A fabulous nice sized ceramic hippo pair by sculptor Paul Bellardo for Austin Productions circa 1980. They have wonderful presence. Beautiful pieces on a console & large enough to be placed on the floor to the side of a cabinet & for anyone who adores hippo & how can you not?
Bellardo made a family, two parents & child. They were originally referred to as Mama, Papa & Baby. I hear 'One human family.' The two pictured here are 'two adults.' The larger measures 12.5" h x 11" w x 9" d. The smaller measures 9" h x 9" l x 8.5 d. Listing as a pair through noon tomorrow. If they don't go as a pair, I'll sell separately. If interested in a singleton, send me a dm and if they are to be separated, I'll message you at noon tomorrow.
Paul Bellardo (1924-2017) was an American ceramic sculptor in the Modernist style. He graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and taught there for 10 years. He received a travel scholarship from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation. His first solo show was in 1965 at the DeCordova Museum of Fine Arts in Provincetown, MA, and resulted in the sale of 18 pieces to Walter P. Chrysler for the permanent collection of the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, VA. He also exhibited at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the George Walter Vincent Smith Museum, and the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, and has works are in numerous museum collections, including the New Orleans Museum of Art. Bellardo also sold his work out of his galleries of contemporary art and crafts in both Provincetown and New York City.
Austin Productions was founded in 1952 in Brooklyn, N.Y., as a museum reproduction company featuring selections from great art collections of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Asian, African and Contemporary sculpture. The company retired its entire line in 2009, giving rise to an active market of dealers and collectors.
