Stanley Bleifeld, Bronze Sculpture American Modernist Art Stanley Bleifeld Girl with Bass or Cello, c.1970

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Retaining a fine patina and in overall good condition. Signed with initials SB. I believe the edition size was 7 … Read more Retaining a fine patina and in overall good condition. Signed with initials SB. I believe the edition size was 7 But I cannot find a mark. Stanley Bleifeld (1924 – 2011) was an American sculptor. Stanley Bleifeld was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Bleifeld earned bachelor of fine arts, bachelor of science in education and in 1949 a master of fine arts degree in painting at Tyler School of Art of Temple University. After a trip to Rome in 1959 or 1960 he gave up painting for sculpture. He began his fine-art career as a painter. However, a visit to Italy and exposure to the bronzes of Donatello, Michelangelo, and Ghiberti changed his direction He worked with the Art Foundry of Massimo del Chiaro and alongside artists such as Lucchesi, Harry Marinsky, Fernando Botero, Igor Mitoraj and Ivan Theimer. Many of his early pieces were religious subjects, and reflected both painting and sculptural techniques in bas reliefs* that had "liquid landscapes in undulating reliefs and free-flowing portraits reminiscent of classical fragments" (166-167). He later turned from these abstract pieces to more realistic figures in bronze. Bleifeld was a National Academician in Sculpture, and a member of the National Academy of Design, and helped set policy for that organization. He was also President of the National Sculpture Society. Past presidents of the society have included John Quincy Adams Ward, James Earle Fraser, Chester Beach, Wheeler Williams, Leo Friedlander, Neil Estern, and Cecil de Blaquiere Howard. The first woman to gain admission into the NSS was Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson, in 1893. She was followed a few years later by Enid Yandell and Bessie Potter Vonnoh in 1898; Janet Scudder in 1904; Anna Hyatt Huntington in 1905 and Evelyn Longman and Abastenia St. Leger Eberle in 1906. In 1946, Richmond Barthé was likely the first African-American to be admitted. In 1994, the NSS held their first exhibition outside the United States at the Palazzo Mediceo Di Seravezza in Italy. Titled “100 Years of the National Sculpture Society of the United States of America in Italy” it ran from the 16th of July through the 4th of September and was curated by Nicky and Stanley Bleifeld along with Costantino Paolicchi, Lodovico Gierut and Paolo Giorgi. Among the 60 notable American sculptors whose work was selected for the exhibition were Stanley Bleifeld, Andrew DeVries, Neil Estern, Leonda Finke, Bruno Lucchesi, Barbara Lekberg, Richard MacDonald and Elliott Offner. He did wall hanging athletic plaque sculptures as well as free standing sculptures and memorials. Bleifeld’s public monuments include sculptures for the United States Navy Memorial (he served in the Navy in World War II) in Washington, D.C., the Knights of Columbus Memorial in Connecticut, and baseball players at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. The originals of his works The Lone Sailor and The Homecoming are two created for the Navy Memorial. Subsequently, a number of replicas deployed across the United States. On October 13, 2017, the occasion of the 242nd anniversary of the United States Navy, a replica of The Lone Sailor was dedicated in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Stanley Bleifeld’s work is in many important museum collections including the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, NY, the National Academy Museum in New York City, where he was an Academician, and Brookgreen Gardens. Around 1980, he began to focus on bas-relief modeled directly in terra cotta, polychromed, and fired. Comprised of single reliefs, diptychs, and triptychs, this work was shown in a solo exhibit at The Century Association in New York and in the National Sculpture Society Annual Awards Exhibition. In 1994, the NSS held their first exhibition outside the United States at the Palazzo Mediceo Di Seravezza in Italy. Titled “100 Years of the National Sculpture Society of the United States of America in Italy” it ran from the 16th of July through the 4th of September and was curated by Nicky and Stanley Bleifeld along with Costantino Paolicchi in collaboration with Lodovico Gierut and Paolo Giorgi. Among the 60 notable American sculptors whose work was selected for the exhibition were Stanley Bleifeld, Andrew DeVries, Neil Estern, Leonda Finke, Bruno Lucchesi, Barbara Lekberg, Richard MacDonald and Elliot Offner. Among many other honors, he was the recipient of the Henry Hering Memorial Award of the National Sculpture Society, where he was a Fellow and past president, and he held an honorary doctorate from the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in Connecticut. His work is in numerous private collections throughout the world. In 2008, his monument to the African American Civil Rights Movement, It Seemed like Reaching for the Moon was dedicated at the statehouse in Richmond, Virginia. From 1950 until his death he lived and worked in Weston, CT, spending part of each year at a home and studio in Pietrasanta, Italy. Education: B.F.A., B.S. Ed.,1949-50 Tyler School of Fine Art, Temple University, PA. M.F.A. 1950 Tyler School of Fine Art, Temple University, PA. Public Commissions: "The Prophets", Vatican Pavilion, NY, World's fair, 8' x 11' Relief 1664/5 The Margaret Sanger Medal, 1965 The Margaret Sanger Award, 1966 "The Magic Carpet", Kokomo Public Library, Kokomo, Indiana, 9' x 11' Relief, 1969 "The Family of Acrobats", 17' H, Orlando Fashion Square, Fl., 1973 Ninetieth Issue, The Society of Medallists, 1974 "Family at Play", 9' H., Regency Square, Richmond, Va, 1975 "Ark of the Covenant", 5' H., Temple Israel, Westport, Ct., 1980 "Alberta Family", 9' H., Calgary, Canada, 1981 The Father McGivney Memorial, 9' H., Knights of Columbus, New Haven, Ct., 1982 "Medal of Liberty", The American Civil Liberties Union, 1984 "The Lone Sailor", 7' H., United States Navy Memorial, Washington, D.C. 1987 "The Liberty Hound", 7' H. figure, United States Navy Memorial, Jacksonville, Fl., 1988 "The Homecoming", Life size, United States Navy Memorial, Washington, D.C., 1989 "The Silent Service", Bas-relief, United States Navy Memorial, Washington, D.C., 1991 Awards: Henry Hering Memorial Medal (1990) Sculptor of the Year in Pietrasanta and the World (2004) Westport Arts Award (2005) Medal of Liberty of the ACLU Shikler Award of National Academy of Design See less