Important, Rare Pair Art Deco Polynesian-Themed Sculptures/Lamps by Powell

Beautifully modeled, molded and glazed, this pair of sculptures was originally designed to serve as tabletop torchere lamps, with light washing the wall above, and lighting the eyes of each head. Very finely crafted, the sculptures were made by Doane Powell, an important Nebraska cartoonist and illustrator who later became famous for the masks he made of celebrities such as Mae West, Governor Huey Long of Louisiana, and Greta Garbo. Powell made both realistic portraits as well as caricatures, and exhibited his work at the Century of Progress Exposition, in Chicago, in 1933. He had moved to New York in the 1920s, and his mask-making business flourished, with masks commissioned for theater productions, department store displays, movies and television, and advertising campaigns. In 1948, Powell wrote an authoritative volume, "Masks and How to Make Them," which revealed that he made his masks from laminated paper, adhesive and sometimes silk.