Sergii Shaulis

The stainless steel, aluminum and bronze sculptures made by Sergii Shaulis are thought-provoking and often melancholic. They ask the viewer to meditate on the self, dreams and the inner world of the mind. The modernist works — like those of Constantin Brancusi and Amedeo Modigliani — focus on the simplicity of shape and form. He frequently uses human forms with missing body parts, such as the head or the torso, to transform something visually macabre into a symbolic commentary.

Shaulis’s father, Olescandr — also a sculptor — dissuaded his son from taking up the family business, which provided political monuments and park sculptures for the Ukrainian government. Instead, Shaulis studied engineering physics for three years but left without completing his degree. He subsequently enrolled in the Fine Arts program at the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts.

After graduating, Shaulis teamed up with fellow sculptor Vasyl Semenyuk and created collaborative works, culminating in the development of a new form of casting technology. After his father died in 2003, Shaulis took the helm of his government commission workshop while continuing to create personal works. In 2007, he launched his series The Man Without a Rod; it features figures of men in utter despair, with many holding their heads in their hands. The sculptures are bodiless, having only arms, legs and heads.

Shaulis went on to produce his Maps of Identity series, an homage to his beloved Ukraine. His The Known Unknown series examines the past and present atrocities committed in his country. Several other groups of work speak to the fragility of the human condition and the inner prison of the mind. His sculptures are in private collections in Ukraine, England, Germany, Finland, Holland, Israel, Belgium, Australia and the United States.

On 1stDibs, find Sergii Shaulis’s abstract sculptures, figurative sculptures and more.

Figurative sculptures mix reality and imagination, with the most common muse being the human body. Animals are also inspirations for these sculptures, along with forms found in nature.

While figurative sculpture dates back over 35,000 years, the term came into popularity in the 20th century to distinguish it from abstract art. It was aligned with the Expressionist movement in that many of its artists portrayed reality but in a nonnaturalistic and emotional way. In the 1940s, Alberto Giacometti — a Swiss-born artist who was interested in African art, Cubism and Surrealism — created now-iconic representational sculptures of the human figure, and after World War II, figurative sculpture as a movement continued to flourish in Europe.

Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon were some of the leading figurative artists during this period. Artists like Jeff Koons and Maurizio Cattelan propelled the evolution of figurative sculpture into the 21st century.

Figurative sculptures can be whimsical, uncanny and beautiful. Their materials range from stone and wood to metal and delicate ceramics. Even in smaller sizes, the sculptures make bold statements. A bronze sculpture by Salvador Dalí enhances a room; a statuesque bull by Jacques Owczarek depicts strength with its broad chest while its thin legs speak of fragility. Figurative sculptures allow viewers to see what is possible when life is reimagined.

Browse 1stDibs for an extensive collection of figurative sculptures and find the next addition to your collection.