1960s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Replica of Wilhelm Lehmbruck's Kneeling Woman
Located in Troy, NY
This sculpture is a small replica of Wilhelm Lehmbuck's Kneeling Woman. The original sculpture is much larger at around 69.5 x 56 x 27", currently at th...
Category

1960s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Plaster

Bust of a Man, Bronze Sculpture by Chaim Gross
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Chaim Gross, Austrian/American (1904 - 1991) Title: Bust of a Man Year: 1967 Medium: Bronze Sculpture, signature inscribed Size: 12.5 x 6.5 x 8.5 in. (31.75 x 16.51 x 21.59 c...
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1960s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Woman, Sitting Back on Heels
Located in Greenwich, CT
American, 1892-1971 Doris Porter Caesar was born in 1892 in Brooklyn, New York. Her father’s successful career as a lawyer allowed her to attend Miss Chapin’s School for transferrin...
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1960s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Liberty vs Slavery Van Loen Bronze Abstract Chess Set Modernist Museum Sculpture
Located in Surfside, FL
Alfred Van Loen signed 32 piece chess set. In heavy solid bronze. Rare Chess Game: Liberty versus Slavery Dimensions: a) Joy-Tenderness H. 6 3/16 in. a...
Category

1960s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

"Acrobats", Bronze Scultpure, 1968
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Unknown Title: Acrobats Year: 1968 Medium: Bronze Sculpture, signed 'PR' Size: 18 in. x 14 in. x 10 in. (45.72 cm x 35.56 cm x 25.4 cm)
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1960s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Mother & Child, Mid-Century Figural Brutalist Bronze Sculpture by Curt Beckmann
By Curt Beckmann
Located in Soquel, CA
Mother & Child, Mid-Century Figural Brutalist Bronze Sculpture by Curt Beckmann Rare and evocative mid-century figural bronze sculpture of mother and fleeing young child by Curt Bec...
Category

1960s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Granite, Bronze

Trapeze Artists
By Gérard Koch
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Gerard Koch, French (1926 - ) Title: Trapeze Artists Year: circa 1962 Medium: Bronze Sculpture Size: 18 in. x 34 in. x 7 in. (45.72 cm x 86.36 ...
Category

1960s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Related Items
Motion
Located in Chicago, IL
Pair of Bronze sculptures 11 x 7.8 x 2.3 in 28 x 20 x 6 cm Available in RED & BLACK painted patinas Born in Thessaloniki, Greece, Kostis Georgiou studied stage scenery in Flo...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

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Bronze

Motion
Motion
H 11 in W 7.8 in D 2.3 in
Standing Nude
Located in Los Angeles, CA
LORRIE GOULET "STANDING NUDE" WOOD, SIGNED AMERICAN, DATED 1963 52 INCHES Lorrie Goulet Born 1925 Biography from David Findlay Jr. Gallery "Geometry and Flesh: The Sculpture a...
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1960s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Wood

Standing Nude
Standing Nude
H 53 in W 20 in D 20 in
Richard Garbe - Helios - Early 20th Century British patinated plaster sculpture
Located in London, GB
RICHARD LOUIS GARBE, RA (1876-1957) Helios Signed and dated 1929 Plaster with patinated surface 86 cm., 33 ¾ in. high Garbe was born in Dalston, London, the son of Gustave Garbe,...
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Early 20th Century Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

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Mexican Art Abstract Brutalist Biomorphic Bronze Sculpture Mathias Goeritz
By Mathias Goeritz
Located in Surfside, FL
Mathias Goeritz (German Mexican, 1915-1990) Bronze sculpture Signed and numbered Dimensions: (approximate) Height: 10 inches, Width: 4 inches, Depth: 2 inches. This is a cast bronze sculpture in an amorphous figure shape, quite heavy. Reminiscent of the biomorphic sculpture of Hans Jean Arp. This came from an estate and bears his signature It is not dated. there is no accompanying documentation. it is priced accordingly. Werner Mathias Goeritz Brunner (Danzig, Germany, April 4th, 1915/ now Gdansk, Poland – Mexico City, Mexico; August 4th, 1990). Mathias Goeritz has had several gallery and museum exhibitions, including at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and at the Museo Experimental El Eco. Numerous works by the artist have been sold at auction, including 'MENSAJE' sold at Sotheby's New York 'Latin American Modern Art' in 2015 for $466,000. There have been Several articles about Mathias Goeritz, including 'LACMA remaps Latin America' written by Suzanne Muchnic for the Los Angeles Times. Painter, sculptor and Mexican architect associated with the trend of constructive abstraction. He studied medicine at the University of Berlin, but this only lasted a year. The concerns of the young student were aesthetic in nature so he he studied figurative drawing at the Berlin Charlottenburg School of Art. Some of his friends and colleagues were the sculptor Ernst Barlach, painter George Grosz and draughtsman Kaethe Kollwitz. Goeritz studied philosophy and history of art, discipline in which earned a doctorate. He travelled in France, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Austria and Italy, among other countries. It is known that he left Germany to live in Tetuan, Morocco in 1941 and then Granada, Spain in 1945. In 1946 he had a large exhibition in the Sala Clan in Madrid under the pseudonym "Mago". Two years later, living in Santilla del Mar, Spain he was a founder of the Escuela de Altamira. The following year he married Marianne Gast, writer and his companion for more than fifteen years. In Spain followed his artistic work by important artists of the avant-garde. Of Jewish descent, he found refuge from the Second World War in Mexico where in 1949 he was invited by Ignacio Diaz Morales to be a part of the faculty of the School of Architecture at the Universidad de Jalisco. In 1953 he wrote the "Manifiesto de la Arquitectura Emocional" (The Emotional Architecture Manifesto), where he points out that only achieving true emotions from architecture can it then be considered an art form. In Mexico he entered controversy with the artistic stablishment of that country; in an open letter, Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros described him as "an impostor without the most insignificant talent and preparation" to be an artist. Despite this, in 1957 he was elected director of visual design of the National School of architecture This same year he founded the Museo del Eco in Mexico City. In 1961 Goeritz participated at the Galería Antonio Souza in a group exhibition, Los hartos, for which he published another manifesto. Other participants included Jose Luis Cuevas and Pedro Friedeberg, with whom he was instrumental in establishing abstraction and other modern trends in Mexico.His work is included in the Gelman Collection of modern and contemporary Mexican art based in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Established by Jacques and Natasha Gelman in 1943 as a private collection. it includes many iconic works by major Mexican Modernists including Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Leonora Carrington, Rufino Tamayo and Francisco Toledo, Lola Alvarez...
Category

20th Century Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Venus - Contemporary bronze sculpture, Abstract & figurative, Polish art
Located in Warsaw, PL
Dimensions include base STANISŁAW WYSOCKI (b. 1949) Wysocki studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań (1978-1980) and then at the Hochschule der Kunste in Berlin under prof. J....
Category

2010s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Turkana Girl - Bronze African Tribe Sculpture, Limited Edition
Located in Pretoria, ZA
Bronze sculpture of young Turkana girl in traditional attire and characteristic hair style. The Turkana tribe, nomadic by nature, are a Nilotic people native to the Turkana District ...
Category

2010s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Sandstone, Bronze

Zulu Warrior - African Bronze Sculpture - Limited Edition
Located in Pretoria, ZA
Zulu Warrior in Bronze with traditional patina. Limited edition of 24 (signed & numbered), Sculpture in Bronze Verdigris on Sandstone base. Height 70 cm including base. My art is ins...
Category

2010s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Sandstone, Bronze

Colonial West African Baule Baoule Figure Sculpture Woman wearing loincloth
Located in Norwich, GB
An elegant African sculpture from the West African Baoulé or Baule people, depicting a young woman wearing a loincloth. Smooth black lightly worn patina.
Category

Mid-20th Century Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Wood

Maasai Warrior - African Sculpture in Bronze Verdigris - Limited Edition
Located in Pretoria, ZA
Maasai Warrior in Bronze Verdigris on Sandstone base, limited edition of 24 (signed and numbered); H 76 cm including base. Having been a professional safari guide, my art is influenc...
Category

2010s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Sandstone, Bronze

Vintage Figurative Abstract Tribal Creature Head Sculpture
Located in Soquel, CA
Evocative figurative abstract sculpture of the head of a tribal creature by Nathaniel Sirles (American, b. 1954). Signed and dated "N. Sirles 1970" on the bottom. Sirles completed th...
Category

1970s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Stone

Neoclassical sculpture in Rome- Pair of 19th century Italian scagliola - Figures
Located in Varmo, IT
Pair of scagliola sculptures - Roman figures. Italy, 19th century. 51 x 26 x h 118 cm (left) - 41 x 28 x h 118 cm (right). Entirely in scagliola. Condition report: In good general...
Category

Early 19th Century Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Plaster

Zulu Warrior - African Sculpture in Bronze Verdigris - Limited Edition
Located in Pretoria, ZA
Zulu Warrior in Bronze Verdigris, limited edition of 24 (signed & numbered), Sculpture in Bronze Verdigris on Sandstone base. Height 70 cm including base. My art is inspired by Afric...
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2010s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

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Previously Available Items
Two Mothers
Located in Wiscasett, ME
Provenance: from a Palm Beach estate Bronze sculpture on wooden base measuring 20.5" in total. Cast by Roman Bronze Works with original correspondence from 1968 and 1970 regarding th...
Category

1960s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Two Mothers
Two Mothers
H 20.5 in W 4 in D 7 in
Neptune Fonce, Madoura Plein Feu; George Block #188
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Neptune Fonce" is an original ceramic by Pablo Picasso. It was stamped where it was fired, at the Madoura workshop. This ceramic depicts an abstracted face on a square in ...
Category

1960s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Ceramic

Bust of Malcolm X
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Stanley Bleifeld Title: Bust of Malcolm X Year: 1967 Medium: Bronze Sculpture, signature inscribed Edition: 8, AP Size: 6.6 inches tall includin...
Category

1960s Expressionist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

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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