Sculpture

Napoleon Entering Cairo Statue Available At Rau Antiques

Filed under: Art

There is an almost eerie quality to this one of a kind custom made statue depicting Napoleon Bonaparte as he enters Cario during his campaign in Egypt. The small statue was made by famed French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme as a smaller version of a larger bronze statue. It was made around 1897. The statue is done in an ancient style known as "chryselephantine." The inner part of the statue is wood, while it is overlaid with gold and ivory. Ivory is used for Napoleon's face to simulate a more realistic flesh like look. The statue is about 16 and a half inches high.

Gerome, the artist, favored such older Roman and Greek sculpting techniques. The original bronze statue was bought by the French government for public display. This work is an amazing historical reference as well as example of neo-classic revival in the 19th century that has since never been better. Price is $198,000 at Rau Antiques. Learn more here.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: cairo, jean-leon gerome, napoleon, sculpture

"Love Love": The Sinking Ship Sculpture That Stays Afloat

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Yachts & Sailing, Art

Love Love from julien berthier on Vimeo.
Artist Julien Berthier has created a yacht that attracts attention no matter where it goes. The French artist's "Love Love" sculpture is a work of art that is also a functioning boat, albeit one that appears to be sinking beneath the water. Berthier created the sculpture by cutting a boat in half and adding a motor and keel that allow it to stay above water and travel around. He created the sculpture in 2007 and since then has taken it on European waterways including the English Channel.

Tags: art, julien berthier, sculpture

Vroom Vroom by Lorenzo Quinn

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Art

London's swanky Park Lane boulevard has just received a new art installation piece, and it's sure to turn some heads. Simply entitled "Vroom Vroom", the piece is the brainchild of one Lorenzo Quinn. It's built around the classic Fiat 500 that was the sculptor's first car, grasped by a giant hand crafted out of aluminum and modeled after his own son's.

The impression is that of an oversized child playing with a toy that to us would seem like a full-size car. The piece was previously displayed in Abu Dhabi and Valencia, Spain, before making its way to the neighborhood that is home to some of London's finest hotels and boutiques.

Tags: fiat 500, installation, installation art, london, lorenzo quinn, park lane, sculpture, vroom vroom

"Queequeq - The Maybach Sculpture" by Julian Schnabel

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Art

Luxury automaker Maybach has undertaken a series of sponsorship initiatives in the world of art. The program revolves around the work of one Julian Schnabel, an American artist and filmmaker, and was announced during Art Basel week in Miami, where Schnabel unveiled a piece entitled "Queequeq – The Maybach Sculpture" and auctioned off several of his works to benefit relief efforts still underway in Haiti.

The sculpture is inspired by "Moby Dick" and named after the harpoon thrower in the classic Melville novel, but that's only the start of the initiative. Schnabel also directed a film about Maybach, and an artistic development initiative will be undertaken by the artist and the automaker to mentor up-and-coming talent. Finally Maybach also announced a partnership with the Louvre in Paris whereby a rotating exhibit of sculptures will be displayed in the museum's glass pyramid.

Gallery: Queequeq – The Maybach Sculpture by Julian Schnabel

Tags: art basel, julian schnabel, louvre, maybach, moby dick, queequeq, queequeq - the maybach sculpture, sculpture, the louvre

Spirit of Ecstasy Sculpture by Priory Fine Arts

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Art

Few icons are as instantly recognizable – inside the automotive industry or out – as the Spirit of Ecstasy. Adorning the hoods of Rolls-Royce motor cars for nearly a century, the Spirit of Ecstasy remains unrivaled in its authenticity.

The ornament was originally designed by one Charles Sykes, commissioned by the automaker to give their cars an added sense of occasion. Back in the 1930s, the company mascot was also displayed in larger form in Rolls-Royce showrooms. The originals remain highly-coveted collectors' items, but an art studio in England is now offering reproductions of the original for enthusiasts.

The replica sculptures from Priory Fine Arts measure 26 inches tall and weigh a substantial 39 pounds. They're made of bronze and can be ordered as well plated in silver or gold, with a negotiable starting price of $3,150. Have a closer look in the image gallery below, or follow the links to the Priory and Hemmings Motor News websites to inquire.

Gallery: Spirit of Ecstasy by Priory Fine Arts

Source

Tags: hood ornament, mascot, priory, priory fine art, priory fine arts, rolls-royce, sculpture, spirit of ecstasy, statue, statuette

Essence Sculpture by Infiniti and Louis Vuitton

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Art, Architecture & Design

This isn't the first time Infiniti and Louis Vuitton have teamed up. The last time was on the bespoke fitted luggage to accompany the show-stopping Essence concept car unveiled at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. Now the two have come back together for a follow-up.

This limited-edition resin sculpture is created by the same talents behind the concept car, and comes in a specially-crafted Louis Vuitton carrying/presentation case. Only 300 examples will be offered, each fetching $300. The sculpture and case will be unveiled at the upcoming Los Angeles Auto Show, after which it will become available via infinitilifestyle.com.

Gallery: Infiniti Essence Sculpture

Source

Tags: 2010 la auto show, 2010 los angeles auto show, expire-images:2010-12-16, infiniti, infiniti essence, infiniti essence concept, infiniti essence sculpture, la auto show, los angeles auto show, louis vuitton, sculpture

Matisse Bronze Tops Christie's Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Last night, November 3, was Christie's turn to host an Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale. The night before, rival Sotheby's brought in $227.5 million. Christie's had a similarly strong evening with a total of $231.4 million. The 84-lot sale was 80 percent sold by lot and 88 percent sold by value.

Henri Matisse's monumental sculpture Nu de dos, 4 état (Back IV) was the night's top lot, setting a record for the artist at $48,8 million nicely above the top estimate of $35 million. This was the first time that a work from the artist's Back series has ever come to auction. Other leading lots included Alberto Giacometti's Femme de Venise V, conceived in 1956 and cast in 1958, which sold for $10.27 million, three works by Fernand Léger from Property from the Collection of Max Palevsky, including La Tasse de Thé, 1921, which realized $8.16 million and Egon Schiele's Mann und Frau (Umarmung), 1917, which sold for $7.36 million.

As at Sotheby's the previous night, this sale too had an unsold Picasso. The 1921 "Maternite," was estimated to sell for as much as $10 million but failed to find a buyer.

Tags: art, art market, art results, christies, matisse, sculpture

Greek Heroes at the Onassis Cultural Center

by Bobbie Leigh (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Art

Hero worship in the ancient world was nothing like our own. Whereas we are quick to denounce athletes, politicians, and celebs with very human flaws, the Greeks had a different take. Theirs was a broader view that didn't require total moral excellence. Their concept of heroes and heroines was complicated, changeable, and perhaps more forgiving than our own.

What makes someone a hero or heroine? That's the context for this new exhibition of 90 exceptional artworks focusing on Archaic, Classical, and the Hellenic periods (6th-first century BC) at the Onassis Cultural Center in midtown Manhattan. "Heroes: Mortals and Myths in Ancient Greece" explores the Greek interpretation of heroism with decorated pottery, marble reliefs, bronze statues, and carved gemstones. As this intriguing show emphasizes, virtue was not necessarily a qualification to be considered a Greek hero or heroine. To us, the gods and heroes in the Greek myths were invented by poets and storytellers, but to the Greeks they were real people who lived, died, and in many cases transcended death as immortals.

Tags: Achilles, art, Greek myths, Helen of Troy, Herakles, mythology, Odysseus, onassis, onassis cultural center, sculpture

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Dave Venell's Sculptures Bring the Lost Wax Method to Motorcars

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Dave Venell taught himself to cast bronze using the lost wax method six years ago, starting off with with historically accurate military figures that went all the way back to the Greek hoplite sentries of antiquity. He recently brought his work into the last millennium, shaping a collection of vintage cars that includes a 1958 Ferrari Testa Rossa, a 1955 Mercedes 300 SLR and a 1954 Jaguar D-Type.

In contrast to the realistic representations of military figures the vintage cars are more Dali than Donatello. The historical accuracy, however, has carried over, with each model being based on a specific car – the D-Type, for instance, is a copy of chassis #OKV2. Erupting from their bases into every dimension, they're big, heavy, and spendy: a single work starts at about $11,000, and that's before you start adding options like lacquer. That means Dave Venell is the name you'll need to remember when you meet "the man who has it all..."

Gallery: Venell 1958 Ferrari Testa Rossa

Gallery: Venell 1955 Mercedes 300 SLR

Gallery: Venell 1954 D-Type Jaguar

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Tags: bronze, dave venell, sculpture

From Ordinary to Art: Long-Bin Chen

by Bobbie Leigh (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

When viewed from a distance, the striking Buddhas of New-York based Taiwanese artist, Long-Bin Chen, look like marble or wood sculpture. They have stony expressions, but they are soft and so pliable you can actually flip through them. Award-winning Chen joins other artists like Vik Muniz who would agree that "one man's trash is another man's treasure." Muniz assembles his leftovers, creates a painting, photographs his work, and then destroys the original. Chen assembles but doesn't discard. He uses primarily trashed paper for sculpture believing that nothing should go to waste--- not out-of-print phone books, magazines, newspapers, or computer printouts.

Tags: asian art, china, chinese art, chinese art exhibit, Chinese artists, chinese arts, long-bin chen, recycled art, sculpture, upcycled art

Continue reading “From Ordinary to Art: Long-Bin Chen”

Herb Williams Sculpts with Crayons

by Bobbie Leigh (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Jaw-dropping amazement! that's a typical response to Herb Williams' "Plunderland" installation which previewed at the Rare Gallery in Chelsea and will travel to the Great Neck (NY) Arts Center in the fall. Williams used more than half a million Crayola crayons for that sculpture installation, His new crayon exhibition, "Schooled," will open at the Children's Museum of Art in Manhattan in October, But don't be misled, Williams' work is definitely not child's play.

Tags: art, crayon installations, crayon sculpture, crayons, Herb Williams, sculpture

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Sculpture in Sea Glass

by Bobbie Leigh (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Debara Hafemann is a sea-glass artist. Her work schedule is one any artist would envy. She buys a cup of coffee near her favorite Rocky Neck Beach in Gloucester, Mass. When the cup is empty, she strolls along the beach collecting glass shards. When the cup is full, it's time to go home and begin her "real" work: sea-glass sculpture. Pure sea glass, mostly from discarded bottles drowned at sea and worn smooth from crushing waves, has a patina all its own. As a material for art, it's just about irresistible which is why Hafemann uses her collection for both sculpture and photography. Although most of her sculptures are of fish, sea horses, lobsters, and an occasional flower, she is creating more abstract works, "so they can hold their own as pieces of art." Hafemann lives in the oldest seaport in America and, no surprise, it's home to more than 150 artists. While they are busy painting fishing boats and fab harbor sunsets, the challenge for a sea-glass artist is finding material. There are roughly 17 different colors of sea glass with orange, followed by red, as the rarest finds. Spotting pure sea glass on beaches today in places like the Hamptons or Fire Island, for example, is becoming as unlikely as rescuing a message in a castaway bottle.

Tags: beach art, beach combing, gloucester, sculpture, sea glass, sea-glass sculpture, seaglass, seaside art

Continue reading “Sculpture in Sea Glass”

Roman Antiquities Sells High At Sotheby's

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Our modern culture remains fascinated by Ancient Rome. History has its price, in the case of a recent Sotheby's Antiquities auction in New York, that price was a total of $17,479,940, a huge win for Sotheby's for a sale of this type. That number, against estimates of $3.2-$4.8 million was the highest total for a sale in this category at Sotheby's since December 2007. The top lot was a marble torso of an emperor dating back to the first half of the first century A.D. which sold for $7,362,500 handily beating the high estimate of $1.2 million. The torso is believed to be of one of the Julio-Claudian emperors, likely Augustus, Tiberius or Claudius and sold to an anoymous telephone bidder.

At the sale nearly 90 percent of the pieces achieved prices at or above estimate. The Austrian family collection that consigned the marble torso also consigned Three Satyrs Fighting a Serpent, a Roman Imperial sculpture dated to the circa 1st century A.D. that was once part of Lorenzo DeMedici's collection. It sold to an anonymous
private buyer for $3,442,500 which was more than six times the high estimate of $500,000. A marble bust of the Athena Giustiniani, Roman Imperial, circa 2nd Century A.D. sold for $4,114,500 far above the pre-sale estimate of $600/900,000.

[via Art Daily]

Tags: antiquities, marble, roman antiquities, roman history, sculpture

Spitfire Sculpture Made from Fighter's Original Rolls-Royce Engine

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets, Men's Style

London-based TMB Art Metal's latest creation is more than just a sculpture of a classic British Supermarine Spitfire; it's actually made from the fighter plane's original Rolls-Royce engine parts. Made in a limited edition of 24, the Spitfire Mk 1 sculpture is handcrafted of aluminum originating from the Rolls-Royce Merlin Mk III engine fitted to X4276 KL-B, legendary RAF ace Al Deere's personal Spitfire for the latter part of the Battle of Britain and 1940, which crashed on 28th December of that year. The sculptures are supported by bronze stalks with precision engineered ball and sockets so the planes can be placed in various attitudes of flight. The sculptures are set upon a mahogany and burr walnut plinth and come with a certificate of authenticity signed by one of the original Supermarine test pilots.

[via Duncan Quinn]

Tags: Battle of Britain, BattleOfBritain, fighter planes, FighterPlanes, London, Rolls-Royce, sculpture, Spitfire, TMB Art Metal, TmbArtMetal, UK

Vladimir Kagan and Ralph Pucci Collaborate to Create Limited Edition Collection

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Art

Gallery: Vladimir Kagan and Ralph Pucci's Limited Edition Chairs

Award-winning furniture designer and nominee for a Luxist Readers' Choice Award for Decor, Vladimir Kagan, has collaborated with mannequin artist and sculptor Ralph Pucci, on a limited edition fiberglass chair that is both functional and a work of art.

The endeavor initiated during a simple conversation between Kagan and Pucci who were examining sketches of Kagan's 1950's era designs. Though never produced, the sketches were of pieces in a variety of materials, including fiberglass.

Kagan had long wanted to create a plastic chair, as his designs were so ideally suited for the medium. When Pucci saw Kagan's sketches, his realized his sculptor and mannequin workshop was equipped to produce the concept. Pucci also felt the project was very current because of an exhibit of noted Israeli designer Ron Arad's carbon fiber armchairs at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Kagan designed a new chair and produced a miniature clay model of it. Shortly thereafter, he and Pucci started to build a full-scale mockup in clay.

For Kagan, working with a pliable material was a totally liberating experience. For Pucci, it made common sense to utilize the facilities of his mannequin workroom and create something new and different, all in keeping with his thoughts of moving forward.

The result is the fiberglass collection in a limited edition of 100 now on view at the Ralph Pucci Showroom in New York, the Los Angeles Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, Ca., and the J. Bachelor DCOTA Design Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The chairs have been produced in foundry black, foundry grey and white ($9,000 each) as well as clear ($15,000 each).

The successful collaboration gave birth to a new collection of limited edition sculptures by Kagan which were produced and sculptured by Pucci at the Ralph Pucci workroom. The sculptures will be introduced at the Ralph Pucci showroom in New York in December. The chairs will also be on display following a lecture by Pucci and Kagan at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum at 2 East 91st Street in New York on October 29, 2009.

Tags: art, chairs, decor-awards, decor-main, furniture, Ralph Pucci, RalphPucci, sculpture, Vladimir Kagan, VladimirKagan

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