Through his work as an architect and designer, Eero Saarinen was a prime mover in the introduction of modernism into the American mainstream. Particularly affecting were the organic, curvilinear forms seen in Saarinen’s furniture and his best-known structures: the gull-winged TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy airport in New York (opened 1962), Dulles International Airport in Virginia (1962) and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri (1965).
Saarinen had a peerless modernist pedigree. His father, Eliel Saarinen, was an eminent Finnish architect who in 1932 became the first head of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in suburban Detroit. The school became synonymous with progressive design and decorative arts in the United States, and while studying there the younger Saarinen met and befriended several luminaries of mid-century modernism, among them Harry Bertoia and Charles and Ray Eames.
At Cranbrook, Saarinen also met Florence Schust Knoll, who, as director of her husband Hans Knoll's eponymous furniture company, would put Saarinen’s best designs into production. These include the Grasshopper chair, designed in 1946 and so named because its angled bentwood frame resembles the insect; the Tulip chair (1957), a flower-shaped fiberglass shell mounted on a cast-aluminum pedestal; and the lushly contoured Womb lounge chair and ottoman (1948). In his furniture as in his architecture, the keynotes of Eero Saarinen’s designs are simplicity, strength and grace.
Find vintage Eero Saarinen tables, chairs and other furniture on 1stDibs.
$26,000
Elliot Eames Saarinen Life Size Cast Aluminum Modern Sculpture titled 'Susie'
By Eero Saarinen
Located in Dallas, TX
The artist, Elliot Eames Saarinen, son of Eero Saarinen, inspired by his grandmother Lilly's tender homage to her mother, Grandma Susie, created this sculpture to honor the timeless ...
Metal
$9,000
H 14.5 in W 19.5 in D 4.5 in
Bruno Zach Deco Bronze Sculpture, 1925, Native American Subject
By Bruno Zach
Located in Phoenix, AZ
Beautifully cast deco Austrian bronze titled: “Indian Brave on Charging Horse.” Sitz on a marble plinth. The figure has a cold painted buckskin colored shirt and pant. Signed on base...
Bronze
$2,350
H 7.5 in W 11.5 in D 7 in
"Owl" Bronze Sculpture, Caricature, Rich Dark Brown Surface
Located in Detroit, MI
The bronze sculpture "Owl" is an exaggerated rendition of an owl that emphasizes the bird's most prominant characteristics - a big fluffy round body and large unblinking eyes making it a charicature of the bird. It is very touchable and calls for one to pet its rounded back. Tom Brun, the sculptor and zookeeper, is well-known for his wood, stone, marble, ceramics and ivory sculptures. One of them, a large hippopotamus, carved from walnut wood travelled the world in the State Department collection. It is said that Tom would often go into a house and pick up one of his sculptures and say that it was unfriendly – meaning that it had not been handled enough. Morley Driver has said of Brun in a newspaper article from the 1950’s “In Any Animal He Sees Beauty”: No one who has ever seen a Tom Brun hippopotamus will ever again think of it as ugly or ungainly, meaning that the artist not only gives you beauty but teaches you to see it. Tom has said: “Small pieces are like a proverb – a gem of meaning that one can dissect.” They are meant to be picked up, caressed and held. This owl, too, seems destined to be caressed. Brun was born in England in 1913. A few years after the end of World War I his father moved the family in 1919 to Detroit, Michigan. In 1935 at age 23, he officially became a U.S. citizen. He served in the army during World War II for five years and upon discharge and at the age of 36 took advantage of the GI Bill and applied for admission to Society of Arts and Crafts (now known as the College for Creative Studies) where he was gladly accepted. While at Arts and Crafts his instructors and established artists such as Sarkis Sarkisian, John P. Foster, Morris Brose, Richard Koslow, Patricia Burnett, Lloyd and Renee Radell...
Bronze
$3,875
H 12.21 in W 12.8 in D 4.34 in
Satyr and Baby - Bronze after Aurelio Mistruzzi - 1980s
Located in Roma, IT
Satyr and Baby is a bronze statue created by the artist Aurelio Mistruzzi. Edition of the 1980s. Engraved signature on the marble base. 31x32.5 cm. Good conditions
Bronze
$850
H 9 in W 8 in
Judaica Copper Plaque Israeli Artist Mordechai Avniel, Palestine, Bezalel School
By Mordechai Avniel
Located in Surfside, FL
MORDECHAI AVNIEL Minsk, Belarus, b. 1900, d. 1989 Mordechai Avniel is best known for his deft and singular landscape work. He said of his scenes of Israel: "I loved the Israeli la...
Copper
Aspiration
By Tolla Inbar
Located in Atlanta, GA
Tolla Inbar is an international sculpture artist. Born in Germany in 1958, Tolla attended the Merz school in Stuttgart until 1971. There she specializing in the art of ceramics and s...
Bronze
Tête Lion-Buffle, 2016
By Mauro Corda
Located in Atlanta, GA
Mauro Corda’s figurative sculptures maintain a reverence for classical and modernist traditions, while also expressing the artist’s voice. Though born in France, the artist hails fro...
Iron
$2,500
H 7.5 in W 6 in D 3.25 in
Vintage 1970 Modernist Chicago Picasso Souvenir Cubist Sculpture Head Metal
By (after) Pablo Picasso
Located in Surfside, FL
This is a souvenir model of the large Picasso sculpture in Chicago it is a vintage piece. it is marked 1967 and 1970 and was made for the Chicago Public Building Commission. it is a...
Metal
Eté
By Hugo Rivas
Located in Atlanta, GA
“Making sculpture is a very complex matter. A word added to a form, ultimately helping to better define it. And ultimately helping to understand the whole.” Ugo Riva is probably the...
Bronze
$9,500
H 27 in W 26 in D 12 in
Leslie Hawk Sculptural Human Figure & Horse "Person on a Horse"
Located in Detroit, MI
"Person on a Horse" is a concrete, glass and steel structure with horse in mid-stride looking up and forward. The person astride leans forward as in encouragement to the stead or in weariness of the journey, perhaps both. Leslie Hawk...
Concrete, Steel
$6,000
H 19 in W 13 in D 9 in
"FIESTA SONG" ACCORDION PLAYER BRONZE SCULPTURE
Located in San Antonio, TX
John Bennett (Born 1952) Fredericksburg, Texas Artist Image Size: 19 x 13 x 9 Medium: Bronze Sculpture "Fiesta Song" Accordion Player John Bennett (Born 1952) John Bennett was design...
Bronze
La gatta assise
By Mauro Corda
Located in Atlanta, GA
Mauro Corda’s figurative sculptures maintain a reverence for classical and modernist traditions, while also expressing the artist’s voice. Though born in France, the artist hails fro...
Bronze
Cavallo
Located in Atlanta, GA
Nicola Domenici was born in 1969 in Viareggio (Lucca). After the University and several experiences in the fields of jewellery and goldsmithery, he dec...
Bronze