Hand Carved Wood Busts, J Alberdi Mid-Century Carving, Old Man & Woman, Bookends

Hand Carved Wood Busts, J Alberdi Mid-Century Carving, Old Man & Woman, Bookends

Set of 2 hand-carved wooden sculptures / busts of an old man and an old woman. These could also be used as bookends.

These are not signed, but are clearly artist hand-crafted, and most likely attributable to the well-known Spanish artist Jose Alberdi, who was famous for his mid-century hand-carved wooden busts of old Basque men and women.

Each bust is about 8 inches tall, and 4 inches wide. They are quite heavy - each one weighs about 2 pounds.

They are in overall excellent vintage condition. The man has a couple of minor condition issues: I believe he had a pipe in his mouth that is missing (there is a small hole where the pipe would have fitted), and he has two scratches on the top of his hat and one side of his nose (see photos).

Artist Jose Alberdi was born in Spain in 1922 (he passed in 2008). He was from the Basque region between Spain and France, specifically the town of Azkoitia. He had to leave his country in the 1950''s due to the Basque wars, and he moved to the UK