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Abstract Sculptures

ABSTRACT STYLE

Beginning in the early 20th century, abstract art became a leading style of modernism. Rather than portray the world in a way that represented reality, as had been the dominating style of Western art in the previous centuries, abstract paintings, prints and sculptures are marked by a shift to geometric forms, gestural shapes and experimentation with color to express ideas, subject matter and scenes.

Although abstract art flourished in the early 1900s, propelled by movements like Fauvism and Cubism, it was rooted in the 19th century. In the 1840s, J.M.W. Turner emphasized light and motion for atmospheric paintings in which concrete details were blurred, and Paul Cézanne challenged traditional expectations of perspective in the 1890s.

Some of the earliest abstract artists — Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint — expanded on these breakthroughs while using vivid colors and forms to channel spiritual concepts. Painter Piet Mondrian, a Dutch pioneer of the art movement, explored geometric abstraction partly owing to his belief in Theosophy, which is grounded in a search for higher spiritual truths and embraces philosophers of the Renaissance period and medieval mystics. Black Square, a daringly simple 1913 work by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, was a watershed statement on creating art that was free “from the dead weight of the real world,” as he later wrote.

Surrealism in the 1920s, led by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Meret Oppenheim and others, saw painters creating abstract pieces in order to connect to the subconscious. When Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York during the mid-20th century, it similarly centered on the process of creation, in which Helen Frankenthaler’s expressive “soak-stain” technique, Jackson Pollock’s drips of paint, and Mark Rothko’s planes of color were a radical new type of abstraction.

Conceptual art, Pop art, Hard-Edge painting and many other movements offered fresh approaches to abstraction that continued into the 21st century, with major contemporary artists now exploring it, including Anish Kapoor, Mark Bradford, El Anatsui and Julie Mehretu.

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Style: Abstract
Period: 20th Century
Untitled II : abstract steel sculpture
Located in New York, NY
Transform any interior or exterior into a truly unique space with the dynamic works of an acclaimed sculptor Naomi Press. Naomi Press was one of the very few women working in large ...
Category

1980s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Steel

Red Barn : abstract steel sculpture
Located in New York, NY
Transform any interior or exterior into a truly unique space with the dynamic works of an acclaimed sculptor Naomi Press. Naomi Press was one of the very few women working in large ...
Category

1980s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Steel

Large Stainless Steel Abstract Israeli Sculpture 'Three Tubes' Maquette
By Israel Hadany
Located in Surfside, FL
Israel Hadany (Israeli, 1941-). A stainless steel maquette for sculpture "Three Tubes", currently installed at the University of Pennsylvania ...
Category

1970s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Stainless Steel, Iron

SERENITY
Located in Tallahassee, FL
Part of artist's private collection. Abstract family of three.
Category

20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Stainless Steel Sculpture "Two Forms" By Roy Gussow
Located in Norwood, NJ
Polished stainless steel abstract sculpture, "Two Forms" by Roy Gussow (American, 1918-2011), marked and dated with coin seal inlaid to marble base. Similar...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Granite, Stainless Steel

Lovers
Located in Milford, NH
A fine abstract marble sculpture of two lovers, unsigned, in the manner of Lithuanian American artist William Zorach (1887-1966). Zorach was born in Eurberg, Lithuania, was brought t...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Marble

Bird House or Face Vase
Located in Milford, NH
A wonderful example of an abstract ceramic or sculpture in blue, referred to as a bird house or face vase, by Indian / American artist Gerry Williams (1926-2014). Williams was born in India from American parents, and eventually set up a studio and became a longtime resident of Dunbarton, New Hampshire. Williams took his first pottery lessons from master ceramic artist Vivika Heino at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen in the late 1940s. He became a juried member of the League in 1952. New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen named Williams the state’s first artist...
Category

20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Stoneware

Basquiat Skateboard Deck
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Jean-Michel Basquiat Skateboard Deck: Highly decorative & collectible, limited edition Jean-Michel Basquiat Skateboard Deck licensed by the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat in conjunct...
Category

1980s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Lithograph, Wood, Offset

Vintage Abstract Expressionist Ibram Lassaw Modernist Bronze Sculpture Pendant
Located in Surfside, FL
IBRAM LASSAW (Russian-American, 1913-2003), Sculptural pendant Gold plated bronze Signed verso Measurements: 2-7/8''h, 2-1/4''w. Ibram Lassaw was born in Alexandria, Egypt, of Russian Jewish émigré parents. After briefly living in Marseille, France, Naples, Italy Tunis, Malta, and Constantinople, Turkey his family settled in Brooklyn, New York, in 1921.His family settled in Brooklyn, New York. He became a US citizen in 1928. Ibram Lassaw, one of America's first abstract sculptors, was best known for his open-space welded sculptures of bronze, silver, copper and steel. Drawing from Surrealism, Constructivism, and Cubism, Lassaw pioneered an innovative welding technique that allowed him to create dynamic, intricate, and expressive works in three dimensions. As a result, he was a key force in shaping New York School sculpture.He first studied sculpture in 1926 at the Clay Club and later at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York. He made abstract paintings and drawings influenced by Kandinsky, Sophie Taeuber Arp, and other artists. He also attended the City College of New York. Lassaw’s encounter with avant-garde art in the International Exhibition of Modern Art (1926), organized by the Société Anonyme at the Brooklyn Museum, made a powerful impression on him. In the early 1930s he explored new materials and notions of open-space sculpture. The ideas of László Moholy-Nagy and Buckminster Fuller were important to him, and he knew the work of Julio González, Pablo Picasso, and the Russian Constructivists. After experimenting with plaster, rubber and wire, Lassaw began working with steel, which became a frequent medium for the artist, along with other metals. His work reflects the influence of Surrealist artists such as Alberto Giacometti and Joan Miro as well as American Modernist Alexander Calder.A pioneer of abstract sculpture in the United States, in 1936 Lassaw was a founding member of the organization American Abstract Artists. Between 1933 and 1942 he worked for various federal arts projects: the Public Works of Art Project, Civil Works Authority, and WPA, the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project. In 1938 he produced his first welded work. He served with the U.S. Army, where he learned direct welding techniques. During the 1940s he experimented with cage constructions and with acrylic plastics, adding color to his sculptures by applying dye directly to their surfaces. In 1949 Lassaw was a founder of the Club, an informal discussion group of avant-garde artists that had developed from gatherings at his studio, on Eighth Street. During the mid-1930s, Lassaw worked briefly for the Public Works of Art Project cleaning sculptural monuments around New York City. He subsequently joined the WPA as a teacher and sculptor until he was drafted into the army in 1942. Lassaw's contribution to the advancement of sculptural abstraction went beyond mere formal innovation; his promotion of modernist styles during the 1930s did much to insure the growth of abstract art in the United States. He was one of the founding members of the American Abstract Artists group, and served as president of the American Abstract Artists organization from 1946 to 1949. In 1951, Samuel Kootz invited Lassaw to join his gallery in New York. He also had a summer gallery in Provincetown, MA. Lassaw had been summering in Provincetown since 1944, and in 1951 rented an apartment next door to the Kootz Gallery. Among the artists in the Kootz Gallery were Jean Arp, William Baziotes, Georges Braque, Jean Dubuffet, Herbert Ferber, Arshile Gorky, Adolph Gottlieb, David Hare, Hans Hofmann, Fernand Leger, Georges Mathieu, Joan Miró, Robert Motherwell, Pablo Picasso, Pierre Soulages, and Maurice de Vlaminck. Lassaw is a sculptor who was a part of the New York School of Abstract expressionism during the 1940s and 1950s. Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, James Brooks, Willem de Kooning, and several other artists like Lassaw spent summers on the Southern Shore of Long Island. Lassaw spent summers on Long Island from 1955 until he moved there permanently in 1963. SELECT EXHIBITIONS 1961 International Exhibition of Modern Jewelry 1890–1961, organized by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London 1967 Exhibition of Jewelry by Painters and Sculptors, organized for circulation by MoMA 1973 Jewelry...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Gold, Bronze

Vintage Brutalist MCM Inlaid Wood Box by Norman Brumm
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Brumm Handcrafted Wood Wood box with velvet interior. This beautiful handmade inlaid wood decorative box by artist Norman Brumm (1939 - 2008) is an intri...
Category

1960s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Brass

"Nymph and Goat" Modern Abstract Mythological Bronze and Marble Sculpture
Located in Houston, TX
Modern abstract sculpture of a woman and goat by renowned artist Reuben Nakian. The work features a female nymph figure lying back as a goat figure approaches in Nakian's iconic bloc...
Category

1980s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Granite, Bronze

Collage, Mind-Line Series, Stamp Series. Signed and Dated
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Aubrey Penny Original Stamp Collage Signed and Dated Mind-Line Series, Stamp Series, 2-4213, 1977 Aubrey Penny (American 1917-2000) was an innovative California abstract artist w...
Category

1970s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Permanent Marker

Bronze Belt Buckle
Located in New York, NY
Anthony Caro Bronze Belt Buckle, 1993 Bronze sculpted belt buckle. Stamped on the verso 3 × 4 1/2 inches Unframed The present art work is an original bron...
Category

1990s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Collage, Mind-Line Stamp Series. Signed and Dated
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Aubrey Penny Original Collage Signed and Dated (Frances Parkman American Historian US Postage Stamp) Mind-Line Series, Stamp Series 2-4215, 1977 Aubrey Penny (American 1917-2000) ...
Category

1970s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Archival Paper, Permanent Marker

Lola
Located in Miami, FL
Beautiful Sculpture in white marble by the artist Agustin Cardenas. Signed on the base of the sculpture. Cárdenas was a descendant of african slaves from Senegal and Congo. He was b...
Category

1990s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Marble

Collage, Mind-Line Stamp Series. Signed and Dated
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Aubrey Penny Original Collage Signed and Dated Mind-Line Series, Stamp Series 2-4206, 1977 Aubrey Penny (American 1917-2000) was an innovative California abstract artist who work...
Category

1970s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Archival Paper, Permanent Marker

Antique Hebrew letters
Located in Jerusalem, IL
The subject of Castel’s early paintings were scenes of Sephardic Jews in the Holy Land. In 1947, Castel helped to found the "New Horizons".In the 1950s Moshe's Castel artwork work was inspired by ancient relief paintings depicting predecessors of the Jewish people...
Category

1970s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Ceramic

Original Collage, Mind-Line Stamp Series. Signed and Dated
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Aubrey Penny Original Collage Signed and Dated Mind Line Series, Stamp Series 2-4210, 1977 Aubrey Penny (American 1917-2000) was an innovative California abstract artist who worke...
Category

1970s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Archival Paper, Permanent Marker

Mid-20th Century Lower Torso Sculpture
Located in Stone Mountain, GA
Spectacular 1970s anatomical sculpture of a lower torso rendered in plaster compounds. Perfect for coffee table or pedestal. Artist unknown, unsigned. Both...
Category

1970s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Plaster

Ancienne Noblesse wood sculpture by Irving Lehman
Located in Hudson, NY
Irving Leeman's cubist inspired sculpture pays homage to artists such as Archipenko, Lipchitz, and Picasso. About this artist: Irving George Lehman was born in Kiev, Russia -now Uk...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood

Abstract Expressionist Patinated Metal Assemblage Sculpture Steel, Nuts, Bolts
Located in Surfside, FL
Robert Arthur Goodnough (AMERICAN, 1917-2010) Untitled patina on steel with nuts and bolts Robert Goodnough (October 23, 1917 – October 2, 2010) was an American abstract express...
Category

20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal

Hard Edge Collage, Amor Series, Signed and Dated
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Aubrey Penny Original Hard Edge Collage, Signed and Dated Title: Amor Series ,Amor Regificus, 11-6201, 1990 Aubrey Penny Original Collage Signed and Dated 71 Aubrey Penny (American ...
Category

1990s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Archival Paper

"Midnight Rider" Wall Sculpture 42" x 29" inch by Ibrahim Abd Elmalak
Located in Culver City, CA
"Midnight Rider" Wall Sculpture 42" x 29" inch by Ibrahim Abd Elmalak Fiberglass Signed & Dated Sculptures that mostly depict his characteristic figures of feminine form and feel...
Category

20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Fiberglass

Collage Mind-Line Series, Stamp Series, Signed and Dated
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Aubrey Penny Collage, Signed and Dated Mind-Line Series, Stamp Series. 2- 4211, 1977 Aubrey Penny (American 1917-2000) was an innovative California abstract artist who worked in a ...
Category

1970s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Archival Paper, Permanent Marker

Night Leaf, USA, 1973 Painted wood multiple Incised initials
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Caviar20 is excited to be offering this impressive resin sculpture by the inimitable Louise Nevelson - one of the most revered artists of the 20th century. During the late 60s, Nev...
Category

1960s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Resin

Studio Leftover Fetich
Located in New York, NY
Mary Baumeister Studio Leftover Fetich, 1953, 1967 Unique Mixed Media 3-D Assemblage Ink Signed, dated, titled, annotated "Edition Original" and numbered 52/75. Shadow box frame Incl...
Category

1960s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Mixed Media

Sonia
Located in Paris, FR
Ceramic Titled and signed in the mass under the base polychrome enamel decoration initialled with the initials "SD" on the bottom right diameter : 24.70 cm This plate in Moustiers e...
Category

1970s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Ceramic

Large Murano Glass Abstract Blown Glass Sculpture Gold, Clear Constantini Vase
Located in Surfside, FL
Dimensions: 12.5 X 5.25 X 5.25 in The organic shaped vase showcases an applied light gold colored threaded design enveloping the clear body, around. Hand signed Constantini S. It came from an important...
Category

20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Glass

American Modernist Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting Carving William Pellicone
Located in Surfside, FL
William Pellicone (American 1915-2004) Mixed media, pyrography, oil on wood carving painting. Dated 1958 Title - Enthymeme #14. Oil painting on carved and burnt distressed wood panel. Inscribed verso Enthymeme Wm. Pellicone #14, 9-4-58. Label on reverse with a typed definition for Enthymeme. Dimensions: 27 inches high, 42.5 inches wide. Metal wrap frame. Provenance: from a Shelter Island NY home that was designed by architect Henry J. Gazon - A.I.A. built in 1959. William Pellicone (1915-2004) was an American painter known for his abstract compositions and use of vibrant colors. He was born in New York City and studied at the Art Students League and the Brooklyn Museum Art School. Pellicone's early work was influenced by the Social Realist movement of the 1930s and 1940s, with his paintings often featuring realistic depictions of urban scenes and working-class people. However, in the 1950s he shifted towards abstraction, exploring the interplay of color and form. Pellicone's mature style was characterized by his use of vibrant, saturated colors, often applied in thick layers of paint. His paintings often featured geometric shapes and organic forms, with a strong sense of movement and energy. In addition to his painting, Pellicone was also a respected teacher and arts administrator. He taught at the New York Institute of Technology and the State University of New York, and served as the director of the Islip Art Museum on Long Island. Pellicone's artwork was exhibited widely during his lifetime, and he was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1977. Today, his paintings can be found in the collections of museums and galleries around the world, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. William Pellicone (Born 1915) is active/lives in New York. William Pellicone is known for Abstract expressionist, landscape and non-objective art. An American artist, sculptor, architect. He exhibited at Pennsylvania Academy Fine Arts...
Category

1950s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Oil

American Book Award
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Louise Nevelson (1899-1988) is one of the most revered and unique artists of the 20th century. There has been a tremendous renewal of interest and appreciation for Nevelson’s work...
Category

1970s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Paint

Abstract Australian Post Modernist Sculpture Peter D. Cole Metal, Enamel, Marble
Located in Surfside, FL
Peter D. Cole (Australian, b. 1947) Symbols of Landscape, 1987 Mixed metal, enamel and marble signed P.D. Cole and dated 21 x 6 1/2 x 6 in (53 x 16.5 x 15cm) Provenance: Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, Australia, 1987. Sculptor Peter D. Cole was born in Gawler, South Australia and trained at the South Australian School of Art between 1965 and 1968. Since the 1980’s Cole has been based in the Kyneton District of Victoria, where he has established himself as one of Australia’s senior and most renowned contemporary sculptors, drawing on the landscape as a source of inspiration and recent research trips to Japan and India have added to his rich source material. As a public artist, Cole has made a significant contribution to the urban landscape and public spaces of Australia receiving the Australian National Trust Heritage Award and the Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture Award of Merit for Foundation Park, a permanent work at The Rocks, Sydney. He is highly sought for commissions and his work is prominent in many public and corporate collections throughout Australia, including Parliament House, Canberra, the National Gallery of Australia, and Brisbane International Airport and recently Windsor Railway Station precinct. He was awarded the H.P. Gill medal for top student and the Contemporary arts Society award for drawing in 1968 and has exhibited regularly since 1969 with exhibitions in Australia and America, with notably a solo exhibition in 1995 at The Carpenter Centre, Harvard University USA. Peter D. Cole ranks as one of Australia's senior and most renowned contemporary sculptors. Graphic, minimalist and refined, his uncompromising aesthetic vision encompasses both large-scale structures, aerial works, and more intimate, witty ruminations. An accomplished water-colourist and draughtsman, Cole's vision translates easily into works on paper, valued by collectors for the insight they provide into his practice. Cole's robust materials- brass, bronze, painted steel and aluminium- vibrant colours and precise shapes articulate spatial, intellectual, and philosophical concepts. He is also interested in the notion of 'diagrammatic' landscapes, ones that express the transition between the flat plains of the Australian bush, and a more city-centric urban cacophony. Cole's work observes and recognises the boundaries of modern life without limiting its scale, or its scope. Cole is the recipient of the Australian National Trust Heritage Award (1996), the Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture Award of Merit (1995), and is highly sought for commissions. His work is prominent in many public and corporate collections throughout Australia, including Parliament House, Canberra, the National Gallery of Australia, and Brisbane International Airport. Hs work bears similarities to Peter Shire, Charlie Hewitt and Brad Howe. Cole lectured in sculpture between 1975 and 2001 and has worked continuously on his practice encompassing sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, design and architecture. His work is represented in many collections both private and public throughout Australia, America, Japan and Europe. SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2017 A Modern Narrative, Australian Galleries, Sydney 2016 PLACE AND SPACE, Australian Galleries, Melbourne 2013 Australian Galleries, Roylston Street, Sydney 2012 Lister Gallery, Perth 2011 New Sculptures, John Buckley Gallery, Melbourne 2006 New works, Australian Galleries Painting & Sculpture, Sydney 2004 Primary Structure, Calder Lister Gallery, Perth 1997 Steele Gallery, New York, USA 1995 Carpenter Centre for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA 1990 William Mora Gallery, Melbourne SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2021 This is Gippsland, with works by Sidney Nolan, John Wolseley, Anne Montgomery Trevor Vickers, Ann Greenwood, Tony Newsom, Peter Cole, Nick Mount, John Woollard, Cheryl Burgess, Kiyoshi Ino and more. 2019. Australian Galleries: The Purves Family Business. The First Four Decades, Book Launch and Group Exhibition, Australian Galleries, Melbourne 2019. papermade, Australian Galleries, Melbourne 2017. Painting, sculpture and works on paper – Group exhibition, Australian Galleries, Melbourne 2017. Sculpture: medium and small scale – Mixed Sculptors, Australian Galleries, Sydney 2016. Impressions, Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne 2014. one of each, Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne 2011. large exhibition of small works, Australian Galleries, Roylston Street, Sydney 2006. Stock Show, Australian Galleries Painting & Sculpture, Melbourne 2005. End of Year Group Exhibition, Australian Galleries Painting & Sculpture, Sydney 2003. This was the future: Australian Sculpture of the 1950s, 60s, 70s + Today, Heide Museum of Modern Art, 2002. Tokyo Designers Block Idee, Tokyo, Japan PUBLIC COMMISSIONS Arts Victoria; Shepparton lake sculpture, Shepparton VIC 19 October 2019 Bank of Melbourne; in consultation with Bates Smart McCutcheon; large freestanding sculptural screen, Melbourne Brisbane International Airport; in consultation with Bligh Voller architects and Jean Battersby Art Consultants; large suspended sculptures...
Category

1980s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Marble, Metal, Enamel

Little Eden Italy 1980 Annamaria Gelmi Oxidized Rust Metal Sculpture
Located in Brescia, IT
This sculpture is a multiple 1 piece of 50 realized in 1980 by the Italian artist Annamaria Gelmi. All the pieces are numbered and signed by the artist and completed by the Certificate of the artist and the Editor who made the artworks. The iron oxidized rust sculpture...
Category

Late 20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal

"Urban Scene" Original Painted Steel Sculpture by: Ralph Wickstrom
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Urban Scene" is a painted steel sculpture by Ralph Wickstrom created in 1997. Deceivingly thin the sculpture is made up of straight lines and right angles...
Category

1990s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Steel

Bronze Sculpture to Isaac Bashevis Singer, Arts in Judaism Award signed Judaica
Located in New York, NY
Nathaniel Kaz Bronze Sculpture to Isaac Bashevis Singer for Arts in Judaism Award, 1966 Bronze, Square wooden base, Metal tag Signed and dated "66" to back of bronze portion of the w...
Category

1960s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal, Bronze

Ceramic Sculptural bowl
Located in New York, NY
Peter Voulkos Ceramic Sculptural Dish, ca. 1985 Sculpted ceramic Hand-signed by artist, Incised signature on the base. 1.5 x 11.5 inches This charger plate by Voulkos features a Greek-influenced stylized birds and leaf design. Peter Voulkos is an American artist of Greek descent. The abstraction of animal and nature elements paired with the earthy, mottled gray and brown against brown background make this work beautiful. This work was featured in the exhibition "On Black Mountain: The Bauhaus Legacy in America", at the Sager Braudis Gallery (now Sager Reeves), in Columbia Missouri from April 5, 2019 to April. 27, 2019 and is reproduced in page 53 of the exhibition catalogue. We will provide a complimentary copy of the exhibition catalogue to the buyer of this work. Born in 1924 to Greek immigrant parents in the town of Bozeman, Montana, Peter Voulkos is one of America’s most significant sculptors of the 20th century. Voulkos got his start in art in the late 1940s, when he was studying at Montana State College, Bozeman on the G.I. Bill, after being drafted and serving as an airplane armorer-gunner in the Pacific in World War II. In classes with Frances Senska, he discovered ceramics, the medium that would characterize his career. After graduating from Montana State College, Bozeman in 1951, Voulkos moved west and earned his MFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California. Returning to Montana after graduation, Voulkos attracted attention “as a prodigious natural potter and a producer of elegantly thrown functional earthenware,” according to Roberta Smith for the New York Times. He also produced dinnerware to sell through high-quality stores, and was noted for his wax-resist method of decoration.Voulkos gained a reputation as a master of ceramics techniques, winning twenty-nine prizes and awards from 1949 through 1955. However, a summer spent teaching at the experimental Black Mountain College (he was invited to teach at BMC by Karen Karnes) near Asheville, North Carolina in 1953 resulted in a dramatic shift in Voulkos’s artistic priorities, as well as his aesthetic. It was at Black Mountain College that Voulkos met Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, Merce Cunningham and Charles Olson. He then visited New York City (as a guest of pianist David Tudor and Mary Catherine Richards) and encountered Philip Guston, Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline—Abstract Expressionist painters who influenced the new direction Voulkos would go on to pursue. In 1954, Voulkos was invited to teach at the Los Angeles County Art Institute (now Otis), and he established a new ceramics department and graduate program that attracted other young artists including John Mason, Ken Price, Billy Al Bengston and Paul Soldner. It was here that, inspired by the scale and spontaneity of the New York School, Voulkos began to build progressively larger works that cast aside utility and abandoned ceramic conventions. Decoration became aggressive, as he slashed at and pierced the clay, which he then energetically painted with glaze. Peter Voulkos exhibited these new works in shows at the Landau Gallery in Los Angeles, which announced to the world a new way of approaching ceramics. Disagreements with the more conservative administrators of the LA County Art Institute led to Voulkos’s departure for the University of California, Berkeley, in 1959. While at Berkeley, Voulkos experimented with bronze and produced large-scale bronze sculpture, while continuing his ceramic work and doing demonstrations of ceramics throughout the U.S. In 1979, a young ceramist named Peter Callas...
Category

1980s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Ceramic, Mixed Media, Glaze

Signed metal pendant (Brooch)
Located in New York, NY
Arnaldo Pomodoro Signed metal pendant (Brooch), ca. 1989 Sculpted metal brooch. Incised signature by Arnaldo Pomodoro. 4 4/5 × 4 inches Elegant sculpte...
Category

1980s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal

Large Murano Abstract Hand Blown Arcade Glass Sculpture Marcello Panza Vase
Located in Surfside, FL
Marcello Panza for Arcade Vase (this is for 1 of a pair I have, I am selling them separately). This has an African or Aboriginal tribal pattern to it. ...
Category

20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Glass

Abstract Bronze Sculpture (Unique, signed)
Located in New York, NY
Peter Reginato Abstract Bronze Sculpture, ca. 1987 Bronze Signed on the underside 4 × 6 1/2 × 5 1/2 inches This bronze sculpture is by the American abstract sculptor Peter Reginato. ...
Category

1980s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Reclining Figure (woman)
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
William King (1925-2015). Reclining figure, ca. 1965. Cast and welded bronze, 7 x 9.5 x 5 inches. Unsigned. William King, a sculptor in a variety of materials whose human figures traced social attitudes through the last half of the 20th century, often poking sly and poignant fun at human follies and foibles, died on March 4 at his home in East Hampton, N.Y. He was 90. His death was confirmed by Scott Chaskey, who is married to Mr. King's stepdaughter, Megan Chaskey. Mr. King worked in clay, wood, bronze, vinyl, burlap and aluminum. He worked both big and small, from busts and toylike figures to large public art pieces depicting familiar human poses -- a seated, cross-legged man reading; a Western couple (he in a cowboy hat, she in a long dress) holding hands; a tall man reaching down to tug along a recalcitrant little boy; a crowd of robotic-looking men walking in lock step. But for all its variation, what unified his work was a wry observer's arched eyebrow, the pointed humor and witty rue of a fatalist. His figurative sculptures, often with long, spidery legs and an outlandishly skewed ratio of torso to appendages, use gestures and posture to suggest attitude and illustrate his own amusement with the unwieldiness of human physical equipment. His subjects included tennis players and gymnasts, dancers and musicians, and he managed to show appreciation of their physical gifts and comic delight at their contortions and costumery. His suit-wearing businessmen often appeared haughty or pompous; his other men could seem timid or perplexed or awkward. Oddly, or perhaps tellingly, he tended to depict women more reverentially, though in his portrayals of couples the fragility and tender comedy inherent in couplehood settled equally on both partners. Mr. King's work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, among other places, and he had dozens of solo gallery shows in New York and elsewhere. But the comic element of his work probably caused his reputation to suffer. Reviews of his exhibitions frequently began with the caveat that even though the work was funny, it was also serious, displaying superior technical skills, imaginative vision and the bolstering weight of a range of influences, from the ancient Etruscans to American folk art to 20th-century artists including Giacometti, Calder. and Elie Nadelman. The critic Hilton Kramer, one of Mr. King's most ardent advocates, wrote in a 1970 essay accompanying a New York gallery exhibit that he was, "among other things, an amusing artist, and nowadays this can, at times, be almost as much a liability as an asset." A "preoccupation with gesture is the focus of King's sculptural imagination," Mr. Kramer wrote. "Everything that one admires in his work - the virtuoso carving, the deft handling of a wide variety of materials, the shrewd observation and resourceful invention - all this is secondary to the concentration on gesture. The physical stance of the human animal as it negotiates the social arena, the unconscious gait that the body assumes in making its way in the social medium, the emotion traced by the course of a limb, a torso, a head, the features of a face, a coiffure or a costume - from a keen observation of these materials King has garnered a large stock of sculptural images notable for their wit, empathy, simplicity and psychological precision." William Dickey King...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

The Promise, original signed bronze sculpture by renowned British artist
Located in New York, NY
William Tucker The Promise, ca. 1980 Bronze Signed and numbered 5/6 - incised on the metal 2 5/8 × 8 5/8 × 1 inch This abstract sculpture is by the renowne...
Category

1980s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Ode to the Ancient Monarch aluminum sculpture by James C. Myford
Located in Hudson, NY
This work is aluminum on a black slate base, measuring 28.5" x 9" x 6". Myford's interest in aluminum began in 1970 when he attended a workshop sponsored by Alcoa at the Art Center ...
Category

1970s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Slate, Metal

Abstract Expressionist Bronze Sculpture Signed by Joan Strauss Carl
Located in Pasadena, CA
The artwork is a patinated bronze on a marble base. It features a dancing couple. The bronze itself is 10"25 H. It is signed in the cast: S. Carl Overall excellent condition with minor scuffs and oxidation to bronze commensurate with age. Joan Strauss Carl...
Category

1980s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Abstract Cast Glass Sculpture, 'Lekhoo Beshalom', 1991 by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
'Lekhoo Beshalom' is a contemporary abstract cast glass sculpture by David Ruth from his Internal Space series. David fused various colored glass to create a layered, suspended, and...
Category

1990s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Glass

No title
Located in Paris, FR
Sculpture, 1990 Handsigned by the artist in pencil Compression of capsules and wires Unique work of a series in 500 different copies Depth: 2.30 cm A modestly sized compression of ...
Category

1990s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Iron

Mid Century Modern Brutalist Welded Expressionist Sculpture After Paul Evans
Located in Surfside, FL
In this bronze sculpture the artist (unknown) has welded together a group of totems or monuments into a unified piece. T Neo-Dada Abstract Sculpture: Assemblages In contrast, abstra...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal

"Equine Spirit I" Bronze sculpture 14.5" x 6" inch by Ibrahim Abd Elmalak
Located in Culver City, CA
"Equine Spirit I" Bronze sculpture 14.5" x 6" inch by Ibrahim Abd Elmalak Double-faced Bronze & Marble Signed & Dated Sculptures that mostly depict his characteristic figures of...
Category

20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Marble, Bronze

Vingt ans de B.S.N.
Located in Paris, FR
Earthenware, 1986 Publisher : Atelier de Segries (Moustiers-Sainte-Marie) Diameter: 25cm The energy of the artist's gesture can be seen in the peta...
Category

1980s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Earthenware

"Untitled" Sidney Gordin, Abstract Metal Steel Sculpture
Located in New York, NY
Sidney Gordin Untitled, 1958 Incised with initials Welded Steel 15 x 10 1/2 x 6 inches Provenance: Eric Firestone Gallery, New York On October 24, 1918, Sidney Gordin was born in Chelyabinsk, Russia. He spent his early years in Shanghai, China. At the age of four, he moved with his family to New York. Gordin’s nephew, Eliot Nemzer recalls that when Gordin was a child he attended “a dinner party with his parents. Someone showed him a book of pictures that when thumbed through quickly made the image appear to move. This person then gave him a wad of blank papers and something to write with. Sid created a similar type of moving image with his materials. All the adults at the party became quite excited [and] praised his efforts. Sid told me he thought this was a pivotal experience in guiding him towards his vocation.” During his formative years at Brooklyn Technical High School, he briefly contemplated the idea of becoming an architect; yet, by the time he enrolled at Cooper Union, he was determined to become a professional artist. There, he studied under Morris Kantor (1896-1974) and Leo Katz...
Category

1950s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Steel

Abstract Cast Glass Sculpture, 'Altair', 1993 by David Ruth
Located in Oakland, CA
'Altair' is a contemporary abstract cast glass sculpture by David Ruth from his Internal Space series. David fused various colored glass to create a layered, suspended, and vibrant ...
Category

1990s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Glass

Plaque (Placca)
Located in New York, NY
Arnaldo Pomodoro Plaque (Placca), 1980 Bronze 3 4/5 × 3 4/5 inches Edition of 500 Incised signature on the front top left, and foundry mark on the bottom; Rotary Club of Palermo plaq...
Category

1980s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

"Sisters of the Wind" Wall Sculpture 25" x 36" inch by Ibrahim Abd Elmalak
Located in Culver City, CA
"Sisters of the Wind" Wall Sculpture 25" x 36" inch by Ibrahim Abd Elmalak Fiberglass Signed & Dated Sculptures that mostly depict his characteristic figures of feminine form and...
Category

20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Fiberglass

Rare Candelabra Sculpture Mid Century Danish Design
By Einar Dragsted
Located in Surfside, FL
Danish mid century modern silverplated candelabrum sculpture. circa 1957 signed E. Dragsted Denmark. Dragsted goldsmiths, established in 1854, was purveyor to the danish royal family...
Category

1950s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Stainless Steel

Latin American Sculpture by Raúl Valdivieso
Located in Washington, DC
Bronze sculpture by Latin American sculptor Raúl Valdivieso (Chilean, 1931-1993). Valdivieso is known for his reinterpretation of the classic organic forms and human figures. Raúl Valdiveso was born September 9, 1931 in Santiago, Chile. In 1952 he began his studies at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Chile. There he took to sculpture and studied under professors like Marta Colvin...
Category

1960s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

"Untitled, " Seymour Fogel, Geometric Abstraction, Texas Hard-Edge
Located in New York, NY
Seymour Fogel Untitled Oil on illustration board construction 10 x 7 1/2 inches Provenance: Estate of the artist Charles and Faith McCracken Larry and Trish Heichel Private Collection Seymour Fogel was born in New York City on August 24, 1911. He studied at the Art Students League and at the National Academy of Design under George Bridgeman and Leon Kroll. When his formal studies were concluded in the early 1930s he served as an assistant to Diego Rivera who was then at work on his controversial Rockefeller Center mural. It was from Rivera that he learned the art of mural painting. Fogel was awarded several mural commissions during the 1930s by both the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, among them his earliest murals at the Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, New York in 1936, a mural in the WPA Building at the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair, a highly controversial mural at the U.S. Post Office in Safford, Arizona (due to his focus on Apache culture) in 1941 and two murals in what was then the Social Security Building in Washington, D.C., also in 1941. Fogel's artistic circle at this time included Phillip Guston, Ben Shahn, Franz Kline, Rockwell Kent and Willem de Kooning. In 1946 Fogel accepted a teaching position at the University of Texas at Austin and became one of the founding artists of the Texas Modernist Movement. At this time he began to devote himself solely to abstract, non-representational art and executed what many consider to be the very first abstract mural in the State of Texas at the American National Bank in Austin in 1953. He pioneered the use of Ethyl Silicate as a mural medium. Other murals and public works of art done during this time (the late 1940s and 1950s) include the Baptist Student Center at the University of Texas (1949), the Petroleum Club in Houston (1951) and the First Christian Church, also in Houston (1956), whose innovative use of stained glass panels incorporated into the mural won Fogel a Silver Medal from the Architectural League of New York in 1958. Fogel relocated to the Connecticut-New York area in 1959. He continued the Abstract Expressionism he had begun exploring in Texas, and began experimenting with various texturing media for his paintings, the most enduring of which was sand. In 1966 he was awarded a mural at the U.S. Federal Building in Fort Worth, Texas. The work, entitled "The Challenge of Space", was a milestone in his artistic career and ushered in what has been termed the Transcendental/Atavistic period of his art, a style he pursued up to his death in 1984. Painted and raw wood sculpture...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Oil, Board

Welded Stainless Steel Reflective Abstract Modernist Sculpture Gary Kahle
Located in Surfside, FL
Gary Kahle (American, 1942- ) Metal abstract sculpture on black base, Hand signed and dated 1984 25 1/2" H x approximately 18" W x and 12 1/2" D. Proven...
Category

1980s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Stainless Steel

Abstract Expressionist Etruscan Inspired Decorative Ceramic.
Located in Cotignac, FR
Abstract Expressionist ceramic by French artist Claude Urbani. Signed to the front side and dated 93. Incised Antibes 1993 to the revers...
Category

1990s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Clay, Terracotta, Glaze

Abstract White Stone Sculpture with Slate Base
Located in Austin, TX
Abstract Scultpure by Duff Browne 11" x 21.5" x 4
Category

Late 20th Century Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Slate, Stone

Untitled XIII : abstract steel sculpture
Located in New York, NY
Abstract steel sculpture by Naomi Press. Signed with initials. Naomi Press is a female abstract sculptor, who was one of the very few women working in large scale with steel in the ...
Category

1980s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Stainless Steel

Abstract sculptures for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Abstract 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 sculptures created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, red, purple, green and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Scott Troxel, John Van Alstine, Marty Mackenzie, and Stephen Walling. Frequently made by artists working with Wood, and Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Abstract sculptures, so small editions measuring 0.38 inches across are also available. Prices for 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 $11 and tops out at $1,400,000, while the average work sells for $4,500.

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