Item: Untitled Sculpture (Head)

Designer/Maker: Erik Gronborg – The Danish artist came to the states in 1959 and to UC Berkeley in 1960. There, he was instrumental in developing the artist-foundry movement begun at Peter Voulkos and Donald Haskin’s ‘Garbanzo Works,’ described by Joe Pugliese in 1963 as “ the most cooperative, most confused, most productive, and most slap stick do it yourself foundry operation ever on record.”

Gronborg’s style was utterly unique, he worked in both wood and cast metals and received the prestigious City of Paris Award at the 1963 Paris Bienale. As part of the landmark Onze Sculpteurs Americains, comprised of artists involved with the Berkeley art department, who received a special group prize, Gronborg was singled out for the Paris Bienale’s highest honor and had a solo show at the Musee d’Art Moderne in Paris.

This early stage in Gronborg’s career is well documented in Artforum Magazine and the Creative Casting exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in NYC (Gronborg and Harold Paris are shown working in the Berkeley foundry throughout the catalog), but it was only the beginning. He went on to national recognition as a ceramist often associated with the funk movement, and was included in major exhibitions like Objects:USA in 1969. After settling in San Diego in the mid 1970s, he began to make studio furniture that also won national acclaim and was featured in Dona Meilach’s important survey, Woodworking: the New Wave. Always an innovative and singular artist, Gronborg was central to some of the most significant American art and craft developments of the mid 20th century.

Description: A rare cast iron head done while the artist was at UC Berkeley. Much of Gronborg’s sculpture is rooted strongly in the figure and this piece demonstrates his exceptional approach. Noted for being “uninfluenced” by the Berkeley faculty – “it would be hard to find any similarities even with the work of Harold Paris, the artist to whom Gronborg feels most akin” – his work stands alone but his choice of materials, in this case cast iron, may be linked to Julius Schmidt, who had an affinity for the medium and was also part of the Berkeley foundry when Gronborg was there. Signed in pen.

Dimensions: 7 x 6 x 13 1/2“ high

Condition: Excellent

Price: HOLD

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