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
$2,500
H 5.5 in W 3 in D 2.25 in
The Lady maquette, replica of Chicago Picasso sculpture, American Bridge Company
By Pablo Picasso
Located in New York, NY
(After) Pablo Picasso The Lady (Maquette), ca. 1967 Mixed Media Sculpture edition Cor-ten Steel This maquette is based upon the original Chicago Picasso-a monumental sculpture by Pablo Picasso in Chicago, Illinois. The sculpture, dedicated on August 15, 1967, in Daley Plaza in the Chicago Loop...
Stone, Steel
$5,800
H 28 in W 15.75 in D 2 in
The Path - Abstract Geometric Form, Hand Painted Welded Steel Wall Sculpture
By Chris Hill
Located in Chicago, IL
This dynamic wall sculpture is created from sheets of steel, welded together in an abstract geometric pattern. Muted shades of blue, grey, purple and green dominate and are balanced by softer hues. While the work adheres to a rigid, rational geometry, this sculptures suggest lyrical movement, apparent weightlessness and improvisation as the title suggests. Chris Hill The Path welded steel, acrylic paint 28h x 15.75w x 2d in 71.12h x 40.01w x 5.08d cm CHI018 Chris Hill is a Santa Fe based sculptor. Chris was born in Port Arthur...
Steel
$13,700
H 97 in W 30 in D 12 in
Cloudstack - Large Oversized Red Contemporary Geometric Metal Steel Sculpture
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
$35,000
H 141 in W 70 in D 32 in
Convergence - abstract, geometric, corten and stainless steel outdoor sculpture
By Claude Millette
Located in Bloomfield, ON
This contemporary abstract outdoor sculpture is forged from steel. The dynamic, eclectic sculptural work of Quebec artist Claude Millette is highly regarded for its innovation in bo...
Stainless Steel, 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
$4,058
H 43.31 in W 13 in D 5.91 in
Totem (medium) by Frédérique Domergue - Abstract metal sculpture, steel, orange
By Frédérique Domergue
Located in Paris, FR
Totem (medium) is a sculpture by French contemporary artist Frédérique Domergue. The sculpture is made with oak slat, polished gunmetal-finish steel and oxidized steel on the sculpte...
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
$3,764
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
Wood equals paper
By Dianne Baker
Located in Buffalo, NY
A contemporary collection of conceptual wall sculptures by Dianne Baker titled "Wood = Paper" created in 2016 with wood, metal, leather and handmade paper. Various Sizes: 16" x 1...
Metal
Child's Play (I and II)
By Dianne Baker
Located in Buffalo, NY
Each of the works is 14" x 16" x 1". They are meant to be hung together either vertically or horizontally. Diane Baker is a mixed media and fiber-related sculptor working out o...
Metal
Quartet
By Dianne Baker
Located in Buffalo, NY
A conceptual four part wall sculpture by American female artist Dianne Baker. I 8"x8"x 1" wood, metal, canvass II 8" x 10"x 1" wood, metal III 15" x 8" x 2" wood...
Metal
$1,300
H 7 in W 7 in D 3 in
Fritz Horstman, Formwork for a Square Pad, 2015, Steel, Wood, Maple
By Fritz Horstman
Located in Darien, CT
While working on a large building project several years ago the artist, Fritz Horstman was struck by the poetry in the unfinished state of the construction site. He was drawn specifically to the space between the plywood walls that were raised as formworks for the pouring of cement. That space could only exist for a few hours before the cement truck...
Steel
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