Vintage Abstract Brutalist bronze sculpture with poem engraving by Wallace Stevens. This heavy oxidized bronze sculpture was cast by G Vester in an almost organic form which intimates a labyrinth in shape. It clearly is an interpretation of the abstract "Still Life" painting by Pierre Tal Coat of a napkin surrounded by a tureen and some vases and bottles. The angel-like quality of the napkin is something Stevens "saw" in the letters from Paule Vidal. This metaphysical interpretation adds a third dimension to his work through sculpture which represents Wallace Stevens in yet another medium.

Wallace Stevens loved to buy paintings from Paris, especially in the late 1940s. And yet he never traveled to Paris and in those pre-internet, pre-fax days, he typically could not see the painting he was about to purchase. In several instances, he depended entirely on the descriptions in words provided by the daughter of his long-term Parisian agent (who died during the war); her name was Paule Vidal. Through long letters back and forth, Stevens came to know her well and could tell what he wanted in a painting from the way she described it.

Unfortunately I cannot accurately date this sculpture due to a lack of information on the sculptor and lack of a date but it is most likely 1960's.

Poem is etched into the back: Angel Surrounded by Paysans by Wallace Stevens

ANGEL SURROUNDED BY PAYSANS

One of the countrymen :
There is
A welcome at the door to which no one comes?

The angel :
I am the angel of reality,
Seen for the moment standing in the door.

I have neither ashen wing nor wear of ore
And live without a tepid aureole,

Or stars that follow me, not to attend,
But, of my being and its knowing, part.

I am one of you and being one of you
Is being and knowing what I am and know.

Yet I am the necessary angel of earth,
Since, in my sight, you see the earth again,

Cleared of its stiff and stubborn, man-locked set,
And, in my hearing, you hear its tragic drone

Rise liquidly in liquid lingerings
Like watery words awash; like meanings said

By repetitions of half meanings. Am I not,
Myself, only half of a figure of a sort,

A figure half seen, or seen for a moment, a man
Of the mind, an apparition apparelled in

Apparels of such lightest look that a turn
Of my shoulder and quickly, too quickly, I am gone?

- Wallace Stevens

A great addition to your eclectic home decor, the perfect accent sculpture or an early holiday gift.

MEASUREMENTS

Sculpture measures 20" tall by 9.5" wide by 6.5" deep and weighs 50lb 5oz.

CONDITION

In good condition considering age and use - please see all pictures as they form part of the description.

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