Brutalist Modern Abstract Bronze Sculpture Metropolis Manner of Louise Nevelson
Dimensions: H: 12.5, W: 22.75, D: 12.5 IN
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.