Bernar Venet creates large-scale site-specific installations, works of avant-garde performance art and other provocative pieces that have earned him a place among France’s most significant Conceptual artists. He is also known for his abstract and figurative drawings, as well as abstract sculptures.
Venet was born in 1941 in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in southern France as Bernard Venet. In 1958, he attended EMAP Villa Thiole in Nice and decided to pursue an artistic career. Venet moved to New York City in 1961 and started to garner recognition for his monochromatic tar paintings and coal sculptures. It was during this period that he dropped the “d” from his first name.
In 1971, Venet took a break from making art and spent some time teaching art theory at the University of Paris. He decided to resume his artistic work in 1976 and showed his work the following year at Kassel, Germany’s “documenta 6,” a contemporary art exhibition that has featured the likes of Berenice Abbott, Diane Arbus, Willem de Kooning and others. Around this time, Venet pivoted to working with wood and created a series of reliefs called “Arcs, Angles and Straight Lines.” The National Endowment of the Arts recognized Venet with a grant in 1979.
The grant kicked off two decades of exhibitions throughout Europe, the United States, Asia and South America. To date, Venet has participated in more than 40 public sculpture exhibitions and created monumental installations in cities around the globe, including Berlin, Denver, Auckland, Geneva, Austin, Tokyo, Vancouver and more.
In 2005, the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur awarded him with the highest order of merit in France. He was also awarded the International Sculpture Center Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture in 2016. Venet’s works are held in the collections of leading museums around the world including the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Centre Pompidou.
Venet lives and works between New York City and Le Muy.
On 1stDibs, find original Bernar Venet paintings, prints, sculptures and more.
Two Arcs of 236.5° Each
By Bernar Venet
Located in London, GB
A striking example of Bernar Venet’s iconic Arc series, Two Arcs of 236.5° Each (1988) embodies the artist’s rigorous exploration of mathematical form and controlled randomness. Exec...
Steel
Price Upon Request
236.5˚ Arc x 4, Rolled Steel Sculpture by Bernar Venet
By Bernar Venet
Located in Long Island City, NY
A large indoor/outdoor welded iron sculpture by Bernar Venet circa 1990. An iconic modern art sculpture of iron with black patina, title stamped ...
Steel
Spray
By Harry Bertoia
Located in Miami, FL
TECHNICAL INFORMATION Harry Bertoia Spray 1979 (year completed) Steel wire, bronze 37 h x 13 dia in. Sold with a certificate of authenticity from the Harry Bertoia Foundation and a...
Bronze, Steel
$9,000Sale Price|62% Off
H 89 in W 30 in D 18 in
Three Totems - Large Oversized Abstract Modern Textural Grey Steel Sculptures
By Granville Beals
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Inspired by dance and weightlessness, Granville Beals' industrial metal sculptures are primarily about relationships. His original artworks capture the essence of Abstract Expression...
Metal, Steel
$2,650
H 44 in W 20.25 in D 10 in
"Melody in G" Original Painted Steel Sculpture by: Ralph Wickstrom
By Ralph Wickstrom
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Melody in G" is a painted steel sculpture by Ralph Wickstrom created in 2000. Wickstrom's portfolio is very diverse in form and shape, and yet this piece seems to stand out from the...
Steel
Lantern Column IV- Blown Glass 60 inches High
By Niho Kozuru
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Title: Lantern Column IV Year: 1998 - 2014 Medium: Mold blown glass, cast polymer, steel, cast iron Size: 60 3/4 inches Price: $10,000. Niho Kozuru (髙鶴丹穂) is a Japanese-born mixed media artist based in Boston, MA. Kozuru casts and reconfigures molds of her own designs, classical and industrial turned architectural forms in unexpected materials. Using rubber, glass and clay she creates columns with undulating silhouettes. The “Lantern Columns” are a group of 7 towers, ranging from 4 feet to 7 feet tall. They have been shown in various configurations in multiple US States as well as the Fukuoka City Museum in Kyushu, Japan. Kozuru made 60 components by blowing glass into molds of her own designs while at Artists in Residency at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. After traveling the world, the Lantern Columns have been arranged into their final configuration, with a steel armature within and each topped with a vivid cast iron final...
Steel, Iron
$3,813
H 9.45 in W 6.7 in D 8.67 in
Hyperrealistic Bronze Female Head Lost-Wax Sculpture, Hollow Skull, Contemporary
By Óscar Aldonza Torres
Located in FISTERRA, ES
Hyperrealistic bronze female head sculpture with hollowed skull evokes mystery and organic patina. Soño (24 × 17 × 22 cm) by Aldonza is cast by the artist using the traditional lost-...
Bronze
Triangular Corner
By Roger Phillips
Located in New York, NY
Central to Phillips's artistic ethos is the pursuit of simplicity and purity, a quest manifest in his meticulous engineering and unwavering dedication to craftsmanship. His sculpture...
Steel
$2,000
H 16 in W 12 in D 12 in
Bouquet of Red Roses - Abstract Contemporary Metal Sculpture for Table or Desk
By Granville Beals
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Inspired by dance and weightlessness, Granville Beals' industrial metal sculptures are primarily about relationships. Concerned with form and abstraction, he does not merely manipula...
Metal, Steel
$1,125
H 17 in W 6 in D 5 in
Cs The Moment - Abstract Contemporary Steel Metal Sculpture for Table or Desk
By Granville Beals
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Inspired by dance and weightlessness, Granville Beals' industrial metal sculptures are primarily about relationships. Concerned with form and abstraction, he does not merely manipula...
Metal, Steel
$14,500
H 59 in W 16 in D 22 in
Embrasement IV - Abstract Steel Sculpture, Contemporary
By Claude Millette
Located in Bloomfield, ON
This contemporary metal floor sculpture is geometric in form. Claude Millette is internationally recognized for his distinctive, contemporary sculptures. The Quebec artist’s provoc...
Steel
$55,000
H 48 in W 84 in D 48 in
"Lucy", Abstract, Large-Scale Outdoor Metal Sculpture in welded steel
By Carole Eisner
Located in New York, NY
"Lucy" by Carole Eisner Abstract, Outdoor Sculpture in welded steel Carole Eisner has worked with scrap and recycled metal for 40 years creating elegant, abstract forms welded in st...
Steel
$1,350
H 12 in W 21.5 in D 13 in
Sculpture, abstract record player: 'Kristallo'
By Kelly Bugden + Van Wifvat
Located in New York, NY
The artistic collaboration of Kelly Bugden + Van Wifvat has produced a thought-provoking body of sculptures, paintings, and constructions. Nature, childhood memories, and everyday ar...
Brass, Steel
$850
H 8 in W 9 in D 2.5 in
Artist Designed Signed Judaica Israeli Menorah Candelabra Sculpture Silver Plate
Located in Surfside, FL
N. Levi (signed in Hebrew and English) Menorah Done in a brutalist design with the Hebrew words "Seek the peace of jerusalem" Dimensions: 8 X 9 X 2.5 inches This appears to be silver plated as I do not see a silver standard mark or hallmark. There has been a resurgence of fine artists making Judaica, There was initial generation of the Bezalel School in Jerusalem and later Ludwig Wolpert at the Jewish Museum in New York City, whose spare, geometric, functionalist style was influenced by the Bauhaus school in particular and modernism in general, Moshe Zabari, Maxwell Chayat, in New York, Menachem Berman...
Metal, Silver
Indeterminate Line
By Bernar Venet
Located in Östermalm, Stockholms län
Unique sculpture Indeterminate Line. 1988. Rolled steel with black patina. Archives Bernar Venet, New York. Inventory no: bv88ss21 This artwork is accompanied by a certificate of a...
Steel
Sold
H 4.73 in W 19.69 in D 19.69 in
Bernar Venet Effondrement: 10 Arcs Black Patinated Steel Sculpture 2016
By Bernar Venet
Located in Paris, FR
Bernar Venet, Effondrement: 10 Arcs 2016 Steel shot with black patina. Signed and numbered “xx/27”. Edition of 27. Bernar Venet is a French conceptual artist known for his metal scu...
Steel