Bella Feldman Sculptures

Bella Feldman (American, b. 1930), Untitled, metal 2-wheeled cart with metal cables, (Provenance: Allan Stone Gallery, New York, NY) gallery label affixed affixed verso, overall: 37"h x 48"l x 37"w. Provenance: Private Collection Bella Feldman is an American sculptor whose work addresses the themes of sexuality, war, and the persistent anxiety of the industrial age. Feldman is known for pioneering the use of glass with steel. Her work has affinities with Surrealism, Post-Minimalism, and the Feminist art movement, although she has no formal affiliation with these. A Professor Emeritus at the California College of the Arts, Feldman lives and works in Oakland, CA and London, England. Bella Feldman was born in 1930 in New York City to a family of working-class Jewish immigrants from Poland. She grew up in the Bronx tenements. Feldman attended The High School of Music & Art in Manhattan during World War II. Students were required to visit museums and galleries as part of the curriculum. When Feldman was thirteen, she visited her first art museum, the Museum of Modern Art. There, she saw Meret Oppenheim’s Object (1936), the fur-lined cup and saucer, and was struck by her strong psychological response to this work. Other early influences included Alberto Giacometti’s The Palace at 4 a.m. (1932) and the sculpture of David Smith. One of Feldman’s earliest sculptures Warrior (1952) pays tribute to Giacometti. During the Holocaust, Feldman lost numerous family members who remained in Poland, an experience that helped shape her worldview. This includes her life-long preoccupation with war, and the overwhelming effects of the military-industrial complex. Feldman received a BA from Queens College, City University of New York. She married Leonard Feldman at age 18, and moved to California with him in 1951 where they both accepted teaching positions. Feldman has two children, Nina Feldman, born 1954 and Ethan Feldman, born 1956. In 1965, Feldman started teaching at the California College of the Arts. In 1971 she and her family moved to Uganda, East Africa on a grant from the E. L. Cabot Trust Fund at Harvard University. Feldman spent two years teaching art in Uganda prior to the genocidal war in that country. Upon her return to CCA, she faced gender discrimination and a threat to her job. Her successful fight to retain her position prompted her to later become an advocate for other women faculty, who she helped to achieve equity and job security. Feldman was awarded an MA in 1973 from San Jose State University. Her teachers were Sam Richardson...

Sculpture is a beautiful gray, with delicate texturing and the opening at the top of the stairs casts a striking reverse shadow. This plated steel pedestal sculpture is from Bella Fe...

This steel and glass pedestal sculpture is from Bella Feldman's "War Toys" series, which began in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War and has continued into...

This small steel and glass sculpture is from Bella Feldman's "War Toys" series, which began in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War and has continued into he...