"PEACOCK" Franz Bergmann Austrian Cold-Painted Cast Bronze

"Voyeur" is a sculpture that sets out to provide one of the links in the love symbolism of the ‘key-lock’ sequence – the artifact of visualizing a love affair. There are famous images by Degas of women taking a bath and drying themselves afterward and here is how he (Degas) explained the secret of such compositions: “Naked figures are usually depicted posing for the viewer. I, however, paint the ordinary modest women, who are busy taking the usual care of their bodies… It is like watching them through a key-hole.” In this sculpture the watcher, having previously been in the dark, turns into a certain link in the love chain and becomes an artifact. In the present triad of key, lock and keyhole, every symbol acquires its own meaning in time and shape. - per Vladimir Kush "Vladimir Kush was born in Russia, in a one-story wooden house near the Moscow forest-park Sokolniki. At the age of seven, Vladimir began to attend art school until late evening where he became acquainted with the works of great artists of the Renaissance, famous Impressionists, and Modern Artists. He entered the Moscow Higher Art and Craft School at age 17, but a year later he was conscripted. After six months of military training...

SALE ONE WEEK ONLY “Leda and the Swan” is by Reuben Nakian (1897 - 1986). He was an American sculptor and teacher of Armenian extraction. His works’ recurring themes are from Greek and Roman mythology. Nakian’s small bronzes achieve majesty and power which are not dependent on size and amplitude. With characteristic freshness, he has reinterpreted the classical subject of Leda and the Swan refining it in the Classical-Renaissance-Baroque tradition in a contemporary way. Dr. Robert P. Metzger gives us his aesthetic interpretation of this work which retells the myth in classical hedonism and freedom of expression showing Leda and the Swann prior to her being ravaged and during their first meeting. “The young virgin is fascinated with her new found friend and accepts him in a spirit of playfulness, contentment and wonder. She is dreamily available and shyly seductive as the deceptively tame swan snuggles up to her with its phallic-like neck.” Leda appears composed, placid yet open and available as compared to her more intense and passionate states in other of Nakian’s depictions on the same theme. This was cast at the "Renaissance Art Foundry" in 1978 and is so marked on the base being #5 of 7. It is believed that “no other sculptor of the twentieth century matched Rueben’s heroic renditions with the grand themes of Western Art. His erotic mythological figures exude a joyous energy of gesture and movement which place them among seminal sculptural achievements of the past one hundred years.” Nakian studied at the Independent School of Art in New York City previously known as the Robert Henri School … with Homer Boss...

SALE ONE WEEK ONLY Edgardo Simone (Italian/American, 1890-1948) The Kiss patinated plaster casting sculpture for kissing nudes fountain sculpture signed to top of base. Classically trained in Italy at the Beaux Arts Academy in Rome from 1906 to 1913, Edgardo Simone became a famous sculptor in Italy and the United States using mediums of terracotta, ceramic, bronze, and plaster. He earned a Doctorate of Design and Sculpture at the Academy and then emigrated to the United States where he worked in New York, Chicago and southern California. His style was influenced by Art Nouveau, Art Deco and other modernist influences. In Italy he had received three times the Croix de Guerre and was decorated by King Victor Emmanuel II and Queen Margherita. Before moving to America, he had much recognition in Italy. He had created war, funeral and city monuments in twenty-six Italian cities. When he arrived in New York City, one of the newspapers carried a headline: "Italy's greatest Sculptor Arrives in New York." In New York, Simone became prominent in society and did many portrait busts including of Thomas Edison, John J. Pershing, Henry Ford and Louis Brandeis...

The "Untitled" abstract sculpture by Robert Sestok has a very deliberate aura of strength in its columnar shape. Upon closer inspection details emerge su...

Cold-painted bronze cats sculpture attributed to Franz Bergmann. Austria, early 20th century.

Cold-painted bronze mouse sculpture attributed to Franz Bergmann. Austria, early 20th century.

Cold-painted bronze turkey sculpture attributed to Franz Bergman. Austria, early 20th century.

Cold-painted bronze pheasant sculpture attributed to Franz Bergmann. Austria, early 20th century.