Skip to main content

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.

Find original abstract paintings, sculptures, prints and other art on 1stDibs.

to
242
1,138
491
447
331
962
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
2
4
519
2,845
1
1
3
17
39
80
125
103
9,475
1,622
959
422
147
146
115
95
72
22
17
12
7
56
51
33
29
27
25
25
22
20
19
18
16
15
15
15
13
13
12
12
11
1,689
735
611
483
446
96
76
69
44
43
22
32
2,154
890
Style: Abstract
Rhodochrosite Mineral Specimen on Lucite Base
Rhodochrosite Mineral Specimen on Lucite Base

Rhodochrosite Mineral Specimen on Lucite Base

Located in Palm Beach, FL

Striking cut and polished slice of rhodochrosite, a semi precious mineral, with its distinctive red color and white banding. Presented on a custom lucite and brass stand.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Precious Stone

Light-Glyph (Blue)
Light-Glyph (Blue)

Light-Glyph (Blue)

By Casper Brindle

Located in Santa Monica, CA

With Light Glyphs, Casper Brindle presents two new bodies of work, each involving dramatic investigations into light, color and perspective. The results are poetic, sensual and spati...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Acrylic Polymer, Automotive Paint, Acrylic

Abstract culpture  by Dorothy Thorpe
Abstract culpture  by Dorothy Thorpe

Abstract culpture by Dorothy Thorpe

By Dorothy Thorpe 1

Located in Pasadena, CA

Dorothy Thorpe This wonderful piece was designed by Dorothy Thorpe in America during the 1960s Born in Salt Lake City in 1901, Dorothy Thorpe was a mid-century American artist who de...

Category

1970s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Lucite

Gold abstract mixed media wall sculpture
Gold abstract mixed media wall sculpture

Gold abstract mixed media wall sculpture

By Michael Davis

Located in Palm Desert, CA

Gold From the series, Elements, this sculpture references the proliferation of gold mines in third world countries. ARTIST'S STATEMENT Michael Davis My sculptures and installations...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Metal, Gold Leaf

Liz Sweibel, Untitled (Scrapings #1), 2016, Wood, Paint, Found Objects
Liz Sweibel, Untitled (Scrapings #1), 2016, Wood, Paint, Found Objects

Liz Sweibel, Untitled (Scrapings #1), 2016, Wood, Paint, Found Objects

By Liz Sweibel

Located in Darien, CT

The freestanding sculptures in this portfolio are made from the “sticks”: a pile of found wood that Sweibel has been pulling from to make new works since about 2002. The pile consisted of more than a dozen four- to seven-foot lengths of hardwood, each an uneven inch in depth and width. The sticks were warped, with worn yellow paint on one side and raw wood on the other three. Over the years she has painted the raw sides of the sticks, cut the wood into shorter lengths, and sliced paint off – and kept the residue from these actions. Sweibel has also made sculptures ranging from full-length sticks to tiny stick splinters. She built these sculptures using sliced-off paint. Timeworn materials and objects have an intelligence that the artist looks for and listens to. Shaping and reshaping material to find new form and elicit new insights in the material itself is the territory she is mining. The limitations of the process are its strengths. Her work is concerned with fragility, precariousness, adaptability, and strength. It is a visual response to powerful yet unseen forces - like wind and thoughts - that threaten, propel, ruin, and protect. Liz Sweibel is a multidisciplinary artist working in drawing, sculpture, installation, and digital photography and video. Her spare, personal language of abstraction transforms ordinary materials into statements about connectedness and responsibility: every action has an impact, the effects persist in space and over time, and we are accountable. By drawing attention to simple, ordinary “stuff of life” and referencing both shared and personal history, Sweibel’s work explores and reflects back fundamental experiences in response to our world and relationships. Her intention is to reinvigorate viewers’ awareness of the everyday – in its raw beauty and precariousness – in hopes that they might bring heightened senses of sight and care to their daily lives. Sweibel has participated in solo, two-person, and group exhibits in New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Michigan, and Tennessee since 1998. In 2016, Sweibel’s work was in the group shows Lightly Structured at Sculpture Space NYC, Precarious Constructs at the Venus Knitting Art...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Paint, Found Objects

Pile-up at The Gates of Hell
Pile-up at The Gates of Hell

Pile-up at The Gates of Hell

By Bobbi Meier

Located in Boston, MA

Artist Commentary: Abstract forms emerge from remembrances of disco dancing, Earth Wind & Fire, darkness, heat, perspiration and glitz. Materials are twisted into ambiguous shapes, s...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Found Objects, Other Medium

Blueberry Illusion 4/7

Blueberry Illusion 4/7

By Damon Hyldreth

Located in Napa, CA

The sculptures of Damon Hyldreth appear both static and fluid, rigid and flexible, strong and smooth, effectively blurring the line between nature and structure. By crafting organic ...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Steel

Light-Glyph (Rose Gold)
Light-Glyph (Rose Gold)

Light-Glyph (Rose Gold)

By Casper Brindle

Located in Santa Monica, CA

Brindle’s Light Glyph’s, are luminescent and mercurial sculptures, constantly shifting in hue as the viewer moves around them. Absorbing and reflecting light, they have a meditative ...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Acrylic Polymer, Automotive Paint, Acrylic

Flag for a Forgotten People, Framed Contemporary Quadriptych Wood Panel Painting
Flag for a Forgotten People, Framed Contemporary Quadriptych Wood Panel Painting

Flag for a Forgotten People, Framed Contemporary Quadriptych Wood Panel Painting

By Armand Delatour

Located in New Orleans, LA

(Very difficult to photograph inside the case with glass front, so we took a few outside the case. A video is included that we hope helps, thought it suffers from reflections on the ...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wax, Oil, Wood Panel

Loren Eiferman, Galaxy, 129 Pieces of Wood, 2012, Wood, Putty, Wood Sculpture
Loren Eiferman, Galaxy, 129 Pieces of Wood, 2012, Wood, Putty, Wood Sculpture

Loren Eiferman, Galaxy, 129 Pieces of Wood, 2012, Wood, Putty, Wood Sculpture

By Loren Eiferman

Located in Darien, CT

Over many decades Loren Eiferman has created and mastered a unique technique of working with wood—her primary material. First, she begins with a drawing of an idea. Then she takes a daily walk in the woods surrounding her studio and collects tree limbs and long sticks that have fallen to the ground. She never chops down a living tree or uses green wood. Eiferman allows the wood time to cure in the studio to make sure it won’t check or crack. Next, she debarks the branch and looks for shapes found within each piece of wood. Using a Japanese hand saw, she cuts and connect these small shapes together using dowels and wood glue. Then, all the open joints get filled with a home made putty, which is then sanded so she can see the newly formed shapes. This process is until the new sculpture appears like the original line drawing but in space. She wants the work to appear as if it grew in nature, when in fact each sculpture is composed of over 100 small pieces of wood that are seamlessly jointed together. Her work can be called the ultimate recycling: taking the detritus of nature and giving it a new life. We have all at one point or another picked up a stick from the ground—touched the wood, peeled the bark off with our fingernails. Her work taps into that same primal desire of touching nature and being close to it. Trees connect us back to nature, back to this Earth. Her work has a meditative quality to it—a quiet, calming energy. Her influences are many; from looking at nature and plant life on this Earth to researching the heavenly bodies in the images beamed back from the Hubble Telescope. From studying ancient Buddhist mandalas and designs to delving deeper into quantum physics. And from researching mysterious manuscripts to studying the patterns inside our brains. For Invocation, we are exhibiting her newest body of work, inspired by the illustrations found in the Voynich Manuscript. This 250-page book, is believed to have been written in the early 15th century, of a mysterious origin and purpose. Written in an unknown language and currently housed at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book Library, the manuscript has eluded all attempts in the intervening centuries to decode or decipher its purpose and meaning. This enigmatic book is divided into 6 different sections (herbal, astronomical, biological, cosmological, pharmaceutical and recipes). Having discovered the images contained in this codex over the Internet, Eiferman felt an immediate, profound and inexplicable connection to this manuscript and its creator. The artist is currently transposing the “herbal” section of manuscript into sculptures. This section has drawings in it of plants and flowers that do not really exist in nature—past or present. These aren’t just pretty images of flowers—they also contain the wacky root systems and seemingly out of proportion leaves, stamens and pistils. Loren Eiferman was born in Brooklyn, NY. She received her BFA from SUNY Purchase. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the Tri-State region including gallery and museum exhibitions in the Hudson Valley and Connecticut. Her work is included in numerous corporate and private art collections. In 2014 she was awarded a NYC MTA Arts & Design art commission to produce steel railings...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Putty

Loren Eiferman, Voynich #1, 124 Pieces of Wood, 2015, Wood, Putty, 54x30x20 in
Loren Eiferman, Voynich #1, 124 Pieces of Wood, 2015, Wood, Putty, 54x30x20 in

Loren Eiferman, Voynich #1, 124 Pieces of Wood, 2015, Wood, Putty, 54x30x20 in

By Loren Eiferman

Located in Darien, CT

Over many decades Loren Eiferman has created and mastered a unique technique of working with wood—her primary material. First, she begins with a drawing of an idea. Then she takes a daily walk in the woods surrounding her studio and collects tree limbs and long sticks that have fallen to the ground. She never chops down a living tree or uses green wood. Eiferman allows the wood time to cure in the studio to make sure it won’t check or crack. Next, she debarks the branch and looks for shapes found within each piece of wood. Using a Japanese hand saw, she cuts and connect these small shapes together using dowels and wood glue. Then, all the open joints get filled with a home made putty, which is then sanded so she can see the newly formed shapes. This process is until the new sculpture appears like the original line drawing but in space. She wants the work to appear as if it grew in nature, when in fact each sculpture is composed of over 100 small pieces of wood that are seamlessly jointed together. Her work can be called the ultimate recycling: taking the detritus of nature and giving it a new life. We have all at one point or another picked up a stick from the ground—touched the wood, peeled the bark off with our fingernails. Her work taps into that same primal desire of touching nature and being close to it. Trees connect us back to nature, back to this Earth. Her work has a meditative quality to it—a quiet, calming energy. Her influences are many; from looking at nature and plant life on this Earth to researching the heavenly bodies in the images beamed back from the Hubble Telescope. From studying ancient Buddhist mandalas and designs to delving deeper into quantum physics. And from researching mysterious manuscripts to studying the patterns inside our brains. For Invocation, we are exhibiting her newest body of work, inspired by the illustrations found in the Voynich Manuscript. This 250-page book, is believed to have been written in the early 15th century, of a mysterious origin and purpose. Written in an unknown language and currently housed at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book Library, the manuscript has eluded all attempts in the intervening centuries to decode or decipher its purpose and meaning. This enigmatic book is divided into 6 different sections (herbal, astronomical, biological, cosmological, pharmaceutical and recipes). Having discovered the images contained in this codex over the Internet, Eiferman felt an immediate, profound and inexplicable connection to this manuscript and its creator. The artist is currently transposing the “herbal” section of manuscript into sculptures. This section has drawings in it of plants and flowers that do not really exist in nature—past or present. These aren’t just pretty images of flowers—they also contain the wacky root systems and seemingly out of proportion leaves, stamens and pistils. Loren Eiferman was born in Brooklyn, NY. She received her BFA from SUNY Purchase. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the Tri-State region including gallery and museum exhibitions in the Hudson Valley and Connecticut. Her work is included in numerous corporate and private art collections. In 2014 she was awarded a NYC MTA Arts & Design art commission to produce steel railings...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Putty

Her Kiss  abstract sculpture
Her Kiss  abstract sculpture

Her Kiss abstract sculpture

By Catherine Bohrman

Located in Palm Desert, CA

Catherine Bohrman: The quiet encounter of two lovers kissing is captured in this wonderful cast bronze with a gold patina. The softness of the moment o...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Her Kiss beautiful contemporary abstract sculpture gold
Her Kiss beautiful contemporary abstract sculpture gold

Her Kiss beautiful contemporary abstract sculpture gold

By Catherine Bohrman

Located in Palm Desert, CA

Catherine Bohrman: The quiet encounter of two lovers kissing is captured in this wonderful cast bronze with a gold patina. The softness of the moment of her reach to him is captured...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Joan Grubin, See-Through, 2018, Mylar, Paper, Acrylic Paint
Joan Grubin, See-Through, 2018, Mylar, Paper, Acrylic Paint

Joan Grubin, See-Through, 2018, Mylar, Paper, Acrylic Paint

By Joan Grubin

Located in Darien, CT

Weaving is a form of drawing, of plotting and connecting lines. Fabricating a three-dimensional, transparent object using thin strips of paper with differing colors on either side re...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Mylar, Paper, Acrylic

Silver Wiggle

Silver Wiggle

Located in Napa, CA

Simon Waranch (b. 1999) is an artist at the vanguard of fine art glass sculpture. Blending a mastery of classical techniques with imaginative formal experimentation, Waranch’s work ...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Blown Glass

Lip Service
Lip Service

Lip Service

By Gwen Samuels

Located in Boston, MA

Artist Commentary: Lip service came about during sheltering in place. While visiting with my grandchildren it broke my heart that they could not see me sm...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wire

Small Blue Wiggle

Small Blue Wiggle

Located in Napa, CA

Simon Waranch (b. 1999) is an artist at the vanguard of fine art glass sculpture. Blending a mastery of classical techniques with imaginative formal experimentation, Waranch’s work ...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Blown Glass

B'Still Life, Contemporary Textile Wall Hanging by Anda Klancic
B'Still Life, Contemporary Textile Wall Hanging by Anda Klancic

B'Still Life, Contemporary Textile Wall Hanging by Anda Klancic

Located in Wilton, CT

B'Still Life, Anda Klancic, hand-controlled, machine-embroidered lace, cotton, synthetic, metal threads, 23" x 42", 1996-2020. "The tactility of the interweaving in the fibrous wor...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Fabric, Textile, Cotton, Thread

Natural Staghorn Coral Mounted on Coquina Stone
Natural Staghorn Coral Mounted on Coquina Stone

Natural Staghorn Coral Mounted on Coquina Stone

Located in Palm Beach, FL

Authentic branch coral specimen with its clean bleached white color and organic textural form. Presented on a custom coquina stand. Available only in the United States of America, ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Stone

Ricahard Bottwin, 'Lily Leaping', 2016, Wood
Ricahard Bottwin, 'Lily Leaping', 2016, Wood

Ricahard Bottwin, 'Lily Leaping', 2016, Wood

By Richard Bottwin

Located in Darien, CT

Architecture and functional objects inform the vocabulary of Richard Bottwin’s sculpture. The plywood surfaces, laminated with wood veneers or painted with acrylic colors, are confi...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood

Norma Marquez Orozco, 'Red Triangles (21 Triangles Series)', 2014, Paper
Norma Marquez Orozco, 'Red Triangles (21 Triangles Series)', 2014, Paper

Norma Marquez Orozco, 'Red Triangles (21 Triangles Series)', 2014, Paper

By Norma Marquez Orozco

Located in Darien, CT

The
 natural 
world
 is 
her 
inspiration, 
giving
 special 
attention
 to 
reflect 
movement
 as 
a 
way
 of
 exploring
 not
 only
 physical
 but
 emotional
 change.
 Orozco's consi...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Paper

Karen Schiff, Space Eyes, 2016, Wood, Gouache
Karen Schiff, Space Eyes, 2016, Wood, Gouache

Karen Schiff, Space Eyes, 2016, Wood, Gouache

By Karen Schiff

Located in Darien, CT

Karen Schiff is an artist and wordsmith based in New York; she has always been a reader as well as a visual artist. Her drawings, paintings, installations, and performances combine t...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Gouache

Karen Schiff, Space Eyes, 2016, Wood, Gouache
Karen Schiff, Space Eyes, 2016, Wood, Gouache

Karen Schiff, Space Eyes, 2016, Wood, Gouache

By Karen Schiff

Located in Darien, CT

Karen Schiff is an artist and wordsmith based in New York; she has always been a reader as well as a visual artist. Her drawings, paintings, installations, and performances combine t...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Gouache

Karen Schiff, Hypercubic, 2016, Wood, Gouache
Karen Schiff, Hypercubic, 2016, Wood, Gouache

Karen Schiff, Hypercubic, 2016, Wood, Gouache

By Karen Schiff

Located in Darien, CT

Karen Schiff is an artist and wordsmith based in New York; she has always been a reader as well as a visual artist. Her drawings, paintings, installations, and performances combine t...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Gouache

Richard Bottwin, 'Parallel #5', 2006, Wood
Richard Bottwin, 'Parallel #5', 2006, Wood

Richard Bottwin, 'Parallel #5', 2006, Wood

By Richard Bottwin

Located in Darien, CT

Architecture and functional objects inform the vocabulary of Richard Bottwin’s sculpture. The plywood surfaces, laminated with wood veneers or painted with acrylic colors, are confi...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood

Knot #100SP AP

Knot #100SP AP

By Damon Hyldreth

Located in Napa, CA

The sculptures of Damon Hyldreth appear both static and fluid, rigid and flexible, strong and smooth, effectively blurring the line between nature and structure. By crafting organic ...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Stainless Steel

White Reticello Wiggle

White Reticello Wiggle

Located in Napa, CA

Simon Waranch (b. 1999) is an artist at the vanguard of fine art glass sculpture. Blending a mastery of classical techniques with imaginative formal experimentation, Waranch’s work ...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Blown Glass

Grey Blanket Vessel

Grey Blanket Vessel

Located in Napa, CA

Simon Waranch (b. 1999) is an artist at the vanguard of fine art glass sculpture. Blending a mastery of classical techniques with imaginative formal experimentation, Waranch’s work ...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Blown Glass

Abstract studio glass sculpture by a pioneering glass artist
Abstract studio glass sculpture by a pioneering glass artist

Abstract studio glass sculpture by a pioneering glass artist

Located in Colfax, CA

An early studio glass creation by Dr. Robert Fritz. Dr. Robert Fritz attended San Jose State College in the early 1950s, where he earned a Bachelors, and Master's of Arts. He went ...

Category

1970s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Blown Glass

Ryan Cronin - Bunny, Sculpture 2010

Ryan Cronin - Bunny, Sculpture 2010

By Ryan Cronin

Located in Greenwich, CT

Bunny Ryan Cronin Oil Paint, Wood, and Fiberglass 52" (Height) x 25" (Width) x 12.5" (Depth) When people look at his work Cronin wants them to feel an immediate impact, even if they...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Fiberglass, Wood, Oil

Light-Glyph (Trilateral Gold)
Light-Glyph (Trilateral Gold)

Light-Glyph (Trilateral Gold)

By Casper Brindle

Located in Santa Monica, CA

Brindle’s Light Glyph’s, are luminescent and mercurial sculptures, constantly shifting in hue as the viewer moves around them. Absorbing and reflecting light, they have a meditative ...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Acrylic Polymer, Automotive Paint, Acrylic

Panier-maison II, Stéphanie Jacques
Panier-maison II, Stéphanie Jacques

Panier-maison II, Stéphanie Jacques

By Stéphanie Jacques

Located in Wilton, CT

Panier-maison II, Stéphanie Jacques, wood, willow, raw clay coated and limewash, 17" x 20" x 15", 2010. This contemporary abstract mixed media sculpture was done by Belgian artist, ...

Category

2010s Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Clay, Wood

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.