: Gerald Peters Gallery, 24 East 78th Street, is presenting,
through December 17, an examination of 100 years of American
sculptural traditions in "Cast & Carved: American Sculpture
1850-1950."
The objects on view represent neoclassical, Beaux-Arts, Western
and Modernist styles of American sculpture and trace the
development of a uniquely American vision.
More than 60 artists are featured in the exhibition, including
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Frederic Remington, Paul Manship and
Isamu Noguchi. Works on view range in size from tabletop to
monumental and are composed of a variety of materials, including
bronze, wood and marble. The total weight of the exhibition's 90
works is approximately 10,000 pounds or five tons, an amount that
required the gallery to reinforce the floors of the Nineteenth
Century New York townhouse to ensure adequate support.
1800-1850
Early Nineteenth Century American sculptors were mostly
self-taught although they were influenced by the technical
resources, training and sculptural traditions of Europe. Before
the Civil War, the most promising American sculptors joined their
English and French counterparts in traveling to Florence and Rome
to learn and adopt the classical idiom.
Thomas Crawford arrived in Italy in the 1830s and was one of the
first American artists to compete internationally and achieve
commercial success outside of the United States. Crawford's "A
Boy and a Dog," 1854, is in the show.
During the 1840s and 1850s, a second generation of American
sculptors traveled to Italy to study, to compete in the Salons
and Expositions and to seek commissions. Their carvings are
imbued with Victorian sentiment and a new naturalism. Many of
these artists, including Harriet Hosmer, established studios in
Rome or Florence and relied upon wealthy Americans to visit their
studios and buy their work. The exhibition features Hosmer's
"Puck," carved before 1865. The sculpture was so popular upon its
completion that more than 30 examples of the work were carved.
Its size (31 inches) and affordable price contributed to the
demand for the piece in both England and America.
1850-1900
Beginning in the 1850s, bronze sculptures were cast in America
and artists favored a more naturalistic style that was perceived
as modern and independently American. After the Civil War, the
demand for statues commemorating war heroes led to the birth of a
new American industry, the art foundry.
The 1870s saw a sustained preference for sculpture cast in
bronze, a desire for subjects uniquely American and nationalist
in spirit and for works to be made in the United States. Among
the sculptors known for creating these new "American" artworks
were Hermon Atkins MacNeil, Cyrus Dallin, Alexander Phimister
Proctor and two artists who dominated American art production
from 1880 until 1907, Daniel Chester French and Augustus
Saint-Gaudens.
The sculpture of Augustus Saint-Gaudens reflect a filtering of
antiquity and the Renaissance through a modern American
vocabulary. His early training as a cameo carver further honed by
two years in Italy studying early Renaissance carvings and long
sojourn in Paris learning modern sculpture techniques led to the
artist's unique ability to work in relief.
The highlight of "Cast & Carved" is the 8-foot-high marble,
"Armor Caritas," 1902, which exemplifies Saint-Gauden's mastery
of technical aspects of sculpture production and his success in
imbuing his sculpture with intimacy and personality.
1900-1910
Frederick MacMonnies was Saint-Gauden's studio assistant and in
the tradition of his teacher, he maintained a connection to
France by keeping a studio in Paris and being artistically loyal
to the Beaux Arts style. The exhibition's "Cupid on the Warpath"
and "Cupid Running" (1904-1906) are fine examples of MacMonnies's
sculpture. These works crowned the fountains at the former
Knickerbocker Hotel (in Times Square) and were removed with the
advent of Prohibition.
Despite his lack of formal training as a sculptor, Fred-eric
Remington is known for bronzes that exemplify some of the most
advanced casting in the early Twentieth Century. Initially
trained as a painter at Yale University, Remington was among the
first well-known American sculptors who did not train in Europe,
did not belong to any of the academies nor compete for
commissions.
After 1900, Remington began using the lost wax method, which
allowed him to create more details in the wax and cast complex
groups of horses and figures. The result was an unparalleled
depiction of horses bucking precariously, racing at full gallop
or in descent without the need of support structures. A superb
and rare example of "Bronco Buster with Wooly Chaps #44," 1906,
is included in the show.
1910-1950
The work of Paul Manship combined classical motifs, streamlined
silhouettes and decorative elements of the Art Deco movement with
an unrivaled surface treatment, evident in works such as the
exhibition's "Europa and the Bull," 1924. The exhibition also
includes a bronze figure of a "Tortoise," 1936-37.
"Standing Figure," John Flanagan, circa 1928. Carved stone.
With the advent of World War I, a wave of immigrant artists
introduced contemporary styles such as Cubism and constructivism
and a predilection for new sculptural techniques. The American
reaction was to absorb some of these lessons, particularly that of
direct carving. American artists John Flanagan and William Zorach
were important proponents of direct carving and both were firmly
rooted in the figural tradition. Examples of Flanagan and Zorach's
sculpture in "Cast & Carved" are "Standing Figure," circa 1928,
and "Gemini (Twins)," 1950, respectively.
Austrian-born Chaim Gross also practiced direct carving, using
simple exaggerated and distorted proportions of the body as
design elements while retaining a sense of human personality and
organic movement. Gross's "Abstract Figure," 1940, is exhibited.
Max Weber, Gaston Lachaise and Elie Nadelman, who all came from
Europe before World War I, as well as expatriate John Storrs,
defined innovative and eccentric concept of American sculpture
before 1940. Both Storrs and Weber worked in a nonobjective
language. "Figure in Rotation," 1917, depicts Weber's renewed
interest in African sculpture, as well as the Cubist work of
Picasso and Braque. Lachise's erotic treatment of the figure,
exaggerated proportions and his obsession with mass are
exemplified by "Dancing Nude," 1928.
Elie Nadelman was also influenced by American culture, more
specifically folk art, which he superimposed upon his classical
imagery. Nadelman is represented by "High Kicker," circa
1920-1924, in "Cast & Carved." Isamu Noguchi's untitled,
1943-49, is one among many examples of American artists defining
themselves on their own terms.
Gerald Peters Gallery is open Monday-Saturday, from 10 am to 5
pm. For information, www.gpgallery.com or 212-628-9760.
