Herbert Ferber (American, 1906-1991) , "Peace", from the Peace Portfolio I, pencil signed and dated "Ferber, 70", 21"h x 26"w (sheet), loose and unframed
Silkscreen with handpainted unique ink and gouache additions. Signed, dated and numbered in pencil. Framed. 29 1/2 x 10 5/8"; 32 7/8 x 13 3/4" (overall). Provenance: Andre Emmerich Gallery. New York City.
American, 1906-1991 Maquette for Wall Sculpture 1, 1979 Steel 19 1/2 x 23 x 11 1/2 inches (49.5 x 58.4 x 29.2 cm) Dust and grime in crevices. Patina is uneven throughout. No apparent breaks or losses.
American, 1906-1991 Maquette for Wall Sculpture 1, 1979 Steel 19 1/2 x 23 x 11 1/2 inches (49.5 x 58.4 x 29.2 cm) Dust and grime in crevices. Patina is uneven throughout. No apparent breaks or losses.
(New York/Massachusetts, 1906-1991) Mercury I, 1955, signed in sculpture "Ferber/55", stamped at base of sculpture "Justrue - Patented", brass mounted on original painted wood base, 50-5/8 x 47 x 14 in.; with natural tree trunk pedestal, 38 x 12 x 12 in. Provenance: Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, Inc. (accompanied by a facsimile of a 1961 letter of appraisal from the gallery); Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence C. Kline; by descent in family Note: Herbert Ferber was influenced and created within the in the surroundings of European Surrealism in New York City in the 1940s, but wished not to be constrained by their ideologies. His sculptures were among the earliest Abstract Expressionist sculptural pieces then being made, much of which involved welding brass and copper, allowing him to make open sculptures described by some as "Surreal Abstraction". He was close to some of the "Irascibles" and considered himself aligned with their cause. For another from the series see: Christie's New York, Post War and Contemporary Sale, September 23, 2003, lot 19, sold for $11,950.
American, 1906-1991 Maquette for Wall Sculpture 1, 1979 Steel 19 1/2 x 23 x 11 1/2 inches (49.5 x 58.4 x 29.2 cm) Dust and grime in crevices. Patina is uneven throughout. No apparent breaks or losses.
Herbert Ferber (1906-1991) "Sir James I," from "George's Series," 1987 Acrylic and canvas collage on paper mounted to plywood panel Initialed lower right: HF; signed, titled, and dated, verso; titled again on a gallery label, affixed verso
Herbert Ferber Number 15 1972 gouache and collage on paper sight: 11 h x 22.375 w in (28 x 57 cm) Signed and dated to lower right 'Ferber 72'. Provenance: Millea Bros Ltd. Boonton, NJ, The Ciba-Geigy Art Collection, 9 November 2013, Lot 1393 | Private Collection, New Jersey This work will ship from Lambertville, New Jersey.
Herbert Ferber (1906-1991) Spheroid, 1954-1962 Copper and brass 36 x 23 x 24 inches (91.4 x 58.4 x 61.0 cm) Signed and dated: Ferber 54-62 PROVENANCE: Hackett Mill, San Francisco, California; Private collection, acquired from the above. EXHIBITED: Knoedler & Company, New York, "Herbert Ferber: Calligraph Emblem of Motion," October 4-November 10, 2001, no. 2; Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, California, "A Culture in the Making: Art Miami Basel," December 6-10, 2006, illustrated in the catalogue, p. 49; Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, California, "Synchronies: Undercurrents in Postwar Abstraction," January 8-February 28, 2009; National Academy Museum, New York, "Wired, Welded, Cast & Carved: Abstract American Sculpture 1952-1962," September 17-December 12, 2009; Hackett Mill, San Francisco, California, "Transcendent," April 9-July 2, 2010; Hackett Mill, San Francisco, California, "Symbiosis: Conversations Between East and West," October 7-December 23, 2011. LITERATURE: W.V. Anderson, The Sculpture of Herbert Ferber, Minneapolis, 1962, p. 61, no. 180, not illustrated (as Spheroid with Cluster); F.W. McDarrah and G.S. McDarrah, The Artist's World in Pictures, New York, 1988, p. 143, illustrated. HID01801242017
Artist: Herbert Ferber, American (1906 - 1991) Title: Peace from the Peace Portfolio Year: 1970 Medium: Screenprint, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 175 Size: 21 in. x 26 in. (53.34 cm x 66.04 cm)
Herbert Ferber (American, 1906-1991) "Warren I", 1968 copper sculpture cast signature and dated along interior of one curve, on a black metal base. h. 21-1/2", w. 18", d. 18", base h. 18-1/2", w. 13", d. 13" Provenance: Knoedler & Company, New York, New York; Collection of Polly and Ed Renwick, New Orleans, Louisiana. Notes: I think of my sculpture as consisting of forms, spaces, planes, biomorphic shapes, geometric shapes in relation to each other as if there was a kind of choreography taking place. At a certain moment, in any choreographed dance, there is a stop, a pause. Similarly, there is a pause in the sculpture. If your eye moves, the choreography, the dance, continues and as you move around such a piece of sculpture or in the 'Environment', the relationship of the parts changes optically. A kind of movement occurs. Herbert Ferber ArtForum, April 1971
Herbert Ferber (American, 1906-1991) Maquette for Homage to Piranesi V , 1965 copper incised Ferber and dated Height: 19 1/2 inches. Property from the Collections of Webster University, Sold to Benefit the Student Experience
Herbert Ferber (American, 1906-1991), Untitled, 1974, watercolor on paper, signed and dated lower right, sheet: 14"h x 25.5"w, overall (with frame): 23.5"h x 35"w. Provenance: Private collection of composer and art dealer Robert Aichele.
Herbert Ferber (American, 1906-1991), Untitled, 1974, watercolor on paper, signed and dated lower right, sheet: 14"h x 25.5"w, overall (with frame): 23.5"h x 35"w. Provenance: Private collection of composer and art dealer Robert Aichele.
Herbert Ferber Untitled 1946 patinated bronze, fiberboard 5 h × 8.375 w × 4 d in (13 × 21 × 10 cm) Incised signature and date near base 'Ferber 46'. This work will ship from Los Angeles, California.
Herbert Ferber American, 1906-1991 Event Horizon, 1975 Signed and dated Ferber 1975 on the reverse Acrylic on canvas 84 x 124 inches (213 x 315 cm) Provenance: M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York C Estate of a Boca Raton and Manhattan Lady
Lot 12 Herbert Ferber American (1906-1991) Circle with Four Elements III (1978) weathered copper with green patina on slate base incised signature and 'C78' on plaque affixed to the base 80 x 94 x 45 inches Provenance: From the Mazer Collection
Artist: Herbert Ferber, American (1906 - 1991) Title: Peace from the Peace Portfolio Year: 1970 Medium: Screenprint, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 175 Size: 21 in. x 26 in. (53.34 cm x 66.04 cm)
Herbert Ferber (American, 1906-1991) Sculptural Frieze, 1970 color screenprint with mixed media signed and dated lower right A.P. lower left blindstamp lower right edge 10 1/2" x 29 3/8"
Herbert FERBER (1906 - 1991) WALL SCULPTURE #3 (SEMAPHORE SERIES) - 1984 Acrylique sur toile et assemblage en acier peint Signé et daté deux fois en bas au centre "Ferber, 84" et sur une plaque en bas à droite "Ferber, 84" h: 47 w: 42 d: 16 cm Provenance : Collection particulière, France A l'actuel propriétaire par descendance Commentaire : Acrylic on canvas and painted steel assemblage; signed and dated twice lower centre and on a plate lower right Estimation 1 000 - 1 500 €
Lot 33 Herbert Ferber American (1906-1991) Glover (1970) screenprint, gouache and watercolor on wove paper signed lower right, numbered 32/75 sheet: 10 1/2 x 29 1/2 inches Additional Information: hand-painted screenprint Provenance: André Emmerich Gallery, NY label and stamp verso
Herbert Ferber Caligraph 1966 bronze 9 h × 4 w × 3 d in (23 × 10 × 8 cm) Incised signature and date to base 'HF 66'. Provenance: Private Collection | Private Collection, Pennsylvania This work will ship from Rago in Lambertville, New Jersey. Condition of the item is not included in this description. Condition reports are available from Rago upon request. Rago strongly recommends that you review a condition report for each item on which you plan to bid. Email condition@ragoarts.com to request a condition report.
Herbert Ferber American, 1906-1991 Williams IV, 1976 Signed and dated Ferber 76 on the reverse Brass 13 5/8 x 18 1/4 x 11 3/4 inches (34.6 x 46.3 x 29.8 cm) Provenance: Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York Private collection, CT, purchased from the above in 1977 Thence by descent to the estate C Estate of a Prominent Connecticut Collector
Herbert Ferber American 1906-1991 Caligraph August, 1964 Signed Ferber and dated 64 on metal plate at bottom Epoxy resin and fiberglass 47 1/2 x 24 x 7 inches (120.7 x 61 x 17.8 cm) •
HERBERT FERBER Study for Williams V. Watercolor on paper, 1977. 500x630 mm; 19 1/2x24 3/4 inches. Signed and dated in watercolor, lower right recto. Ex-collection private collection, New York. The current work is a study for Ferber's (1906-1991) sculpture series titled Williams, which the artist executed from circa 1976. In this series, Ferber used flattened vertical pylons so that the vertical linear elements would not be immediately apparent. In this way, the center horizontal forms appear as if they are floating with hidden means of support. Ferber, born Herbert Ferber Silver, began his fine art studies at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, New York while simultaneously training in dentistry. Ferber opened his own dentistry practice in 1934 and continued his artistic pursuits at the National Academy of Design. He had a broad range of interests including philosophy and was well-traveled throughout Europe and Central America. Influenced by the modernist artist William Zorach (1887-1966, see lots 61-63), Ferber used the direct-carving process in creating his sculptures. The majority of his earlier works were carved in wood before he moved towards raw materials, cast metal and eventually to welding. Ferber's sculptural forms reference his travel experiences; influenced by medieval French architecture, African and Pre-Columbian sculpture. His later work ranged from abstract, calligraphic forms to his self-contained cage structures of the 1960s. These structures are a departure from Surrealism with an imposing stature though seemingly weightless and unburdened. With a focus on the experience of the viewer and their relationship to their surroundings, Ferber created one of the first large-scale indoor installations, A Sculpture as Environment for the Whitney Museum in 1961. A realized brass sculpture from the Williams series, Williams 2B, sold Christie's East, New York, November 17, 1992, lot 227.
Artist: Herbert Ferber, American (1906 - 1991) Title: Peace from the Peace Portfolio Year: 1970 Medium: Silkscreen, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 175 Size: 21 in. x 26 in. (53.34 cm x 66.04 cm)
Herbert Ferber Calligraph 1966 bronze 8.75 h × 3 w × 4 d in (22 × 8 × 10 cm) Signed and dated to base 'HF 66'. condition: Good condition. Mounted to black Lucite base.
Herbert Ferber (American, 1906-1991) Herbert Ferber (American, 1906-1991)Untitledsigned and dated 'Feber 74' (to one side)copperHeight: 11 in. (28 cm.)Executed in 1974.
HERBERT FERBER Abstract Composition. Watercolor on paper, 1979. 225x300 mm; 9x12 inches. Signed and dated "11/79" in ink, lower right. Ex-collection private collection, New Jersey.
HERBERT FERBER (american, 1906-1991) "INTERLOKEN" Signed, titled and dated 79 verso, acrylic on canvas (relief). 62 x 89 x 13 1/2 in. (157.5 x 226.1 x 34.3cm) provenance: M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, New York. Irving Galleries, Palm Beach, Florida. Private Collection, McLean, Virginia (acquired directly from the above in 1983). Freeman's, Philadelphia, Modern & Contemporary Art, May 8, 2017, lot 34. Private Collection (acquired directly from the above).
Artist: Herbert Ferber, American (1906 - 1991) Title: Peace from the Peace Portfolio Year: 1970 Medium: Silkscreen, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 175 Size: 21 in. x 26 in. (53.34 cm x 66.04 cm)
HERBERT FERBER (1906-1991): UNTITLED Patinated brass and copper, 1957, signed 'Ferber' and dated on the reverse. 17 x 8 x 6 in. Note: American artist Herbert Ferber was a New York School painter and sculptor best-known for his soldered and welded metal sculptures. Ferber studied fine art in the evenings while attending Columbia University Dental School and practiced as a dentist while pursuing his art from 1930 into the 1950s. By the mid-1950s, he dedicated himself totally to his art, becoming one of the leading Abstract Expressionist sculptors and an important member of the group of American artists who pioneered the Ab Ex movement in the years following World War II.
HERBERT FERBER (american, 1906-1991) "INTERLOKEN" Signed, titled and dated 79 verso, acrylic on canvas (relief). 62 x 89 x 13 1/2 in. (157.5 x 226.1 x 34.3cm) provenance: M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, New York. Irving Galleries, Palm Beach, Florida. Private Collection, McLean, Virginia (acquired directly from the above in 1983).
Artist: Herbert Ferber, American (1906 - 1991) Title: Peace from the Peace Portfolio Year: 1970 Medium: Silkscreen, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 175 Size: 21 in. x 26 in. (53.34 cm x 66.04 cm)
Herbert Ferber (1906-2006) Homage to Piranesi, 1965 Corten steel 19-1/2 x 12 x 11 inches (49.5 x 30.5 x 27.9 cm) Incised with signature and date on the base Placed side-by-side with Adolph Gottlieb's Apaquogue, Herbert Ferber's dynamic, calligraphic Homage to Piranesi asserts his role as the leading sculptor of the Abstract Expressionist generation. His path to these gestural, open forms, called "drawing in space," was somewhat circuitous. Initially Ferber trained to become a dentist; while studying in the late 1920s at the Columbia University Dental School, he took evening classes at the Beaux Arts Institute of Design, piquing his interest in sculpture. During the 1930s, he maintained a dentistry practice in New York City and, in his spare time, made rounded, figurative woodcarvings evoking Romanesque art and the contemporary work of Aristide Maillol and Gaston Lachaise. After seeing the sculpture of Henry Moore at the Curt Valentin Gallery in 1944, Ferber adopted a more massive, monolithic style and first experimented with abstraction in solid masses. From Moore, he also developed a rigorous preliminary drawing technique, for each sculpture making one or two quick concept drawings and then "full-blown wash drawings which generally are set in a vast landscape" (W. Agee, Herbert Ferber: Sculpture, Painting, Drawing: 1945-1980, Houston, 1983, p. 12). Ferber's interest in drawing led him to Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso, who in the mid-1940s were engaged in biomorphic Surrealism. Borrowing their curvilinear, whiplash, and spiky forms, Ferber modeled attenuated, hollowed-out bronzes resting on multiple points rather than on a flat base. Resembling praying mantises or tangles of bones and toothy saws, his Surrealist-phase sculptures embraced a new airiness and intricacy. A major shift occurred in Ferber's work around 1950 as he began to conceive of sculpture as a holistic environment. The art historian William Agee explained, "Dissatisfied with the extreme attenuation his drawing [and sculpture] had reached, he now sought something more solid and substantial within a contained, clearly defined space" (Agee, p. 19). To achieve this goal, Ferber abandoned the interlacing biomorphic forms of Surrealist sculpture in favor of thicker, abstracted curves and geometric shapes welded together-the effect of a giant three-dimensional Chinese character or "calligraph." He then placed these calligraphs within a "space frame" consisting of a roof, platform, and thin side support bars. The space frame simulated the edges of a two-dimensional canvas or piece of paper. Yet by leaving the sides mostly open, Ferber ensured that the interior forms could extend beyond the frame into the viewer's environment. Indeed, the concept of viewer interaction with sculpture in the round had impacted Ferber on several formative occasions. In 1938 in Florence, he had viewed Donatello's Prophets in their original location in elevated niches on the façade of the Duomo; when he returned to Florence in 1948, the sculptures had been moved to the Museo dell' Duomo, and he was able to walk around them: "In his eyes they had been transformed from a remote image to an intense presence, confirming his belief that one 'must engage space physically to experience its symbolic attributes'" (Agee, p. 21). Similarly, in 1951 while producing a commission for the Congregation B'Nai Israel synagogue in Millburn, New Jersey-a 13 x 8' geometric wall sculpture interpreting the biblical "burning bush"-Ferber "constantly had to crawl in and around it, and he came to feel as if he were actually 'in the painting' as Pollock had referred to the process of making drip pictures" (Ibid., p. 21). With their twisting and thrusting geometric forms projecting beyond the frame at eye level, Ferber's "roof" or "space-frame" sculptures from the 1950s, such as Roofed Sculpture with S Curve II (1954), Sun Wheel (1956), and Calligraph with Sloping Roof, Two Walls II (1957-63), insist upon the viewer's engagement. In this regard, they resemble Abstract Expressionist paintings by Pollock, Gottlieb, Mark Rothko, and others, where the large scale and gestural paint create an environment that encompasses the viewer. In the early 1960s, Ferber's "roof" sculptures evolved into his "cage" sculptures. Wanting to explore further the relationship between curving organic forms and their geometric enclosure, he removed the heavy roof and pedestal from his earlier works, leaving only a thin box frame. The sweeping, turning interior forms now extended in all directions beyond the cage, which simultaneously supported and failed to contain them. His earliest cage series, Homage to Piranesi, was inspired by Giovanni Battista Piranesi's 1745 Carceri d'invenzione, sixteen etchings depicting fantastical subterranean prisons with towers, bridges, and staircases. In these baroque inventions, Piranesi plays with contrasts between light and dark and curved and geometric forms, while evoking in the viewer feelings of claustrophobia and a desire to break free. The magnificent present lot, Homage to Piranesi, in simulating the effects of Piranesi's etchings, sums up Ferber's mature body of work. Here, welded steel pieces compose a calligraph that is both elegant in its graceful curves and dark patina, and powerful in its rough seams and forceful pushing beyond the bars of the cage. At the same time that the calligraph strains to break out of its geometric confines, its whimsical, opened-up shape invites the viewer into its environment, encouraging interaction from different vantage points. Like Piranesi's Carceri d'invenzione, Ferber's Homage balances shapes, light, and mass--geometric bars versus curvilinear calligraph, dark positive space versus light negative space, and anchored versus free-floating forms. The art historian Stephen Polcari elaborates on how the dualities inherent in Ferber's sculpture signified the very essence of Abstract Expressionism: "The [Homage to Piranesi] series, for example, exemplifies the nature of this more abstract drama. The cage itself alludes to the idea of the labyrinth, a recurring preoccupation of the culture in his youth. Yet in the contrast between curving edged planes and the flaring (and thus activated) frame, Ferber has established conflicts between openness and enclosure, thickness and thinness, rough edges and smooth surfaces, and organic growth and ratiocinative order-between the various grand dualities of birth and death, creation and destruction, and 'inner' and 'outer' that mark his generation's history. Ferber's Abstract Expressionism translates and transmogrifies those impulses into myth and abstract art (S. Polcari, Herbert Ferber: Calligraph, Emblem of Motion, New York, 2001, p. 12). HID04901242017
Peace from the Peace Portfolio. Serigraph, 20th century. Signed lower right and numbered 134/175 lower left. Sheet size 20.75 x 26 inches. Notice to bidders: Condition reports and additional photographs are provided by request as a courtesy to our clients, as such any condition report is only an opinion and should not be treated as a statement of fact. The absence of a condition report does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free of defects, imperfections, restoration, wear and tear, or the effects of aging. Capo Auction shall have no responsibility for any error or omission, additionally all lots are sold 'As Is' and in accordance with the conditions of sale.
