James David Esterly Jr. (May 10, 1944 – June 15, 2019) was an American

limewood ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain and Ireland they ...

carver, self-described sculptor and writer. He was known as an exponent of the high-relief naturalistic style of the British carver

Grinling Gibbons Grinling Gibbons (4 April 1648 – 3 August 1721) was an Anglo-Dutch sculptor and wood carver known for his work in England, including Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and other London churches, Petworth House and othe ...

(1648–1721).

Early life and education

Esterly was born in

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

but raised in

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. He received a BA from Harvard and a BA and Ph.D. from

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, where he read English at St Catharine's College and was a Fulbright Scholar. His doctoral dissertation on

Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

and

Plotinus Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neoplatonism. His teacher wa ...

was supervised by

Thomas Rice Henn Thomas Rice Henn (1901–1974) was an Irish literary critic. Life Henn was born in Albert House, County Sligo, Ireland and educated in Fermoy and later at Aldenham School before gaining an Exhibition at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge, where ...

. He had rejected the idea of an academic career even before a conversion experience in 1974, when the sight of a Grinling Gibbons carving behind the altar at St. James, Piccadilly turned him towards

woodcarving Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...

. Esterly retreated to a cottage in Sussex where he taught himself to carve in the high-relief illusionistic style of Gibbons. After the 1986 fire at

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

he spent a year re-carving the seven foot long Gibbons drop destroyed in the flames. The experience inspired his memoir ''The Lost Carving: A Journey to the Heart of Making'' (2012). In 1998 he curated the Grinling Gibbons exhibition at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, which was named as one of the exhibitions of the year by the art journal

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

. His accompanying book, ''Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving'' (fifth printing, March 2013), was described as “a marvelous study” that has “a rare intimacy with its subject." Esterly’s own carving began as decorative foliage work but developed in the direction of still life sculpture, trophy-like tableaus, and botanical heads in the manner of

Giuseppe Arcimboldo Giuseppe Arcimboldo (; also spelled ''Arcimboldi'') (1526 or 1527 – 11 July 1593) was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and books. These wo ...

, which he began carving in 2002 while a guest artist at the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History In 1893, a group of American architects, ...

. He worked on commission for patrons in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

, and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. Retrospective exhibitions took place in 2013 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and at the

Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute The Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute (MWPAI) is a regional fine arts center founded in 1919 and located in Utica, New York. The institute has three program divisions: *Museum of art *Performing arts *School of art Museum of art The museum o ...

in Utica, NY.

Personal life

Esterly was married to Marietta von Bernuth and lived in the rural hamlet of Barneveld in upstate New York. In 2019, at the age of 74, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with ALS. With the help of assistants, he completed his final commission for the

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission. Overview ...

. He died at his home in Barneveld on June 15, 2019.David Esterly obituary
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Examples of David Esterly's Work

File:Musical trophy 2004.jpg, Musical trophy, limewood, 2004. File:Botanical head 2005.jpg, Botanical head, 2005. File:Overmantel 2007.jpg, Overmantel (detail), 2007.

Bibliography

* ''Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving'', Abrams, 1998 * ''The Lost Carving: A Journey to the Heart of Making'', Viking/Penguin, 2013

External links

Official site

Supplementary material for ''The Lost Carving''

Re-Creating The 'Lost Carving' Of An English Genius

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esterly, David 1944 births 2019 deaths Artists from Akron, Ohio Writers from Akron, Ohio Harvard University alumni American woodcarvers Alumni of the University of Cambridge