Skip to main content

William King (b.1925) More Art

American, 1925-2015

American artist William King was best known for his comedic sculptures — working in clay and a range of metals, he created a wide variety of toy-like figures over the years that were cartoonish in their contorted forms and unlikely poses. King emphasized posture and body language in his art and poked fun at societal conventions as well as how we navigate the trials of our daily lives in a cheerful, clever manner.

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, King grew up in Coconut Grove, a historic Miami neighborhood. He studied at the University of Florida and later moved to New York City, finishing his studies at the Cooper Union in the late 1940s. King subsequently traveled to Rome on a Fulbright scholarship and explored the arts of Europe, including in London and Athens. In 1953, after returning to the United States, he began teaching at the Brooklyn Museum Art School.

In 1954, King had his first solo show at Alan Gallery in New York and continued to exhibit in and around the city until 2014. He worked across a wide variety of media, most frequently metal, such as bronze, aluminum and steel of varying finishes. His more serious pieces saw an integration of darker materials with rougher textures to amplify his figures' reflective, dismayed or generally somber expressions.

King received numerous awards for his work, including acknowledgments from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts and the San Francisco Arts Commission, as well as an honorary doctorate from the San Francisco Art Institute.

Find original William King figurative sculptures, abstract sculptures and prints on 1stDibs. 

to
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
11
264
225
169
126
1
1
Artist: William King (b.1925)
“Magic”
“Magic”

“Magic”

By William King (b.1925)

Located in Southampton, NY

Original collage mylar figural three dimensional artwork by the well known Long Island New York sculptor William King. Signed and dated lower right by the artist. Copyright mark lowe...

Category

1970s Post-Modern William King (b.1925) More Art

Materials

Mylar, Archival Paper

Related Items
Corten Steel Sculpture Oleg Sohanievich Non Conformist Avant Garde Ukrainian
Corten Steel Sculpture Oleg Sohanievich Non Conformist Avant Garde Ukrainian

Corten Steel Sculpture Oleg Sohanievich Non Conformist Avant Garde Ukrainian

By Oleg Sohanievich

Located in Surfside, FL

Oleg Sohanievich (Soviet Ukrainian, American 1935-2017) Steel plates and rods Stress Steel Sculpture, 1997, Hand signed and dated Oleg Sohanievich '97, Dimensions: 18 1/2" h., 21" ...

Category

1970s Post-Modern William King (b.1925) More Art

Materials

Steel

Post Modern Italian Passover Seder Plate Richard Ginori Art Porcelain Judaica
Post Modern Italian Passover Seder Plate Richard Ginori Art Porcelain Judaica

Post Modern Italian Passover Seder Plate Richard Ginori Art Porcelain Judaica

Located in Surfside, FL

Johanan Vitta, painter, born 1941, Jerusalem. Lives in Italy. Education Firenze, Florence, Italy He designed the famous La Sinagoga di Firenze poster. The poster features a painterly synagogue it was done for the “Comunita Israelitica" He has also designed Judaic ritual objects including a menorah that is in a famous museum collection. Arman, Elio Carmi, Eugenio Carmi, Lucio Del Pezzo, Guy De Rougemont, Maurizio Galimberti, David Gerstein, Claude Lalanne, Marino Marinelli, Mimmo Paladino, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Tobia Rava...

Category

1980s Post-Modern William King (b.1925) More Art

Materials

Porcelain

Corten Steel Sculpture Oleg Sohanievich Non Conformist Avant Garde Ukrainian
Corten Steel Sculpture Oleg Sohanievich Non Conformist Avant Garde Ukrainian

Corten Steel Sculpture Oleg Sohanievich Non Conformist Avant Garde Ukrainian

By Oleg Sohanievich

Located in Surfside, FL

Oleg Sohanievich (Soviet Ukrainian, American 1935-2017) Steel Stress Sculpture #3, 1982, Hand signed and dated Oleg Sohanievich '82 Dimensions: 17" h., 23" w., 16" d. Very heavy Th...

Category

1980s Post-Modern William King (b.1925) More Art

Materials

Steel

Last Supper Detail: Jesus, John, Peter and Judas by Andy Warhol
Last Supper Detail: Jesus, John, Peter and Judas by Andy Warhol

Last Supper Detail: Jesus, John, Peter and Judas by Andy Warhol

By Andy Warhol

Located in New Orleans, LA

Andy Warhol 1928-1987 American Last Supper Detail: Jesus, John, Peter and Judas Features stamp of Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board Inc. (en verso) Silkscreen on paper mounted ...

Category

Late 20th Century Post-Modern William King (b.1925) More Art

Materials

Canvas, Paper

Post Modernist Color Pop Art Sculpture Memphis Milano Peter Shire LA Metal Art
Post Modernist Color Pop Art Sculpture Memphis Milano Peter Shire LA Metal Art

Post Modernist Color Pop Art Sculpture Memphis Milano Peter Shire LA Metal Art

By Peter Shire

Located in Surfside, FL

Peter Shire Night Studio, 1989 Welded steel and aluminum metal sculpture with anodizing and two-part polyester painting, Movable kinetic Elements: yellow vane 27 1/4" tall, 18" wide, and 15" deep. Edition of 24 (not sure if they were all produced, this is not numbered) This piece is unsigned. There is some Paint Loss present, and some small Scratches. Overall, the piece looks to be in Nice shape. Additionally, the yellow squares can turn when they are pushed, or if they are in the presence of a strong gust of air. Peter Shire (born 1947) is a Los Angeles, California artist. Shire was born in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles, where he currently lives and works. His sculpture, furniture and ceramics have been exhibited in the United States, Italy, France, Japan and Poland; Shire has been associated with the Memphis Group of designers, has worked on the Design Team for the XXIII Olympiad with the American Institute of Architects, and has designed public sculptures in Los Angeles and other California cities. Shire has been honored by awards for his contribution to the cultural life of the City of Los Angeles. He is an influential LA ceramicist along with and influenced by Ken Price and ceramic master Peter Voulkos. Of a similar mod vibe to Charlie Hewitt and Brad Howe. The Memphis Milano Group was an Italian design and architecture group founded in Milan by Ettore Sottsass in 1982 that designed Post modern furniture, fabrics, ceramics, glass, and welded, painted, metal objects from 1981 to 1988. The Memphis group's work often incorporated plastic laminate and was characterized by ephemeral design featuring colorful and abstract decoration as well as asymmetrical shapes, sometimes arbitrarily alluding to exotic or earlier styles. They drew inspiration from such movements as Art Deco and Pop Art, including styles such as the 1950s Kitsch and futuristic themes. Other members included Martine Bedin Michael Graves, Javier Mariscal, Nathalie du Pasquier, Matteo Thun and Marco Zanuso. Further reading A Neglected History: 20th Century American Craft. New York, New York: American Craft Museum, 1990. Clark, Garth. American Ceramics 1907–Present. New York, New York: Abbeville Press, 1987. Domergue, Denise. Artists Design Furniture. New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1984. Fiell, Charlotte and Peter. 1000 Chairs. Italy: Taschen, 2000. Herman, Lloyd E. Art that Works. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1990. Horn, Richard. Memphis: Objects, Furniture, and Patterns. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Running Press, 1983. Radice, Barbara. Memphis. New York, New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1984. Taragin, Davara S. Contemporary Crafts and Saxe Collection, The Toledo Museum of Art. New York, New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1993. Tempest in a Teapot: The Ceramic Art of Peter Shire. New York, New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1991. Select Museum Collections: Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York Berkeley Museum, Berkeley, California Fresno Museum of Art, Fresno, California The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel The Jewish Museum, New york city Judisches Museum, Frankfurt, Germany Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, North Carolina Museum of Arts and Design, New York Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas Museum of Modern Art, Lodz, Poland Newport Art Museum, Newport Beach, California Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, California Österreichisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, Austria Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon Sak’s Fifth Avenue, New York San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California Seattle Museum of Art, Seattle, Washington Skirball Museum, Los Angeles, California Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Total Contemporary Art Museum, Seoul, Korea Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom Selected Solo Exhibition venues Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California Chouinard Gallery, South Pasadena, California Antonia Jannone Gallery, Milan, Italy Teapots and Drawings, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, California LA Artcore Center, Los Angeles, California S.K. Josefsberg Gallery, Portland, Oregon 20th Century Collage, Dallas, Texas Toomy-Turrel Gallery, San Francisco, California Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California Bobbie Greenfield Gallery, Santa Monica, California Diane Nelson Fine Art, Laguna Beach, California Loyola University, New Orleans, Louisiana S.K. Josefsberg Gallery, Portland, Oregon University of Judaism, Platt Gallery, Los Angeles, California El Centro del Pueblo, Los Angeles, California Gallery Saito, Sapporo Hokkaido, Japan Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona Daniel Saxon Gallery, Los Angeles, California David Lawrence Editions, Beverly Hills, California Art et Industrie, New York Clara Scremini Gallery, Paris, France Design Gallery Milano, Milan, Italy Lucy Berman Gallery, Palo Alto, California Parallel Gallery, Del Mar, California Davis-McClain Gallery, Houston, Texas Saxon-Lee Gallery, Los Angeles, California Traver-Sutton Gallery, Seattle, Washington Onyx Gallery, Los Angeles, California Skirball Museum, in cooperation with Saxon-Lee Gallery, Los Angeles, California Installation of the Olympic Village Entertainment Center, California State Polytechnic University in conjunction with the School of Architecture Museum of Contemporary Art, Temporary Contemporary, Los Angeles, California Hokin-Kaufman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois Hand and the Spirit Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona B.Z. Wagman Gallery, St. Louis, Miss Traver Sutton Gallery, Seattle, Washington The Morgan Gallery, Shawnee Mission, Kansas, Missouri The Art Store, Los Angeles, California American Hand Gallery, Washington, D.C Modernism, San Francisco, California Studio Alchymia, Florence, Italy Janus Gallery...

Category

1980s Post-Modern William King (b.1925) More Art

Materials

Metal

Post Modernist Pop Art Metal Kinetic Angel Sculpture Memphis Milano Peter Shire
Post Modernist Pop Art Metal Kinetic Angel Sculpture Memphis Milano Peter Shire

Post Modernist Pop Art Metal Kinetic Angel Sculpture Memphis Milano Peter Shire

By Peter Shire

Located in Surfside, FL

Peter Shire (American, b. 1947) Angel, 1998 painted aluminum abstract sculpture with moveable parts 19 x 13 x 10 inches (approximately) This is not hand signed. It is handmade and there is no signature KInetic sculpture. the limbs all articulate and move. This appears to be designed to hang as a mobile sculpture. I assume if all the bolts are tightened it can also stand. Peter Shire (born 1947) is a Los Angeles, California artist. Shire was born in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles, where he currently lives and works. His sculpture, furniture, painting, prints and ceramics have been exhibited in the United States, Italy, France, Japan and Poland; Shire has been associated with the Memphis Group of designers, has worked on the Design Team for the XXIII Olympiad with the American Institute of Architects, and has designed public sculptures suitable for outdoors in Los Angeles and other California cities. Shire has been honored by awards for his contribution to the cultural life of the City of Los Angeles. He is an influential LA ceramicist along with and influenced by Ken Price and ceramic master Peter Voulkos. Of a similar mod vibe to Charlie Hewitt and Brad Howe. The Memphis Milano Group was an Italian design and architecture group founded in Milan by Ettore Sottsass in 1982 that designed Post modern furniture, fabrics, ceramics, glass, and welded, painted, metal objects from 1981 to 1988. The Memphis group's work often incorporated plastic laminate and was characterized by ephemeral design featuring colorful and abstract decoration as well as asymmetrical shapes, sometimes arbitrarily alluding to exotic or earlier styles. They drew inspiration from such movements as Art Deco and Pop Art, including styles such as the 1950s Kitsch and futuristic themes. Other members included Martine Bedin Michael Graves, Javier Mariscal, Nathalie du Pasquier, Matteo Thun and Marco Zanuso. He was included in the Sullivan Goss show L.A. in S.B. of Postwar and Contemporary California artists including Emerson Woelffer, Ynez Johnston, Peter Krasnow, Edgar Ewing. Their styles ran the gamut from Post Cubist Abstraction to Abstract Surrealism to Abstract Expressionism. In the rich soil of their efforts was grown the next generation of some of L.A.’s art superstars. As well as contemporary artists such as Ed Ruscha, David Hockney, Charles Arnoldi, Betye Saar, Frank Gehry, Kenton Nelson...

Category

1990s Post-Modern William King (b.1925) More Art

Materials

Metal

Corten Steel Sculpture Oleg Sohanievich Non Conformist Avant Garde Ukrainian
Corten Steel Sculpture Oleg Sohanievich Non Conformist Avant Garde Ukrainian

Corten Steel Sculpture Oleg Sohanievich Non Conformist Avant Garde Ukrainian

By Oleg Sohanievich

Located in Surfside, FL

Oleg Sohanievich (Soviet Ukrainian, American 1935-2017) Cor-ten steel Stress Sculpture #5, 1976 Hand signed and dated Oleg Sohanievich '76 Dimensions 9" h., 13" w., 27" d. Very he...

Category

1970s Post-Modern William King (b.1925) More Art

Materials

Steel

Corten Steel Sculpture Oleg Sohanievich Non Conformist Avant Garde Ukrainian
Corten Steel Sculpture Oleg Sohanievich Non Conformist Avant Garde Ukrainian

Corten Steel Sculpture Oleg Sohanievich Non Conformist Avant Garde Ukrainian

By Oleg Sohanievich

Located in Surfside, FL

Oleg Sohanievich (Soviet Ukrainian, American 1935-2017) Steel plates and rods Stress Steel Sculpture, 1995, Hand signed and dated Oleg Sohanievich '95, Dimensions: 15" h., 14" w., ...

Category

1970s Post-Modern William King (b.1925) More Art

Materials

Steel

Corten Steel Sculpture Oleg Sohanievich Non Conformist Avant Garde Ukrainian
Corten Steel Sculpture Oleg Sohanievich Non Conformist Avant Garde Ukrainian

Corten Steel Sculpture Oleg Sohanievich Non Conformist Avant Garde Ukrainian

By Oleg Sohanievich

Located in Surfside, FL

Oleg Sohanievich (Soviet Ukrainian, American 1935-2017) Corten steel, U-beams and rods Steel Stress Sculpture, 1994, Hand signed in Cyrillic and dated 94, Dimensions: 15" h., 16" w...

Category

1990s Post-Modern William King (b.1925) More Art

Materials

Steel

Large Post Modernist Color Pop Art Metal Sculpture Memphis Milano Peter Shire LA
Large Post Modernist Color Pop Art Metal Sculpture Memphis Milano Peter Shire LA

Large Post Modernist Color Pop Art Metal Sculpture Memphis Milano Peter Shire LA

By Peter Shire

Located in Surfside, FL

Peter Shire (American, b. 1947) "Naked Lady," Painted metal, wire, and found industrial objects sculpture Dimensions: overall: 72"h x 30"w x 24"d Peter Shire (born 1947) is a Los Angeles, California artist. Shire was born in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles, where he currently lives and works. His sculpture, furniture, painting, prints and ceramics have been exhibited in the United States, Italy, France, Japan and Poland; Shire has been associated with the Memphis Group of designers, has worked on the Design Team for the XXIII Olympiad with the American Institute of Architects, and has designed public sculptures in Los Angeles and other California cities. Shire has been honored by awards for his contribution to the cultural life of the City of Los Angeles. He is an influential LA ceramicist along with and influenced by Ken Price and ceramic master Peter Voulkos. Of a similar mod vibe to Charlie Hewitt and Brad Howe. The Memphis Milano Group was an Italian design and architecture group founded in Milan by Ettore Sottsass in 1982 that designed Post modern furniture, fabrics, ceramics, glass, and welded, painted, metal objects from 1981 to 1988. The Memphis group's work often incorporated plastic laminate and was characterized by ephemeral design featuring colorful and abstract decoration as well as asymmetrical shapes, sometimes arbitrarily alluding to exotic or earlier styles. They drew inspiration from such movements as Art Deco and Pop Art, including styles such as the 1950s Kitsch and futuristic themes. Other members included Martine Bedin Michael Graves, Javier Mariscal, Nathalie du Pasquier, Matteo Thun and Marco Zanuso. He was included in the Sullivan Goss show L.A. in S.B. of Postwar and Contemporary California artists including Emerson Woelffer, Ynez Johnston, Peter Krasnow, Edgar Ewing. Their styles ran the gamut from Post Cubist Abstraction to Abstract Surrealism to Abstract Expressionism. In the rich soil of their efforts was grown the next generation of some of L.A.’s art superstars. As well as contemporary artists such as Ed Ruscha, David Hockney, Charles Arnoldi, Betye Saar, Frank Gehry, Kenton Nelson, Peter Shire, Patssi Valdez, and Dave Lefner. Further reading A Neglected History: 20th Century American Craft. New York, New York: American Craft Museum, 1990. Clark, Garth. American Ceramics 1907–Present. New York, New York: Abbeville Press, 1987. Domergue, Denise. Artists Design Furniture. New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1984. Fiell, Charlotte and Peter. 1000 Chairs. Italy: Taschen, 2000. Herman, Lloyd E. Art that Works. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1990. Horn, Richard. Memphis: Objects, Furniture, and Patterns. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Running Press, 1983. Radice, Barbara. Memphis. New York, New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1984. Taragin, Davara S. Contemporary Crafts and Saxe Collection, The Toledo Museum of Art. New York, New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1993. Tempest in a Teapot: The Ceramic Art of Peter Shire. New York, New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1991. Select Museum Collections: Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York Berkeley Museum, Berkeley, California Fresno Museum of Art, Fresno, California The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel The Jewish Museum, New york city Judisches Museum, Frankfurt, Germany Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, North Carolina Museum of Arts and Design, New York Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas Museum of Modern Art, Lodz, Poland Newport Art Museum, Newport Beach, California Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, California Österreichisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, Austria Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon Sak’s Fifth Avenue, New York San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California Seattle Museum of Art, Seattle, Washington Skirball Museum, Los Angeles, California Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Total Contemporary Art Museum, Seoul, Korea Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom Selected Solo Exhibition venues Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California Chouinard Gallery, South Pasadena, California Antonia Jannone Gallery, Milan, Italy Teapots and Drawings, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, California LA Artcore Center, Los Angeles, California S.K. Josefsberg Gallery, Portland, Oregon 20th Century Collage...

Category

1980s Post-Modern William King (b.1925) More Art

Materials

Metal

Untitled (Landscape with Figure)
Untitled (Landscape with Figure)

Untitled (Landscape with Figure)

By Joseph Cornell

Located in New York, NY

Color photogravure, 1972. Signed by the artist in pencil and with artist's stamp, lower margin. Numbered 106/125 in pencil, lower left margin. Published by Brooke Alexander, Inc.,...

Category

1970s Post-Modern William King (b.1925) More Art

Materials

Photogravure, Color

California Modernist Abstract Laddie John Dill Abstract Oil Painting Modernism
California Modernist Abstract Laddie John Dill Abstract Oil Painting Modernism

California Modernist Abstract Laddie John Dill Abstract Oil Painting Modernism

By Laddie John Dill

Located in Surfside, FL

Laddie John Dill (American, b. 1943) Untitled Composition 1983 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" image, 10" x 16" frame Oil painting with pastel on paper Hand signed and dated lower right Provenance: ...

Category

1980s Post-Modern William King (b.1925) More Art

Materials

Oil, Paper, Pastel

William King (b.1925) more art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic William King (b.1925) more art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by William King (b.1925) in archival paper, mylar, paper and more. Not every interior allows for large William King (b.1925) more art, so small editions measuring 29 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of and Peter Shire. William King (b.1925) more art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $2,400 and tops out at $2,400, while the average work can sell for $2,400.