Abstract Expressionist Biomorphic Welded Metal Sculpture, c.1950's

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Welded, brazed sculpture on wooden base
This is not signed or dated

This work is unsigned. We were told it … Read more Welded, brazed sculpture on wooden base
This is not signed or dated

This work is unsigned. We were told it was the work of Seymour Lipton but as there is further documentation we are selling it as attributed and cannot guarantee it as such.

Seymour Lipton (1903 – 1986) was an American abstract expressionist sculptor. He was a member of the New York School who gained widespread recognition in the 1950s. He initially trained as a dentist, like fellow sculptor Herbert Ferber, receiving his degree from Columbia University in 1927. In the late 1920s, he began to explore sculpture, creating clay portraits of family members and friends. His early choices of medium changed from wood to lead and then to bronze, and he is best known for his work in metal. Like his contemporary, Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock, and Arshile Gorky Lipton was influenced by Carl Jung’s work on the unconscious mind and the regenerative forces of nature. He translated these two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional maquettes that enabled him to revise his ideas before creating the final sculpture. The forms that Lipton produced during this period were often zoomorphic, exemplifying the tension between the souls of nature and the automatism of the machine. He made several technical innovations, including brazing nickel silver rods onto sheets of Monel to create rust resistant forms. Seymour Lipton is best known for his textured torch welded metal sculptures that fuse the traditions of Cubism, Constructivism, and Abstract Expressionism. In 1958, Lipton was awarded a solo exhibition at the 29th Venice Biennale (representing the United States he gained international recognition as one of the principal Abstract Expressionist sculptors of his time. He represented the United States Pavilion with Mark Rothko, David Smith and Mark Tobey) and was thus internationally recognized as part of a small group of highly regarded avant-garde constructivist sculptors. In 1960, he received a prestigious Guggenheim Award. Lipton's work is included in the Phillips Collection, the Albright–Knox Art Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. He taught art at Cooper Union and the New School for Social Research in New York City. He was a guest critic at the Yale University Art School from 1957 to 1959. Many Award-Winning WorksHis works Pioneer, Catacombs, and Guardian are on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and are currently on display as part of Landmarks, the public art program of The University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Lori Verderame wrote the definitive monograph on Seymour Lipton entitled Seymour Lipton: An American Sculptor in 1999 published by Hudson Hills Press and the Palmer Museum of Art, Penn State University. Much of his art addresses the themes of flight, nature and war.


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Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock
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Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
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the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA New York, NY
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia
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