Jean Laforge

French sculptor Émile Gilioli crafted each piece to polished perfection. His smooth marble and bronze abstract sculptures feature reflective surfaces, graceful curves and sudden, sharp lines and angles. And while Gilioli was obsessed with refinement in his three-dimensional work, his abstract prints and watercolors reveal a looser, more expressive approach. No matter the chosen medium, his inner artist always shone through.

Gilioli was born in 1911 to a family of Italian shoemakers living in Paris. When he was three years old, his family moved back to Italy and settled in Mantua, where young Gilioli was eventually employed at the local forge. After World War I, his family moved back to France and Gilioli attended the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs and Beaux-Arts de Paris. He started working as a sculpture craftsman at 17 years old, and at 19, he joined the studio of Jean Boucher.

During World War II, Gilioli was stationed in Grenoble. There, he spent time at the Musée de Grenoble and was introduced to Cubism. Upon his return to Paris in 1945, he became one of the key figures in the city's burgeoning abstractionist movement. That same year, he held his first exhibition in Grenoble and also showed at two salons in Paris, in 1947 and ’49.

Gilioli eventually settled in the commune of Saint-Martin-de-la-Cluze, where he opened a sculpture atelier. Throughout the 1950s, he continued to pave the way for abstract sculpture in the country, frequently exhibiting with artists like Alicia Penalba, François Stahly and Étienne Martin. Throughout his long career, Gilioli designed many large sculptures for public spaces.

In 1997, to mark the 20-year anniversary of his death, the commune of Saint-Martin-de-la-Cluze purchased his workshop and home, turning the property into a museum to permanently display his creations.

Gilioli's sculptures and works on paper are held in museums in France and around the world, including the Musée de Grenoble, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Tate Gallery in London, the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

On 1stDibs, find Émile Gilioli prints, drawings, sculptures and more.

Abstract sculpture has evolved over time with artists making a variety of striking statements in stone, bronze, ceramic and other materials. In the collection of abstract sculptures on 1stDibs, you are sure to find a piece that is perfect for your space.

When exploring how to arrange furniture and decor, consider color, texture and what kind of energy it should evoke. Abstract sculpture can elevate any home through its many decorative possibilities.

Auguste Rodin is often called the father of modern sculpture for his pioneering naturalistic forms and figures that vividly express emotion. His work in the 19th and early 20th centuries broke with artistic conventions and inspired modernism, leading to a new period of avant-garde abstraction.

Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were among the first artists to push abstract sculpture into the mainstream. They helped define the Cubism movement, which focused on deconstructing the world abstractly. Other 20th-century artistic movements, including Italian Futurism, Dadaism, Neo-Dadaism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism, all contributed to the advancement of abstract sculpture. Italian Futurism, for example, celebrated movement, dynamics and technology in abstract sculpture. These movements continue to inform abstract sculpture today.

With abstract art — sculpture, painting or a grouping of prints — a work can complement a living room, dining room or other space, or it can act as a bold focal point.

Browse a range of modern abstract sculptures, postmodern abstract sculptures and other sculptures on 1stDibs.