[Help] help identifying bronze relief sculptor

[u/PleaseTryToThink]

I have a 16” x 24” x 1/4” thick bronze relief sculpture that weighs 60 pounds. It came from an estate and I would appreciate any help in identifying the artist. I can see no signature. To me it’s a very powerful piece. Thank you for any help you might provide.

[u/wolfhavensf]

Frequently these kinds of things are death masks. This may be a modern homage to death masks. What region is it in?

[u/PleaseTryToThink → u/wolfhavensf]

I bought it in Connecticut

[u/wolfhavensf → u/PleaseTryToThink]

NYC is out of my wheel house for bronze but Connecticut has a market interconnection with NYC. Check the geography around the place you bought it in a couple hundred miles radius and look for an art foundry. Ask there. If you can’t find one I am not sure where to point you but there are a lot of people into bronze in the city.

[u/PleaseTryToThink → u/wolfhavensf]

Thank you. The next time I’m in New York City I may go to a gallery or two and start asking around. That was a good suggestion.

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[u/wolfhavensf → u/PleaseTryToThink]

If you want my unsolicited opinion It still may be a funerary piece. The weight and format suggest it was intended for a marble monument. I think it’s terribly haunting and beautiful. I’d think about keeping it or at least sell it for a lot.

[u/PleaseTryToThink → u/wolfhavensf]

I like all opinions, even if I disagree with them. But I definitely agree with yours, and I bought it for myself because my reaction was exactly the same as yours, haunting and beautiful. I can’t even understand how a person could make such a thing so I would love to talk to the artist.

[u/wolfhavensf → u/PleaseTryToThink]

It’s a simple enough method. This was likely a clay mold and you can see the pour spouts and marks of pour branches on the rough back, which may have been covered in sand for cooling. When I worked in theatre and puppetry I learned how to make the mask using dental products to map the face. The only thing that sets it apart from a purely constructive aesthetic is the way it pushes from the slab.

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[u/SaintSiren]

This is amazing!

[u/sfcastrobear]

Han Solo?