Portugal - Abstract Sculptures

William King (1925-2015). Reclining figure, ca. 1965. Cast and welded bronze, 7 x 9.5 x 5 inches. Unsigned. William King, a sculptor in a variety of materials whose human figures traced social attitudes through the last half of the 20th century, often poking sly and poignant fun at human follies and foibles, died on March 4 at his home in East Hampton, N.Y. He was 90. His death was confirmed by Scott Chaskey, who is married to Mr. King's stepdaughter, Megan Chaskey. Mr. King worked in clay, wood, bronze, vinyl, burlap and aluminum. He worked both big and small, from busts and toylike figures to large public art pieces depicting familiar human poses -- a seated, cross-legged man reading; a Western couple (he in a cowboy hat, she in a long dress) holding hands; a tall man reaching down to tug along a recalcitrant little boy; a crowd of robotic-looking men walking in lock step. But for all its variation, what unified his work was a wry observer's arched eyebrow, the pointed humor and witty rue of a fatalist. His figurative sculptures, often with long, spidery legs and an outlandishly skewed ratio of torso to appendages, use gestures and posture to suggest attitude and illustrate his own amusement with the unwieldiness of human physical equipment. His subjects included tennis players and gymnasts, dancers and musicians, and he managed to show appreciation of their physical gifts and comic delight at their contortions and costumery. His suit-wearing businessmen often appeared haughty or pompous; his other men could seem timid or perplexed or awkward. Oddly, or perhaps tellingly, he tended to depict women more reverentially, though in his portrayals of couples the fragility and tender comedy inherent in couplehood settled equally on both partners. Mr. King's work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, among other places, and he had dozens of solo gallery shows in New York and elsewhere. But the comic element of his work probably caused his reputation to suffer. Reviews of his exhibitions frequently began with the caveat that even though the work was funny, it was also serious, displaying superior technical skills, imaginative vision and the bolstering weight of a range of influences, from the ancient Etruscans to American folk art to 20th-century artists including Giacometti, Calder. and Elie Nadelman. The critic Hilton Kramer, one of Mr. King's most ardent advocates, wrote in a 1970 essay accompanying a New York gallery exhibit that he was, "among other things, an amusing artist, and nowadays this can, at times, be almost as much a liability as an asset." A "preoccupation with gesture is the focus of King's sculptural imagination," Mr. Kramer wrote. "Everything that one admires in his work - the virtuoso carving, the deft handling of a wide variety of materials, the shrewd observation and resourceful invention - all this is secondary to the concentration on gesture. The physical stance of the human animal as it negotiates the social arena, the unconscious gait that the body assumes in making its way in the social medium, the emotion traced by the course of a limb, a torso, a head, the features of a face, a coiffure or a costume - from a keen observation of these materials King has garnered a large stock of sculptural images notable for their wit, empathy, simplicity and psychological precision." William Dickey King...

From the artifacts of Leonardo Da Vinci, to the mythical Icarus and the innumerable inventions of NASA, the human being does not stop manifesting one of its deepest desires: to fly. ...

Artist: Chuck Krause (1949) Title: 1960’s Claricon 38-503 Dynamic Microphone Repurposed Lamp Sculpture Year: Repurposed in 2019 - original vintage, repurposed, non-audible microphone - overall height (includes stand): 11” - microphone head: 1-3/4" x 2" x 3-1/2" - includes black base (diameter: 6") - total weight: 3 lbs. - on/off switch on microphone controls lamp - re-wired power cord with wall plug - wear consistent with age and use - low voltage, led, cool to the touch - artist’s signature hand incised on base Notes: Condition of this over 50 year old...

This beautiful Laser cut sculpture is part of Ilanit`s Calligraphy series. It is made of laser cut aluminium covered with automotive paint. As all of Ilanit`s works, this work is ba...

Artist: Kuno Vollet Title: High Schwerelos Materials: Bronze sculpture with a dark patina on black granite base Size: 90 cm height, base, 6 x 17 x 14 cm Edition of 15

This beautiful Laser cut sculpture is part of Ilanit`s Calligraphy series. It is made of laser cut aluminium covered with automotive paint. As all of Ilanit`s works, this work is ba...

This elegant pedestal-size bronze was hand-fabricated, not cast. A large, 9-foot tall version of "Itzamna Stella" in stainless steel is installed outdoors at the Reading Public Museu...

"From the series- “Visions from a White Hole” (small)" is an original an original ceiling-hanging luminous sculptural work made of PVC and light element measuring approximately 11" x...

This beautiful laser cut sculpture is part of Ilanit`s Calligraphy series. It is made of laser cut aluminium and covered with automotive paint. Th...

Siri Hollander, born in New York, lived most of her childhood in Andalusia, Spain, where the local community revolved around fairs and fiestas. Influenced by a family of artists and ...

This beautiful laser cut sculpture is part of Ilanit`s Calligraphy series. It is made of laser cut aluminium and covered with automotive paint. Th...

A fine sculptor for 30 years, American artist Rob Lorenson creates dynamic abstract pieces that are visually captivating. This large elegant outdoor sculpture is forged from stainles...