-Liuba Wolf 1970 Concretism Sculptural Pendant Necklace Chain In 18Kt Yellow Gold

Sculptural necklace designed by Liuba Wolf.

Extremely rare sculptural necklace, created in Sao Paulo Brazil by the artist Liuba Wolf, back in the 1970. This fantastic piece is a one of a kind and has been crafted with concretism art patterns in solid rich yellow of of 18 karats with textured surfaces. The main pendant is completely chiseled with irregular hammered finishes and sharp edges It is fitted with a removable chain in suite, which is composed of twenty six geometric links of different lenght and a security hook lock.

Weight: 108.52 Grams, (69.57 Dwt).

Size: The lenght of the chain is 25 Inches, (63.5 Cm).

Measurements: The main sculpture pendant is 55 mm by 71 mm by 10 mm (2.16 x 2.79 0.39 Inches).

Hallmarks: Stamped with the designer artist name, the mark for the assay of the gold, the edition number and signed, "LIUBA .750 1/30 1/50".

Edition: Brazil Sao Paulo 1/30 for the pendant and 1/50 for the geometric chain, the authorized edition was only of 30 and 50 pieces, respectively but the production was never completed and only the number 1 of each one was made. Both pieces are stamped with the edition numbers.

Liuba Wolf

She born as Liuba Boyadjieva in Sofia Bulgaria in 1923. She was raised in a privileged, cultivated milieu by a writer mother and industrialist father who (he also played the violin) instilled in her a taste for music. The artist received a humanistic education, studying Greek and Latin and mastering the piano. When her family moved to Geneva, she attended art school and developed a special interest in sculpture. Later, she studied in Zurich under Germaine Richier (1904-1958), a renowned artist of the Paris School.
This contact with Germaine Richier had a strong impact on Liuba Boyadjieva’s education as a modern sculpture and left a deep imprint on her understanding of sculpture. In those years, in Zurich, she was also in contact with a group of important artists, like, among others, Marino Marini and Arthur Honnegger. At the end of the war, when Richier reopened her atelier in Paris, Liuba moved to the French capital and continued her studies with her teacher until 1949. Her social circle in France included Zadkine, Viera da Silva, Alberto Magnelli, among others. She traveled often throughout Europe and visited the most important museums. Liuba Boyadjieva came to Brazil, married the industrialist and collector Ernesto Wolf in 1958, and lived between São Paulo and Paris, keeping studios in both cities. She became a naturalized Brazilian citizen. She developed a personal way of working her sculptures and achieved full artistic maturity. In the 1960s and 1970s, Liuba Wolf exhibited her work in several cities around the world and achieved international recognition. In 2001, on the occasion of her exhibition at Achim Moeller Fine Art. Rizzoli (New York) published a book celebrating Wolf’s art and featuring Sam Hunter’s essay “Liuba: At the Edge of Abstraction.” Among the central features of Liuba Wolf’s work are her expressive power, the surface’s play between the smooth and the textured, and rusticity. Verticality is another key characteristic, as well as the gesturalism of the forms. Figurative early on in her career, Wolf’s works became abstracted starting in the 1950s, but there always remained an archaic memory that referred back to primitive archetypes. Some critics, like Sam Hunter, see in those shapes a reference to pre-Columbian realities. Another highlight is a degree of surrealism in Wolf’s abstraction, yet critics mostly underscore the fact that she situated her sculptures at the border between abstraction and figuration, as well as the force of imagination in the conception of the works. On more than one occasion Liuba Wolf said that her forms are born from the subconscious. For her, they are “bugs”, animals, but they can also be plants or roots. They could be totems, in a symbiosis between the animal and the plant worlds, according to another observer, artist Emmanoel Araújo. Liuba Wolf stated once in an interview that her work “finds inspiration in natural shapes.” The exhibition at the Lasar Segall Museum made it possible for visitors to reengage with Liuba Wolf’s sculpture, revitalizing the aesthetic dynamics it prompts in its viewers. Curators Jorge Schwartz and Marcelo Monzani selected twenty-seven works for exhibition, and situated Liuba Wolf as one of Brazil’s most important female sculptures, alongside María Martins, Felícia Leirner, Sonia Ebling, and Pola Resende. (Moeller fine art with thanks).

Concrete Art

This term, was coined in 1930 by Theo Van Doesburg in his manifesto "Concrete Art", written in response to the formation of the association "Cercle et Carré". The document was signed by Hélion, Carlsund, Tutundjian and Wantz. When Van Doesburg died in 1931, his ideas were taken up at the end of the 1930s by two Swiss artists, Max Bill and Jean Arp, who published several works and held important exhibitions of painting, sculpture and applied arts. The denomination "concrete" or "concretism" is assumed in Switzerland in the post-war period by artists working in the current of geometric abstraction. The relationship between abstraction and concrete art is evident in the exhibition at the René Drouin Gallery in Paris in 1945, since it is the first important exhibition of abstract art, and its title was precisely “Art Concret”. In this art all kinds of illusionism are excluded; the work and the elements of which it consists are presented strictly for what they are, without virtual qualities. Materials do not simulate anything other than themselves. The slogan “real materials, real space” is often used in relation to this art form.

Literature: Rizzoli, New York 2001, “Liuba: At the Edge of Abstraction.”. published book celebrating Wolf’s art and featuring Sam Hunter’s essay. For similar large sculptures illustrated.

Note: We are offering in our other listing, the clip on earrings in suite to this necklace.

Collateral: It is accompanied by a presentation jewelry box.

Condition: The overall condition of this necklace is excellent. Beside the little normal wear, there is no damage to the gold. All parts are secured in the settings. This necklace has been carefully inspected to guarantee the condition and authenticity.

INVENTORY REF: N111723RTAR/2.608