ANTHONY QUINN - (1915 - 2001)
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Mercedes Woman - view 1
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Mercedes Woman - view 2
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Wood assemblage sculptures
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Aztec Ancestor - view 1
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Aztec Ancestor - view 2
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Bird Yearning to Fly - view 1
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Bird Yearning to Fly - view 2
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Dancer - view 1
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Face & Hand Mirror - View 1
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Face & Hand Mirror - View 2
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Mountain Carving - view 2
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Mountain Carving - view 1
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Wood assemblage sculptures
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Peruvian Fragment
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True Lady
More Collections by ANTHONY QUINN - (1915 - 2001)
Bio
Anthony Quinn was a creative tour de force. Best known for his roles in more than 160 films, television programs, and theater productions — earning him two Academy Awards and six nominations — Quinn was also a writer and visual artist who spent the last seven years of his life in Bristol, Rhode Island. He wrote two autobiographies and produced thousands of works of art — paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures — in a wide range of media, from pencil and oil paint to marble and wood. It would seem from the breadth and scope of his artistic production that Quinn never stopped creating, not even for the few minutes between scenes on a movie shoot when he produced small sketches in pen and marker by the dozens. His content ranged from abstract geometric and organic forms to portraits, figure studies, and landscapes.
Statement
It was while filming the life of Antonio Stradivari, in Italy in 1988 and inspired by the artistic beauty and energy of his surroundings and by the magnificent sculptural contours of the masterful and timeless violins created by the character he was portraying that Anthony Quinn started sketching simple contour drawings during his breaks from filming. By the end of the summer, he had created more than seventy concept drawings.
Upon his return to New York he began translating his sketches into wooden maquettes. He worked meticulously developing the proportions and dimensions of each, and studied them from every angle to see how light and shadow played with their contoured surfaces. He caressed them with his hands, internalizing their beauty and their energy, envisioning them as larger than life sculptures.
Several of the maquettes were chosen to be interpreted in metal; some in bronze, others in steel, each one painted or patinated by Quinn’s own hands. No two sculptures alike. Of those, eight have been enlarged into monumental scale works.
