David Aronson

Bronze Plaque Sculpture Judaica Rabbi Figure Portrait American Boston Modernist

Aronson, David 1923- David Aronson, son of a rabbi, was born in Lithuania in 1923 and immigrated to America at the age of five. He settled in Boston, Massachusetts where he studied at the school of the Museum of Fine Arts under Karl Zerbe, a German painter well known in the early 1900s. Aronson later taught at the school of the Museum of Fine Arts for fourteen years and founded the School of Fine Art at Boston University where he is today a professor emeritus. An internationally renowned sculptor & painter, Aronson has won acclaim for his interpretation of themes from the Hebrew Talmud and Kabala. His best known works include bronze castings, encaustic paintings, and pastels. His work is included in many important public and private collections, and has been shown in several museum retrospectives around the country. He is considered to be one of the most important 20th century American artists. At twenty-two David Aronson had his first one-man show at New York's Niveau Gallery. The next year, six of his Christological paintings were included in the Fourteen Americans exhibition at Manhattan's Museum of Modern Art where Aronson’s work was included alongside abstract expressionists Arshile Gorky, Robert Motherwell and Isamu Noguchi. In the 1950s, Aronson turned more toward his Jewish heritage for the inspiration for his art. Folklore as well as Kabalistic and other transcendental writings influenced his work greatly. The Golem (a legendary figure, brought to life by the Maharal of Prague out of clay to protect the Jewish community during times of persecution) and the Dybbuk (an evil spirit that lodges itself in the soul of a living person until exorcised) frequently appear in his work. In the sixties, Aronson turned to sculpture. His work during this period is best exemplified by a magnificent 8’ x 4’ bronze door which now stands at the entrance to Frank Lloyd Wright's Johnson Foundation Conference Center for the Arts in Racine, Wisconsin. In the seventies and eighties, Aronson continued his work in pastel drawings, paintings, and sculptures, often exploring religion and the frailties of man's nature. During this time, in addition to a traveling retrospective exhibition and many one-man shows in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston at the Pucker-Safrai Gallery on Newbury Street, Aronson won many awards and became a member of the National Academy of Design in New York. Two years ago he retired from teaching to work full-time in his studio in Sudbury, Massachusetts. included in the catalog Contemporary Religious Imagery in American Art Catalog for an exhibition held at the Ringling Museum of Art, March 1-31, 1974. Artists represented: David Aronson, Leonard Baskin, Max Beckmann, Hyman Bloom, Fernando Botero, Paul Cadmus, Marvin Cherney, Arthur G. Dove, Philip Evergood, Adolph Gottlieb, Jonah Kinigstein, Rico Lebrun, Jack Levine, Louise Nevelson, Barnett Newman, Abraham Rattner, Ben Shahn, Mark Tobey, Max Weber, William Zorach and others. Selected Awards 1990, Certificate of Merit, National Academy of Design 1976, Purchase Prize, National Academy of Design 1976, Joseph Isidore Gold Medal, National Academy of Design 1976, Purchase Prize in Drawing, Albrecht Art Museum 1975, Isaac N. Maynard Prize for Painting, National Academy of Design 1973, Samuel F. B. Morse Gold Medal, National Academy of Design 1967, Purchase Prize, National Academy of Fine Arts 1967, Adolph and Clara Obrig Prize, National Academy of Design 1963, Gold Medal, Art Directors Club of Philadelphia 1961, 62, 63, Purchase Prize, National Institute of Arts and Letters 1960, John Siimon Guggenheim Fellowship 1958, Grant in Art, National Institute of Arts and Letters 1954, First Prize, Tupperware Annual Art Fund Award 1954, Grand Prize, Third Annual Boston Arts Festival 1953, Second Prize, Second Annual Boston Arts Festival 1952, Grand Prize, First Annual Boston Arts Festival 1946, Traveling Fellowship, School of the Museum of Fine Arts 1946, Purchase Prize, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts 1944, First Popular Prize, Institute of Contemporary Art 1944, First Judge's Prize, Institute of Contemporary Art Selected Public Collections Art Institute of Chicago Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Bryn Mawr College Brandeis University Tupperware Museum, Orlando, Florida DeCordova Museum Museum of Modern Art Print Collection, New York Atlanta University Atlanta Art...

Ted Egri (American, 1913-2010) Bronze sculpture Rabbi Signed Egri and numbered 4/30 on side. Dimensions: 12"L x 8.5"H x 6.75" D Born in New York city in 1913 to a Hungarian Jewish emigre family (both of his parents were born in Hungary), Egri was first exposed to music later dropping that for art. He studied with Howard Giles at the Master Institute of the Roerich Museum in New York where he was introduced to Oriental arts, Chinese and Japanese art forms, and later with Hans Hofmann. He worked for the Federal Arts Project, the WPA, making mural paintings and silkscreen prints as well as easel painting. Once WWII began, Egri signed up to serve as a map maker for the Navy, and was witness to some of the fiercest battles in the Pacific. As an artist, he painted many important depictions of his wartime experiences and these works have all be donated to the U.S. Naval Museum. Already a practicing painter and instructor at the Kansas City Art Institute, Ted Egri came to Taos, New Mexico with his wife Kit in 1950 to continue his study of painting at Ribak's Taos Valley Art School on the GI Bill. Louis Ribak quickly introduced Egri to Eulalia Emetaz, the owner of La Galleria Escondida, who gave him his first one-person show in 1951. A prolific and versatile artist, as well as arts organizer and advocate, Egri's contributions to underserved African American, Native American, Hispanic and women were honored by two Taos mayors, with no less than two Ted Egri days during his 50-year art career in Taos. Egri remained in Taos. He became widely known for his sculpture, influenced by cubism and painting, with his style ranging from abstract to realistic. Egri had incredible draftsmanship - charcoal, pencil, pastel, watercolor, oils, mixed media, pen and ink, acrylic, gouache Over time his work gradually shifted from its focus on human struggle to an exploration of natural elements and the changes that come about as a result of living in a physical environment like Taos. "The impact of the majestic Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range and the vast spaces of the mesas directed me toward space and form. I moved into sculpture," Egri said in a 1987 interview with ARTSPACE magazine. He was included in a show at Stables Gallery along with Emil Bisttram, Louis Catusco, Edward Corbett, Lawrence Calcagno, Keith Crown, Andrew Dasburg, John De...

Nathaniel Kaz Bronze Sculpture to Isaac Bashevis Singer for Arts in Judaism Award, 1966 Bronze, Square wooden base, Metal tag Signed and dated "66" to back of bronze portion of the w...

This engagind and intense artwork was created in 1980 by the Italian artist Edmondo Cirillo. It was forged in bronze and gold plated and then burnished. The title of this piece is "...