1932 Adolf Wolff Bronze
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GUEST:
It was given to me by my father about 20 years ago, and he had gotten it from an estate of his family member.
APPRAISER:
Well, it is signed, and the artist's signature is over here on the left. It's signed Adolf Wolff. It's also dated 1932. He was Belgian of origin, but came to the U.S. as a child. And kind of an interesting character. He was an artist, a sculptor. He was also a poet. And he was also very involved in politics. A lot of artists were. I mean, his training was pretty conventional. He trained at the National Academy of Arts in New York, and then he became a little more radical. He taught at what was the Ferrer School, or the Modern School, in Harlem, that was founded by Emma Goldman, who was an anarchist.
GUEST:
Wow. Interesting.
APPRAISER:
He was friends with the artist Man Ray and it also seemed that there was some sort of goings-on between his ex-wife and Man Ray as well. So he was, you know, embroiled with some very interesting characters and very interesting times. There's also another marking here, which is a foundry mark. And this is for the Roman Bronze Works in New York City. The Roman Bronze Works was one of the leading foundries for art sculptors at the time. It's very much of a satirical play on Rodin's The Thinker.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
I think he was really putting a statement out there that, you know, Rodin had his man as a great thinker, and he thought differently. But, you know, it's a wonderful subject, it's a really well accomplished bronze. You can tell that the artist was mixing his politics with his art. He lived what he believed. And I'd say for an auction estimate, there's only one piece by this artist that I could find that had come up on the market...
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
And based on that, I'd put this in the... between $4,000 and $6,000.
GUEST:
Wow. Not bad. Gee, that's... that's great.
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