C.1940-50's -Signed Monumental American Artist (Carl Lewis Pappe)- Cubist Abstract Bronze Sculpture on Mahogany Base

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Vintage: C.1940s-50s, Original Highly Rare, American Artist, Carl Lewis Pappe, Mid-Century Modern, Cubist, Abstract bronze tall sculpture mounted on a … Read more Vintage: C.1940s-50s, Original Highly Rare, American Artist, Carl Lewis Pappe, Mid-Century Modern, Cubist, Abstract bronze tall sculpture mounted on a mahogany wood base. It is very rare to see a quasi-cubist, abstractionist piece by him, as he essentially did bronze figural and animal pieces, of an agricultural, American movement, but one tends to think and assume, the influences of the movements, and the artists he was associated and living in and around them, within the Mexican Art Movement which was established and whereupon Carl and His Wife moved to and ensconced themselves within this Artist Group, as Diego Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo, were among the movements well known Artists, during that period, they intern, had potential layers and prodigious effects, upon the freedom of testing a departure of style(s), from his known norm and iconography that would be applicable here with this piece.. It is ALSO a welcome and enthusiastic endeavor; should he had delivered many more such endeavors and accomplishes, as this piece does in spades and then some., Perhaps his artistic outreach may have been endless onto a platform and stage, as his counterparts were, during this period which spawned many followers/collectors, and museum worthy exhibitions, much like Picasso, Rivera, and those whom he assimilated with. The sculpture takes on a humanistic stance, figural bodily nuances, quasi iconography to vertebrae and musculature, or segmented digitalis, as well as aspects or nuanced personifications of Stonehenge, ethnic and antiquated archeological historical references of cultures, prior to, and far reaching nuanced, resemblances and inspirations of Giacometti and Henry Moore's vertebrae, and interlocking bronze figural sculptures, including the Cubist Movement, which was upon the World during his tenured production periods, during the industrial cotton bowl and depression era, followed by World War II. This Bronze mold, cast over plaster form was; among the Old Master techniques, utilized in the casting processes', which were used, in Mexico, at the time, especially as they resided in Taxco, Mexico, whereupon this method was used. This piece has gorgeous patina, with a visceral, textural and contextual quality, honed of a skilled artist, beyond the adeptness to the tools of craftsmanship, and the evolution of the process, whereupon the ending result we see here. His signature is exactly and indicative to how he signs his pieces, by casting his signature onto a flat bronze cast plate, and onto a wood base. The sculpture is also forged onto, and displayed on a mahogany plinth base, as examples seen by his pieces. One can google and see other examples, but we have not been able to locate another Cubist, Abstract sculpture of this stature by him and assume, perhaps it was a custom piece, which we sourced from a Palm Beach Island Estate, here in Florida.

A little history of the artist and family, which immigrated from Hungary to the United States, where they settled in Ohio. In his teens he apprenticed as a youth with a Hungarian muralist while in Cleveland. From 1921-25 he attended the (Cleveland School of Art), now the Cleveland Institute of Art. In 1925-26 he enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied under Hugh Breckenridge and Daniel Garber. Carl Pappe visited Mexico City in 1934 and lived there for four years, and then moved to Taxco with his future wife, the renowned Mexican Jeweler and Metalsmith, Bernice Goodspeed, where they opened a gallery. He lived and worked in Taxco, Mexico, for the remainder of his life, with his wife. Amongst living there, they became acquainted with, and developed many important, associations, within and around their collective, artists circle they belonged to, which included; and among a few notable such as; Isamu Noguchi, Carlos Merida, Ruffino Tamayo, Frida Kahlo, and the well known Muralist Painter and Artist Diego Rivera, as well as apprenticing with Jose Orozco. That era prior to and thereafter spawned one of the most prolific periods and generations of artist(s) movements and styles; eccentric, gentrified, intellectualized, on a physical, tangent level, with far reaching components of creation, in any form or shape and material utilized for the sake of art, be it literature, film, or fine art. What Picasso, was to Europe, Jackson Pollack, Rothko, and DeKooning were to America, lest we keep adding the never-ending artist whom contributed to this auspicious period. Many artists who belonged to different Art Movements, also migrated from Europe during the War, for safety, but there was also this tangent of artists, whom migrated to Mexico, in and near border states like; New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. It also included Metal smiths, Painter's, Sculptors, Muralists, as the border's were free and open to move back and forth. That freedom lent itself to a fluid of collaborations, and an abundance of inspirations. Mexico also had a strong following for casting and metal smithing in silver, sterling; whether it be jewelry, sculpture and the likes, as it was grounded in Taxco, Mexico, where Pappe and his wife worked and lived.
He was born1900-1998.


Sourced from a Palm Beach, Florida Estate, from the "only," owner, of this monumental and gorgeous sculpture, whom we were told has had this since it's purchase in the early 1950s.

In excellent condition for era. See less