Mid-Century Modern Hivo Van Teal Lucite Sculpture Skyline

Description: Estate Find Mid-Century ModernVan Teal Lucite Sculpture Skyline We offer a vintage Lucite sculpture from the 1970s by Hivo Van Teal depicting the skyline shapes of buildings in his home town of Miami, Florida. The sculpture is signed “Van Teal” on the front right corner of the base. The sculpture measures 12 3/4” in width and 11 1/8” in depth with a height of 23 1/2”.As seen in the photographs, there is a small fleabite on the bottom right front edge. Overall the sculpture is in excellent vintage condition. Hivo Van Teal As a young boy in Cuba, Hivo G. Van Teal grew up yearning to be an architect. “Unfortunately, the Cuban Communist revolution in 1959 took over and destroyed my dreams,” he explains. Months later he emigrated to the U.S. with his father. Broke, but feeling a great spirit of liberty and opportunity, Hivo started working in Coral Gables, Fla., first as a taxi driver and then as a house painter. Filled with ambition, he went to school and became a licensed general contractor. In 1967, Hivo built his first spec house and his business quickly took off. “My artistic spirit began to grow and I started creating – as a hobby – clear acrylic sculptures,” Hivo states. “Acrylic was a medium familiar to me. When I was 13 years old in Cuba, I helped a Havana sculptor who had been experimenting with acrylic, which had been a secret military product that had just arrived in Havana.” Creating sculpture shapes in acrylic soon became a passion. “In 1974, I opened a 600-sq.-ft. studio close to my house in Miami Beach. Together with my wife Estela, I made my first sculptures named Family, Atlanta, and Prism. A friend of mine who was a furniture representative saw them and exhibited them at a show in Miami Beach. “Euster Furniture was one of the most exclusive high-end showrooms in Miami, and Mr. Euster was very impressed with my sculptures and gave us a $10,000 order,” Hivo recalls. “And that was the beginning of Van Teal, Inc.” Soon, art galleries in Florida and tony retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue in Bal Harbour and I. Magnin in Washington D.C. began selling Van Teal sculptures. In 1976, Van Teal Inc. opened its first showroom at the High Point Market in North Carolina. “Always wanting to expand, I created a line of acrylic flowers with harmonic colors. I didn’t want green – this was a “fantasy garden,” Hivo remarks. The company sold a lot of acrylic florals to retailers ranging from high-end decorative showrooms to mass merchandisers like Levitz, Wicks, and Sears. “My passion for form, proportions, and color led me to create something innovative – and that was Van Teal Lamps,” Hivo states. Soon, he began making chandeliers, torchieres, sconces, and table lamps in addition to decorative accessories and wall fixtures. The line is now shown at High Point Market, the Dallas Market Center, and at other residential and hospitality venues. Van Teal is a member of the Hospitality Sustainable Purchasing Index Consortium and the hand-workmanship and capabilities of its Miami factory has given the company an edge in creating custom designs for high-end residences as well as hotels, restaurants, and public areas. Van Teal has been singled out for excellence by winning First Prize for Contemporary Sculptures from ACCA (1986, ’87, ’89, ’90, and ’92) plus received two ARTS Awards (1995 and 1996). Excerpt from “Hivo Van Teal: Living the American Dream”Linda Longo April 5, 2013enLIGHTenment Magazine

Price: 950 USD

Location: Austin, Texas

End Time: 2025-01-16T20:36:10.000Z

Shipping Cost: 12.5 USD