Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 19

Colin Webster Watson
Large Bronze Modernist Biomorphic Sculpture Abstract Bird Colin Webster Watson

About the Item

Colin Webster Watson (1926-2007). A patinated cast bronze sculpture of a stylized bird with a steel ring. Signed, numbered and dated (1985). With a Tallix foundry mark. Measures: H 30 1/2" x W 16" x D 18" Provenance: Collection of Dick Polich, Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry. Colin Webster-Watson (1926, Palmerston North, New Zealand – 2007, Eastbourne) was a New Zealand artist, sculptor and poet. Webster-Watson (he hyphenated his name later in life) grew up in Palmerston North, where he attended Palmerston North Boys' High School. He left New Zealand for Europe, developing a great admiration for early Egyptian, Greek and Roman art. He studied Pablo Picasso paintings and was particularly interested in the way that artist eliminated unnecessary lines and forms to reveal only the essence of creation. While visiting Paris he discovered the work of nineteenth-century sculptor Rodin, whose spirituality and sensuality have been a major influence on the development of the New Zealander's work. At the age of twenty, he traveled to Japan with the Commonwealth Occupation Force. While in Japan, his army superiors deemed that he would be better employed as an entertainer than a soldier, and gave him the responsibility to organise concerts for the troops. In 1954, Webster-Watson moved to London to become a dancer and comedian at the Windmill Theatre. His milieu was theatre. He performed regularly with the Palmerston North Operatic Society and the Manawatu Repertory company. For a time, he also worked as a radio sports reporter in Wales. Following the death of his father in 1960, Webster-Watson suffered a breakdown and moved to Italy. It was while running an orphanage in Alberobello that he discovered his love of sculpture and soon after established a studio in Rome. Hie oeuvre includes biomorphic nude, animal and mythological bronze and marble sculpture. Through an acquaintance he met Bice (Beatrice), "one of Rome's leading sculptresses" and became her pupil. Colin's bronze creations and his skills at self-promotion brought buyers flocking to his exhibitions, including celebrities of the era: movie stars Debbie Reynolds, Carroll Baker and Gloria Swanson; author Harold Robbins (whose letter of endorsement Colin had framed); Morris West, Robert Ardrey, Harold Robbins and Henry Rothschild. His work also graced the collection of Jacqueline Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis, Sarah Churchill, sometime actress and daughter of Winston Churchill, with whom he was said to have had a long romantic relationship. Webster-Watson married New York socialite, Jane Ewing, whom he married and led a sociable, flamboyant life with, in the historic, well-heeled village of Wainscott on Long Island. In 1990. Polich and Tallix produced significant sculptural works over many years. He produced fine art sculptures with artists such as Willem de Kooning, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, Helen Frankenthaler, ERTE, Julian Schnabel, Richard Artschwager, Isamu Noguchi, and many others. He later moved to Palm Springs, California, where he lived until 2004 when he returned to New Zealand. Webster-Watson donated several works to Wellington including Tail of the Whale (Oriental Bay), Frenzy (Ōwhiro Bay), Prowling Cheetah (Wellington Zoo), Mountain of Dreams (Wellington Zoo), La Famiglia (Wellington Hospital). Colin returned to New Zealand in 2004, welcomed by family and old friends. Settling in Wellington's Eastbourne with his beloved Pekinese dog Andrew, he lived out his last few years travelling and entertaining guests with his legendary cooking and anecdotes. He'd also written hundreds of poems over the years; these would be condensed into a posthumous book, Natural Zoo, by his niece Anne Manchester and writer Mary McCallum. Colin donated his rose marble Prodigal Son sculpture to Palmerston North ("because I'm the prodigal son," he joked). It's installed in the city council's customer service centre, placed – as he wished – to be looked at closely, from all angles. Colin died in 2007.
  • Creator:
    Colin Webster Watson (1926 - 2007, New Zealander)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 30.5 in (77.47 cm)Width: 16 in (40.64 cm)Depth: 18 in (45.72 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    minor wear, has nice character to it. please see photos.
  • Gallery Location:
    Surfside, FL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU38212399372
More From This SellerView All
  • Israeli Bronze Sculpture Lovers Embrace Abstract Modernist Ein Hod Israel
    By Gedalia Ben Zvi
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Bronze sculpture signed in Hebrew and numbered from small edition of 6 BIOGRAPHY "I was born in Czechoslovakia in the year 1925, of traditional parents. I spent my youth partly in a little town on the Moravian border, and to a greater part in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Having been attracted by the arts from early childhood on, I studied functional art at a school in Bratislava, as long as this was still possible under the Nuremberg Laws which, at that time, were also in force in Slovakia. In 1942 I was taken to a concentration camp in Poland and at the beginning of 1945 I succeeded in escaping together with a friend of mine. Until our liberation by the Russians we were hiding in the forests of Northern Poland. At the end of the War I found myself wandering about Europe, together with thousands of survivors from the Holocaust, until, in 1948 I came to Israel via the Camps of Cyprus. From 1954 onwards I have been a permanent resident of the Artists Village at Ein-Hod, together with my family. In the course of that time I studied and worked in most of the creative techniques of the arts. During various periods of my life at Ein-Hod I taught painting and handicraft at different schools. In 1965 I gave up teaching and have since devoted myself exclusively to pure art." Gedalia Ben Zvi. Exhibitions 1962-1963 Design Exhibition, Tel Aviv 1964 Middle East Fair, Tel Aviv 1965 Ceramic Mural for school in Kiryat Gat a the Housing Exhibition in Tel Aviv 1966 Israel Fair and Exhibition, Paris One man show, Ein Hod International Symposium on “Ceramics in Architecture” Tel Aviv Ceramic Museum Museum or Modern Arts, Heavy Museum of Acre 1968 Painters Israeliens dans I’Art de Gobelins, Jerusalem Ein Hod Artists Village - Tenths Year Anniversary Exhibition 1963, Artists: Zvi Aldouby, Marcel Janco, Rudi Lehmann, Moshe Mokady, Aviva Margalit Mambush, Yohanan Simon, Dov Feigin, Ovadia Alkara, Mark Tochilkin...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • Mexican Art Abstract Brutalist Biomorphic Bronze Sculpture Mathias Goeritz
    By Mathias Goeritz
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Mathias Goeritz (German Mexican, 1915-1990) Bronze sculpture Signed and numbered Dimensions: (approximate) Height: 10 inches, Width: 4 inches, Depth: 2 inches. This is a cast bronze sculpture in an amorphous figure shape, quite heavy. Reminiscent of the biomorphic sculpture of Hans Jean Arp. This came from an estate and bears his signature It is not dated. there is no accompanying documentation. it is priced accordingly. Werner Mathias Goeritz Brunner (Danzig, Germany, April 4th, 1915/ now Gdansk, Poland – Mexico City, Mexico; August 4th, 1990). Mathias Goeritz has had several gallery and museum exhibitions, including at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and at the Museo Experimental El Eco. Numerous works by the artist have been sold at auction, including 'MENSAJE' sold at Sotheby's New York 'Latin American Modern Art' in 2015 for $466,000. There have been Several articles about Mathias Goeritz, including 'LACMA remaps Latin America' written by Suzanne Muchnic for the Los Angeles Times. Painter, sculptor and Mexican architect associated with the trend of constructive abstraction. He studied medicine at the University of Berlin, but this only lasted a year. The concerns of the young student were aesthetic in nature so he he studied figurative drawing at the Berlin Charlottenburg School of Art. Some of his friends and colleagues were the sculptor Ernst Barlach, painter George Grosz and draughtsman Kaethe Kollwitz. Goeritz studied philosophy and history of art, discipline in which earned a doctorate. He travelled in France, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Austria and Italy, among other countries. It is known that he left Germany to live in Tetuan, Morocco in 1941 and then Granada, Spain in 1945. In 1946 he had a large exhibition in the Sala Clan in Madrid under the pseudonym "Mago". Two years later, living in Santilla del Mar, Spain he was a founder of the Escuela de Altamira. The following year he married Marianne Gast, writer and his companion for more than fifteen years. In Spain followed his artistic work by important artists of the avant-garde. Of Jewish descent, he found refuge from the Second World War in Mexico where in 1949 he was invited by Ignacio Diaz Morales to be a part of the faculty of the School of Architecture at the Universidad de Jalisco. In 1953 he wrote the "Manifiesto de la Arquitectura Emocional" (The Emotional Architecture Manifesto), where he points out that only achieving true emotions from architecture can it then be considered an art form. In Mexico he entered controversy with the artistic stablishment of that country; in an open letter, Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros described him as "an impostor without the most insignificant talent and preparation" to be an artist. Despite this, in 1957 he was elected director of visual design of the National School of architecture This same year he founded the Museo del Eco in Mexico City. In 1961 Goeritz participated at the Galería Antonio Souza in a group exhibition, Los hartos, for which he published another manifesto. Other participants included Jose Luis Cuevas and Pedro Friedeberg, with whom he was instrumental in establishing abstraction and other modern trends in Mexico.His work is included in the Gelman Collection of modern and contemporary Mexican art based in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Established by Jacques and Natasha Gelman in 1943 as a private collection. it includes many iconic works by major Mexican Modernists including Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Leonora Carrington, Rufino Tamayo and Francisco Toledo, Lola Alvarez...
    Category

    20th Century Modern Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • Brutalist Modern Abstract Bronze Sculpture Metropolis Manner of Louise Nevelson
    By Abbott Pattison
    Located in Surfside, FL
    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. 1...
    Category

    20th Century Modern Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Marble, Bronze

  • Large Art Moderne Bronze Sculpture Esther Wertheimer Mother Baby Child Art Deco
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Esther Wertheimer ( Polish, Canadian 1926 - 2016 ) Hand signed Wertheimer Dimensions: 14.5 X 8 X 5.75 in. This semi abstract figurative bronze scul...
    Category

    20th Century Modern Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Marble, Bronze

  • Bronze Architectural Model Sculpture Tempio Bretton Architecture Maquette
    Located in Surfside, FL
    TEMPIO BRETTON: from the catalogue MONUMENTA, 19th International Sculpture Biennale, Antwerp, Belgium. Tempio Bretton was created in homage to the celebrated English landscapist Capability Brown for the occasion of an exhibition at Bretton Hall in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park , a park in the style of the great master of English garden design. The inclusion in the English garden of a temple ruin, or "eye-catcher," (architectural folly) was used to draw the eye and mind to a focus in time and space, present the beholder with an immediate relationship to an historic past made new within his or her own surroundings, and create a depth of space never before seen in garden design. I took the idea of the temple ruin eye-catcher and reduced it to a scale at the point where architecture and sculpture merged. Tempio Bretton is not capacious enough to walk into, yet it is considerably larger than a man. One view of it presents a knot of golden columns clustered together, topped by a dome shape. The only clue from this side to the temple's non-conformity to historic principle is a sharp notch cut into the square base. Viewed from the opposite side, the cluster of columns capped by an angular top opens up as if to welcome someone in, yet the mysterious core is still impenetrable. These contradictions articulate a confrontation between past and present, and an exciting truth. The past is always at the heart of our constructions in the present. Walter Dusenbery...
    Category

    20th Century American Modern Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • Bronze Abstract Space Age Book Sculpture LA California Modernist Charna Rickey
    By Charna Rickey
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Charna Rickey 1923 - 2000 Mexican-American Jewish Woman artist. Signed Bronze House of Books, Architecture Bronze sculpture, signed Charna Rickey and on the front "House of the book." It depicts an open Torah. Original patina. Approx. dimensions: 7 in. H x 9 in. W x 8.5 in. D. Weight: 13.1 lbs. Modernist Judaica Sculpture Born Charna Barsky (Charna Ysabel or Isabel Rickey Barsky) in Chihuahua, Mexico, the future artist lived in Hermosillo and immigrated to Los Angeles when she was 11. She was educated at UCLA and Cal State L.A., she married furniture retailer David Rickey and explored art while raising their three daughters. Moving through phases in terra cotta, bronze, marble and aluminum, she found success later in life. Rickey became one of the original art teachers at Everywoman's Village, a pioneering learning center for women established by three housewives in Van Nuys in 1963. She also taught sculpture at the University of Judaism from 1965 to 1981. As Rickey became more successful, her sculptures were exhibited in such venues as Artspace Gallery in Woodland Hills and the Courtyard of Century Plaza Towers as part of a 1989 Sculpture Walk produced by the Los Angeles Arts Council. Her sculptures have also found their way into the private collections of such celebrities as Sharon Stone. Another of Rickey's international creations originally stood at Santa Monica College. In 1985, her 12-foot-high musical sculpture shaped like the Hebrew letter "shin" was moved to the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The free standing architectural Judaic aluminum work has strings that vibrate in the wind to produce sounds. Rickey also created art pieces for the city of Brea. They commissioned some amazing art pieces by Laddie John Dill, Walter Dusenbery, Woods Davy, Rod Kagan, Pol Bury, Niki de Saint Phalle, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Larry Bell, John Okulick...
    Category

    20th Century American Modern Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Marble, Bronze

You May Also Like
  • ORIGAMI CRANES
    By Lyle London
    Located in Tempe, AZ
    This sculpture of a pair of Dancing Cranes by Lyle London explores a unique translation of the Japanese art of folded paper into a metal sculpture. Th...
    Category

    2010s Modern Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Stainless Steel

  • "On the Wings of an Eagle", Chester Fields, Bronze and Steel Sculpture, 54x40x24
    By Chester Fields
    Located in Dallas, TX
    "On the Wings of an Eagle by Chester Fields is one of his most popular sculptures. This is number 26 of 75 made. It is made with the following: Bronze Casting Deluxe Patina Gold Beak...
    Category

    1990s Realist Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze, Stainless Steel

  • Virasat Curved, figurative bronze mantle piece
    By Robert Cook
    Located in Greenwich, CT
    A remarkable and unique format bronze of unique cast that could be great for a mantle or console table. In Robert Cook's book entitled “Waxing and Waning” he discusses three castings...
    Category

    Early 2000s American Modern Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Stone, Bronze

  • Black Falling Man with Form
    By Ernest Tino Trova
    Located in Missouri, MO
    Ernest Tino Trova "Black Falling Man with Form" 1996 Bronze Ed. 1/3 Signed, Dated and Numbered Verso approx. 16 x 8.5 x 16 inches Known for his Falling Man series in abstract figura...
    Category

    1990s American Modern Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • Entwined Bodies, Bronze Sculpture by Sophia Vari
    By Sophia Vari
    Located in Long Island City, NY
    Artist: Sophia Vari, Greek (1940 - ) Title: Entwined Bodies Year: circa 1985 Medium: Bronze Sculpture, Signature and number inscribed with foundry stamp Edition: 4/6 Size: 12.5 x 2...
    Category

    1980s Modern Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

  • Horse and Rider, Bronze Sculpture by Pearl Amsel
    By Pearl Amsel
    Located in Long Island City, NY
    Modern Cubist sculpture by Pearl Amstel of a Horse and Rider. Artist: Pearl Amsel (1931 - ) Title: Untitled - Horse and Rider Year: 1974 Me...
    Category

    1970s Modern Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Bronze

Recently Viewed

View All