Granite Sculptures

Yongjin Han was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1934. After the Korean War—in which he fought, lying about his age in order to enlist—he was one of six students admitted to the sculptu...

Yongjin Han was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1934. After the Korean War—in which he fought, lying about his age in order to enlist—he was one of six students admitted to the sculpture program at the Seoul National University. At the time of his enrollment little of his native city remained intact; nonetheless, he had never felt more responsible to his work, firm in the conviction that artistic expression is every bit as essential to life and human nature as eating, drinking, or breathing. One of Han’s teachers was Kim Chong Yung, a pioneer of Korean abstract sculpture, and by the time of his graduation he had adopted the abstraction that had seized both Europe and the United States several years before. . In 1967 he relocated to the USA, where he studied at Dartmouth and Columbia. Over the course of his long career the artist returned to Korea with frequency and made extended stays in Japan and Europe. Trips to Korea signified something more than mere homesickness: Han’s work, though made largely in America, remained grounded in his rich cultural heritage. Korea rests on a bedrock of granite, and freestanding sculpture produced of the stone has for centuries demarcated sites of historical and religious significance. Han’s sculpture bridges this past with modernity. Richard A. Born, former Curator at the Smart Museum at the University of Chicago, has said that Han “brought Korea’s tradition of direct stone carving out of figuration into a refined, non-objective abstraction.” For his part, Han put very little stock in designations; his focus, instead, was on the stone itself. His pieces explore a certain harmonization with nature. Han, when describing his work, said, "As stone has been around since the beginning of time, it has much to teach us if we care to slow down and listen." He believed that each stone has its own history, character, and energy and that his task was to draw out these inherently spiritual qualities. He described his process as a “dialogue” with his material: "The stone tells me it has an itch in a certain spot, so I scratch it—and we both feel better!" Han worked alone and with manual tools, and the process is arduous. Carving stone this way takes time, and, what’s more, required great force—yet Han’s sculptures, even the monumental ones, are, as friend and fellow artist David Parker says, “all gentle grace and warmth” … [the sculptor] “engages with the stone as an equal—like wayfarers meeting on a path, Han and a stone spend time together and when they part, both are marked and changed forever.” Yongjin Han's career spanned decades and continents, and included several prestigious large-scale public commissions. In Seoul his work can be found at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, the IE Young Museum of Contemporary Art, the Whanki Museum, the Ewha Woman’s University Museum, Posong High School, and the 88 Olympics...

Yongjin Han was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1934. After the Korean War—in which he fought, lying about his age in order to enlist—he was one of six students admitted to the sculptu...

Modus of Interaction by Twenty Second Factory Created by Vladislav Volosenko Dimensions: D 22 x W 24 x H 190 cm Materials: Wood, granite. Founded in 2017 by Bogdan Kryvosheya, a cre...

Abstract patinated bronze sculpture, "Kouros Goddess" on granite base. By Morton Rosengarten. Signed "Rosengarten"

An Impossible stack of unlikely advances reaching skyward by Batten and Kamp Dimensions: D 20 x W 20 x H 78 cm Materials: Laser sintered titanium, granite stone. “An Impossible ...

A piece of stone, a sculpture by Korean-American artist Yongjin Han.

Vintage Eternal Flame Sculpture in Oak with Black Granite Base. Scotland, circa 1990. Signed on the base by the artist “S. Epstein”.

A very stylized pair of sculpted miniature granite heads depicting a mystical Prince and Princess, both signed ISC McLeod (for Scott McLeod) and dated 199...

Stunning statue of an Australian infantryman, original patination and well modelled. By the well known English sculptor Leonard Stanford Merrifield. (1880-1943).

1990s Spanish handcarved grey granite stone family set of four elephants, one adult and three babies. Dimensions are of the largest elephant.  

Sculpture "Tactile Monolith no 3" by Stine Mikkelsen Dimensions: Height 52 cm Width 74 cm Depth 23 cm Materials: Composite material based on crushed granite and fish glue. The ...

Tactile Monolith no 5 sculpture by Stine Mikkelsen. Dimensions: 13 x 70 x 70 cm. Materials: Composite material based on crushed granite and fish glue. The inner construction is pol...

Lamp "Luminous Shapes no 2" by Stine Mikkelsen Dimensions: 42 x 25 x 14 cm Materials: Composite material based on crushed granite and fish glue. The inner construction is polysty...

Lamp "Luminous Shapes no 1" by Stine Mikkelsen Dimensions: 70 x 40 x 16 cm Materials: Composite material based on crushed granite and fish glue. The inner construction is polystyr...

Elegant and decorative granite finial. France, circa 1900 Dimensions: H 16" D 13.5" ARD1.