Bill Barrett Art
American, b. 1935
Bill Barrett was born on December 21, 1934. He is an American sculptor, painter and jeweler. He is considered a central figure in the second generation of American metal sculptors and is internationally known for his abstract sculptures in steel, aluminum and bronze. Barrett began welding while a student at the University of Michigan. His early works consisted of steel rods, joined together to create open, three-dimensional drawings. For subsequent sculptures, he filled in the negative space between the rods with molten metal and steel plates. From here, Barrett developed a technique of cutting steel sheets into rectangular shapes and forming the shapes into three-dimensional blocks or cylindrical forms. He also explored the surface of steel, grinding or brushing the surface to give his finished work texture. Barrett later painted his steel sculptures to prevent the final pieces from rusting. Barrett’s work with aluminum began in the 1960s. These sculptures were composed of flat, horizontal shapes and their surfaces were bright and clean. Barrett was commissioned by the City of New York through Percent for Art to create his largest sculpture to date, Hari IV, for New Dorp High School on Staten Island. Keeping contemporary culture in mind, Barrett’s title for this work comes from a graffiti tag that was appearing on New York subway cars at the time. The work was well received by the students, earning the nickname the elephant. It became the high school’s symbol, being used on the yearbook cover and adorning the football team’s helmets. The New York Times critic Michael Brenson called this sculpture, “one of the most successful public sculptures in the city." In 1986, Barrett was commissioned by the state of Connecticut for the Criminal Courts Building in Hartford to create Guardian, a fabricated aluminum sculpture that stands 15 feet tall. Barrett began painting in 1992. His vibrant paintings quickly became an important part of his entire creative process—they complemented and influenced the free-flowing feel of his sculptures. Drawing—rhythmic contours and marks—maintained a central role in the creation of his paintings and sculptures. Since 1992, Barrett has had several solo exhibitions, featuring both painting and sculpture. Bill Barrett, Melinda at the Beach in 2002, is a famous work of his in fabricated bronze. Barrett started working with bronze as a way to explore increasingly fluid and gestural forms. As his interest in expressive forms grew, Barrett found that wax gave him the creative freedom to model shapes. He created a technique of pouring wax into a baking tin, drawing the shapes in the wax, and then combining the shapes to create a model, twisting and carving away at each shape by hand. The most successful models were cast into bronze and the bronze maquettes were then fabricated into larger bronze sculptures. From the 90s on, Barrett’s bronze works took on a free-flowing quality that suggested calligraphy, movement, dance and music. Several sculptures from this decade refer directly to dance. In May 2011, Barrett installed a bronze sculpture in New York City's Tribeca neighborhood, for temporary display, as a memorial to September 11, 2001. Also, Barrett's small sculpture Lexeme VII is part of the 911 Memorial and Museum's permanent collection in New York City. In 2010 Barrett exhibited paintings and sculptures in two separate shows, “Polyphonic Abstractions: Painting and Maquettes by Bill Barrett” at the Christian Petersen Art Museum at Iowa State University and “Synchronicity” at Kouros Gallery in New York City.
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el Grande Model bronze sculpture
By Bill Barrett
Located in Greenwich, CT
In 1983, returning to one of his earliest concepts, the standing figure, Barrett cast five small upright pieces that would become the Grande series. Barrett’s work became more organ...
Category
1980s Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Bronze
"Lyra Series 27", Abstract, Bronze Metal Sculpture by Bill Barrett
By Bill Barrett
Located in New York, NY
"Lyra Series 27" by Bill Barrett
Cast bronze
Bill Barrett is considered a central figure in the second generation of American metal sculptors and is internationally known for his ab...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Metal, Bronze
Point Out
By Bill Barrett
Located in Greenwich, CT
Barrett is a large scale and well known American sculptor. Point Out is a superb small scale maquette and it a great piece on many levels. These works have movement, delicacy and s...
Category
2010s Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Bronze
$12,000
"Perfect Imbalance", Abstract, Steel Metal Sculpture by Bill Barrett
By Bill Barrett
Located in New York, NY
"Perfect Imbalance" by Bill Barrett
Fabricated cor-ten steel
Bill Barrett is considered a central figure in the second generation of American metal sculptors and is internationally ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Metal, Steel
Bill Barrett Fabricated Aluminum Sculpture Coffee Table
By Bill Barrett
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Bill Barretts' work can be found in close to 50 museums including.
Albright college, the Cleveland museum of art and the Albuquerque museum of art. This is not the original glass top.
Category
1970s American Vintage Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Aluminum
"Bouquet", Abstract, Steel Metal Sculpture by Bill Barrett
By Bill Barrett
Located in New York, NY
"Bouquet" by Bill Barrett
Fabricated cor-ten steel
Bill Barrett is considered a central figure in the second generation of American metal sculptors and is internationally known for ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Metal, Steel
"Sojourner", Abstract, Bronze Metal Sculpture by Bill Barrett
By Bill Barrett
Located in New York, NY
"Sojourner" by Bill Barrett
Fabricated bronze
Bill Barrett is considered a central figure in the second generation of American metal sculptors and is internationally known for his a...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Metal, Bronze
Flight
By Bill Barrett
Located in Greenwich, CT
Barrett's Flight is a super mid-size sculpture that can sit on a table, console or coffee table. It can also be a feature piece on a pedestal. As its title conveys it brings a sens...
Category
2010s Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Bronze
$29,000
Lyra Series 10, indoor sculpture
By Bill Barrett
Located in Greenwich, CT
Barrett is one of America's outstanding living sculptors. A sculptor who works on large scale and major commission and outdoor works, his smaller indoor maquettes have been avidly c...
Category
2010s Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Bronze
Untitled, Abstraction
By Bill Barrett
Located in Greenwich, CT
Barrett is one of our great American sculptors who worked in large scale outdoor formats and more intimate indoor maquette sizes. This abstraction by him is a very fine composition ...
Category
2010s Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Bronze
"Pinnacle XIX", Abstract, Bronze Metal Sculpture by Bill Barrett
By Bill Barrett
Located in New York, NY
"Pinnacle XIX" by Bill Barrett
Fabricated bronze
Bill Barrett is considered a central figure in the second generation of American metal sculptors and is internationally known for hi...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Metal, Bronze
"Muskateer", Abstract, Bronze Metal Sculpture by Bill Barrett
By Bill Barrett
Located in New York, NY
"Muskateer" by Bill Barrett
Abstract metal sculpture, unique bronze
Bill Barrett is considered a central figure in the second generation of American metal sculptors and is internati...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Metal, Bronze
"Perfect Imbalance (model)", Abstract, Bronze Metal Sculpture by Bill Barrett
By Bill Barrett
Located in New York, NY
"Perfect Imbalance (model)" by Bill Barrett
Cast bronze
Bill Barrett is considered a central figure in the second generation of American metal sculptors and is internationally known...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Metal, Bronze
"Tree Series 6: Flamenco", Abstract, Bronze Metal Sculpture by Bill Barrett
By Bill Barrett
Located in New York, NY
"Tree Series 6: Flamenco" by Bill Barrett
Cast bronze
Bill Barrett is considered a central figure in the second generation of American metal sculptors and...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Metal, Bronze
"Tree Series 16", Abstract, Bronze Metal Sculpture by Bill Barrett
By Bill Barrett
Located in New York, NY
"Tree Series 16" by Bill Barrett
Cast bronze
Bill Barrett is considered a central figure in the second generation of American metal sculptors and is inter...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Metal, Bronze
"Tree Series 19", Abstract, Bronze Metal Sculpture by Bill Barrett
By Bill Barrett
Located in New York, NY
"Tree Series 19" by Bill Barrett
Cast bronze
Bill Barrett is considered a central figure in the second generation of American metal sculptors and is inter...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Metal, Bronze
"Tree Series 21", Abstract, Bronze Metal Sculpture by Bill Barrett
By Bill Barrett
Located in New York, NY
"Tree Series 21" by Bill Barrett
Cast bronze
Bill Barrett is considered a central figure in the second generation of American metal sculptors and is inter...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Metal, Bronze
"Aria DNA 5", Abstract, Bronze Metal Sculpture by Bill Barrett
By Bill Barrett
Located in New York, NY
"Aria DNA 5" by Bill Barrett
Fabricated bronze
Bill Barrett is considered a central figure in the second generation of American metal sculptors and is internationally known for his ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Metal, Bronze
"Plexus", Abstract, Bronze Metal Sculpture by Bill Barrett
By Bill Barrett
Located in New York, NY
"Plexus" by Bill Barrett
Fabricated bronze
Bill Barrett is considered a central figure in the second generation of American metal sculptors and is internationally known for his abst...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Bill Barrett Art
Materials
Metal, Bronze
Price Upon Request
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Provenance: Directly from estate of Harry Bertoia. The piece was a gift from Ihlenfeld and is a very early example created during Bertoia apprenticeship era.
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Klaus Karl Otto IhlenfeldHe was born in Berlin, Germany in 1934. He studied art at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste and completed graduate work with the metal sculptor Hans Uhlmann. He visited the US in 1957 for the first time living in Durham, NC, where he befriended Dr. W. R. Valentiner, the Rembrandt authority and Director of the Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC. Through this friendship in 1960 he met and worked with the metal sculptor Harry Bertoia in Barto, PA.
He joined the Staempfli Gallery in NYC and entered in many group and one-man shows. He has been an Artist-in-Residence in Ogden, Utah; Huntington Museum of Art in West Virginia, Penn State University at University Park; the Colorado State University in Denver; and Shippensburg University. He has large commissions at Kutztown University, Pottstown Hospital, and a monumental relief sculpture at the Emigrant Savings Bank in NYC. He has traveled extensively in Spain, Greece, and Mexico. He is living and working on a farm in Barto, PA welding bronze and forged iron metal sculptures and painting watercolors.
Group Shows:
North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC - 1957
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City - 1962
Staempfli Gallery in New York City - 1962, 1964 and 1965
Gallery Ludwig Lange in West Berlin, Germany - 1977
Gallery Herbert Remmert and Dr. Barth in Dusseldorf in West Germany - 1981
Jack Savitt Gallery in Macungie, PA - 1981 and 1984
Heinz Ortleb Gallery, West Berlin, Germany - 1992
Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce Show at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA - 1997
Berks Art Alliance Show at the Reading Art Museum in Reading, PA - 1997
Mayfair Festival of the Arts at the Allentown Art Museum - 1998
Baum School of Art in Allentown, PA - 1997
Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center Art Show in Pennsburg, PA - 2001
Reading Public Museum in Reading PA, 2014
Solo Shows:
Kutztown University in Kutztown, PA - 1960 and 1965
Allentown Art Museum in Allentown, PA - 1960 and 1961
Staempfli Gallery in New York City - 1962
Penn State University in University Park, PA - 1964 and 1972
Berks Art Alliance in Wyomissing, PA - 1966
Bertha Eccles Art Center in Ogden, Utah - 1967
Mansfield University in Mansfield, PA - 1967
Huntington Museum of Art in Huntington, WV - 1971
Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, PA - 1972
Albright College in Reading, PA - 1973
Ianuzzi Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ - 1974
Gallery Heimat 85 in West Berlin, Germany - 1977
Jack Savitt Gallery in Macungie, PA - 1981
College Misericordia in Dallas, PA - 1983
Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center in Pennsburg, PA, 2013
Periodical Reference:
Kaye, Ellen "The Obsessive Collector," Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Magazine Sptember 21, 1986 pp. 32-33.
Chronology:
1-30-1934 Born in Berlin, Germany. Father, Kurt Ihlenfeld, Lutheran pastor, novelist, critic and publisher was born in 1901 in Colmar, Alsace Lorain. Mother, Annie Stuhlmann, was born in 1905 in Breslau, Lower Silesia.
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"Action Abstraction", Abstract, Bronze Metal Sculpture by Bill Barrett
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21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Bill Barrett Art
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Located in New York, NY
"Magic III" by Bill Barrett
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Bill Barrett art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Bill Barrett art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Bill Barrett in metal, bronze, steel and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Not every interior allows for large Bill Barrett art, so small editions measuring 8 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Joel Perlman, George Sugarman, and Eric Johnson. Bill Barrett art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $15,000 and tops out at $350,000, while the average work can sell for $200,000.