Helen Elizabeth PHILLIPS (1913-1984): Fledgling.... Lot 36

Helen Elizabeth PHILLIPS (1913-1984): Fledgling. Sculpture in gilded metal with patina. Not signed. Height: 64 cm (small lack of stability between the sculpture and the wooden base) Reproduced on a plate of a concert "Song and piano" with Alice Brewer-Pole (soprano) and Margaret Burchard-Woodward (pianist). Helen PHILLIPS is an American printmaker and sculptor, born in Fresno, California. After studying at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco with Ralph Stackpole (1932-1936), she moved to Paris in 1936 and became close to the Surrealist movement. She studied engraving with Stanley William Hayter, who became her husband in 1940. She also became interested in sculpture, particularly polished bronze, developing a semi-abstract figuration influenced by Brancusi, the Surrealists and Pre-Columbian statuary. In the 40s and 50s, the artist created works (bronzes) with anthropomorphic forms. In the 1960s, Helen Phillips' work began to enter important collections, including those of Peggy Guggenheim, Roland Penrose, and various American museums (Museum of Modern Art New York, Bank America World Headquarters, De Young Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Dallas Museum of Contemporary Art, Albright-Knox Museum, ... .