Mid 20th Century Abbott Pattison, Brutalist Modern Abstract Bronze Sculpture Metropolis Manner of Louise Nevelson

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A very heavy, massive bronze sculpture by an important Chicago sculptor. Signed and marked "Firenze" with "Fuse Marinelli". METROPOLIS. Seven … Read more A very heavy, massive bronze sculpture by an important Chicago sculptor. Signed and marked "Firenze" with "Fuse Marinelli". METROPOLIS. Seven abstract shapes on black marble base. 12.5"h. 22.75"w. 12.5"d.
This was cast by F. Marinelli Foundry in Firenze (Florence) Italy

Abbott Lawrence Pattison (May 15, 1916 – April 16, 1999) was an American sculptor and abstract artist. Though he also painted, Mr. Pattison was best known for his marble, bronze, copper and steel sculptures, most of them larger-than-life renditions of the female form. This is in a style very reminiscent of the work of Louise Nevelson and Beverly Pepper. He was born in Chicago, Illinois. He studied at the School of Fine Arts at Yale University, graduating with a BA and BFA. He served in the US Navy in World War II. After the war he taught at the Art Institute of Chicago. In the 1960s, Mr. Pattison presented England's Prince Philip with a sculpture destined for Buckingham Palace.
The artist had a long relationship with a bronze-casting facility in Florence, Italy, (Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry) where he lived for a period in the 1950s, returning every couple of years to work for a month or two. Pattison was represented by Edith Halpert's Downtown Gallery in New York City. The pioneering New York City Dealer of Modern Art. Halpert brought recognition and market success to many avant-garde American artists over her forty-year career from 1926 through the 1960s. Her establishment, The Downtown Gallery, one of the first in Greenwich Village introduced or showcased such modern art luminaries as Stuart Davis, Georgia O'Keefe, Arthur Dove, Jacob Lawrence, Charles Sheeler, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Ben Shahn, Jack Levine, Marguerite and William Zorach, Abbott Pattison, and many others.
A group of 8-foot-tall bronze figures titled "I Have a Dream" in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., is located on the campus of Chicago State University.He lived in Winnetka, Illinois, from 1958 until 1993 after which he moved to Maine.
His papers are held at the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian.

Exhibitions
In 1942 his sculpture, Kneeling Women, won a Frank G Logan prize at the 46th annual Chicago and Vicinity exhibition of the Art Institute of Chicago. In the early 1950s, he created various sculptures for the University of Georgia. These include Mother and Child (1953) and Iron Horse (1954). The latter sculpture was later moved to Watkinsville, Georgia.

Education and Experience:
Graduate of Yale College, 1937 B.A.
Yale School of Fine Arts, 1939 B.F.A.
Lived and worked in China and Japan, 1940
US Navy, 1942-45, Served as Captain of Destroyer Escort and P.C. Sub-Chaser
Instructor Art Institute School, 1946-52
Worked in France, 1950-51
Visiting Sculptor, University of Georgia, 1953
Sculptor in Residence, Univ. of Georgia, 1954
Teacher of Sculpture, Skowhegan Summer Art School, 1955-56
Worked in Florence, Italy 1955-56 and frequently thereafter

Exhibitions:
Art Institute of Chicago
Metropolitan Museum
Whitney Museum
Pennsylvania Academy
Oakland Museum
Univ. of Notre Dame
Birmingham Museum
San Francisco Museum
Cali. Palace of the Legion of Honor
Cincinnati Museum
Feingarten Galleries, Los Angeles
Fairweather-Hardin Gallery, Chicago
Wellfleet Art Gallery
Georgia State Museum
Univ. of Miami
Univ. of Pittsburgh
Bates College
Colby College
8 One-man shows in New York City

Prizes:

1939 First Travelling Fellowship, Yale Univ.
1942 Logan Prize, Art Institute of Chicago
1946 Eisendrath Prize, Art Institute of Chicago
1950 and 1953 Pauline Palmer Prize (sculpture), Art Institute of Chicago
1951 Metropolitan Museum $1500 Award in 1st Contemporary American Sculpture Show
1963 Prize International Sculpture Show, Bundy Museum, Vermont
1968 Clussman Prize: Art Institute of Chicago
and others

Permanent Museum Collections:

Whitney Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Chrysler Museum
Portland Museum
Corcoran Museum
San Francisco Museum
California Palace of the Legion of Honor
Addison Gallery, American Art
St. Louis Museum
Phoenix Museum
St. Paul Art Center
La Jolla Art Center
Evansville, Indiana Museum
Davenport Museum
Davenport Museum of Fine Arts
Palm Springs Desert Museum
Wichita Museum
Flint Institute of Arts
Farnsworth Museum

Collections:

Johnson Wax Company
Meninger Foundation
Hirschorn Collection
Nathan Cummings Collection
Leigh Block Collection
US State Department, twelve sculptures
Ravinia Park, Highland Park, IL
And others including many private collections in the US and Europe such as Buckingham Palace and the collection of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

College and Univ. Collections:

Holyoke College
Wells College
Stanford College
St. John's Univ.
Bates College
Thomas College, Maine
Connecticut College
Univ. of Chicago
Univ. of Minnesota
Syracuse Univ.
Univ. of Georgia
Northwestern Univ.
Univ. of Maine
Univ. of Notre Dame
Brandeis Univ. See less