PHILIP AND KELVIN LAVERNE

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Philip LaVerne

Philip (born in 1907) and Kelvin (born in 1937) were father and son artists who worked together to create exceptional art pieces which were at times incorporated into furniture.  Each accomplished and talented in his own right, Philip and Kelvin's collaboration created a dynamic synergy.  Philip studied at the Arts Student League in New York.  Kelvin went City College in New York City and switched to Parsons for his last 2 years of university education.  Like his father, he also studied at the Arts Student League.  Both studied under well known sculptors. After finishing school in the early 1960’s, Kelvin joined his father and they began making art pieces in pewter and bronze, opening a showroom on East 57th Street in NYC.  Their first series, mostly made in the 1960’s, focused on historical civilizations, such as China, Greece, Rome, and Egypt but also touched on mythology, religion, and the arts.  Both intellectuals, they were inspired by music, opera, ballet, Impressionist painters and other forms of art. The pieces they created were and still are timeless, and are often times the focal points of many high end interiors.  The LaVernes experimented with chemical reactions and often buried their works in special soil which would interact with the metals and age them. Thus their artworks don’t just touch on historical themes, they actually have the appearance of antiquity.  This experimentation was totally unique and brings another dimension to their art.  After the Historical Civilizations Series, they moved onto abstract designs, such as Eternal Forest, Etruscan Round, and Fantasia.  These works are much less literal and are visually stunning. Always evolving, in the 1970’s they began working with molds and made cast pieces such as "Persephone Enslaved".   These pieces, very time consuming and expensive to make, are quite rare and were made in small editions, some are one-of-a-kinds.  They only made these for a few years and then later in the 1970’s they transitioned to hand-torched (welded) pieces. With hand-torched pieces, they moved headlong into abstract sculptures, like the one-of-a-kind masterpiece “Pas Du Trois” (shown in the phot below behind Kelvin LaVerne and Evan Lobel).  They created bronze sculptures which were incorporated into furniture such as the dining table "Symphony" and the coffee table "Wavecrest".  These pieces are truly exceptional and unique.   They continued to create works until Philip died in 1987 at which time Kelvin completed open orders and then ceased operations. With increasing awareness of their art, their works have become more and more prized by collectors and we expect that trend to only continue over time. 

Evan Lobel interviewing Kelvin LaVerne at his studio in Soho