Joseph A. Kiselewski (1901– February 26, 1988) was an American sculptor.
Biography
Kiselewski was born in
Browerville,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
and graduated from the
Minneapolis School of Art
The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is a private college specializing in the visual arts and located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. MCAD currently enrolls approximately 800 students. MCAD is one of just a few major art schools to offer ...
. Along with many other artists of the time, Kiselewski moved to New York City, where he studied at the
National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...
and at
BAID. From 1922 to 1926 he worked as an assistant to
Lee Lawrie
Lee Oscar Lawrie (October 16, 1877 – January 23, 1963) was an American architectural sculptor and a key figure in the American art scene preceding World War II. Over his long career of more than 300 commissions Lawrie's style evolved through ...
.
Kiselewski won the Parisian Beaux Arts competition in 1925; received the Prix de Rome in 1926-1929, established a studio in New York in 1929, and was elected an Associate of the National Academy of Design,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, in 1936, and an Academician in 1944. He received the J. Sanford Saltus Medal in 1970 for excellence in the art of medallic sculpture. He designed numerous medals including some for the US Air Force and the US Army (including those for good conduct) in his lifetime, in addition to the American Defense Service Medal.
Four
sculptures
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
by Joseph Kiselewski are in the public art collection of the
Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, in New York City. They include his involvement, in 1932, with several other
art deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
era sculptors in the creation of Eight Statuary Groups, each 100" x 121" x 70", sculpted from Georgia pink marble, sited at the
Bronx County Courthouse
The Bronx County Courthouse, also known as the Mario Merola Building, is an historic courthouse building located in the Concourse and Melrose neighborhoods of the Bronx in New York City. It was designed in 1931 and built between 1931 and 1934. ...
, 161st Street & Grand Concourse.
Kiselewski's three-feet high granite Frogs, are located at P.S. 18 and Patterson Houses, on Morris Avenue, between 145th and 146th Streets. His bronze Bust of
Sylvanus Thayer
Colonel and Brevet Brigadier General Sylvanus Thayer (June 9, 1785 – September 7, 1872) also known as "the Father of West Point" was an early superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point and an early advocate of engineerin ...
, 1966, is in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, Bronx Community College/CUNY, on University Avenue and West 181st Street, as is his bronze Bust of
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist and legal scholar who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932.Holmes was Acting Chief Justice of the Un ...
, 1970.
For the
Netherlands American Cemetery
Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial ( nl, Amerikaanse Begraafplaats Margraten) is a Second World War military war grave cemetery, located in the village of Margraten, east of Maastricht, in the most southern part of the Netherlands. The ...
in Margraten Kiselwski designed "Peace" or the "Mourning Woman" of a mother remembering her son.
Kiselewski designed a statue of
Harold Stirling Vanderbilt
Harold Stirling Vanderbilt CBE (July 6, 1884 – July 4, 1970) was an American railroad executive, a champion yachtsman, an innovator and champion player of contract bridge, and a member of the Vanderbilt family.
Early life
He was born in Oakdale, ...
, which is located on the campus of
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
.
In 1977 and 1980, Joseph Kiselewski donated his papers, covering the period, 1923–1980, to the Archives of American Art,
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
,
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Included in the papers were biographical material; award and teaching certificates; files on sculpture commissions containing contracts, correspondence, financial records, sketches, printed material, notes and photographs; approximately three hundred photographs of the sculptor, his studio, and his work; 2 pencil drawings; and other items.
George Gurney, a Washington, D.C. curator and art historian interviewed twenty-one sculptors in 1977-1978, one of which was Joseph Kiselewski, for an exhibition, "Sculpture and the Federal Triangle," held at the
National Museum of American Art
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...
, October 26, 1979 through January 6, 1980. While Gurney conducted most of the interviews on tape, there is only a questionnaire answered by Kiselewski, which is part of the Gurney material, also on file in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
In 1983 Kiselewski retired to Browerville Minnesota, his birth place. He opened a studio and created several busts including one of his boyhood parish priest, Fr. Gudzek. Gudzek's bust, along with a collection of photograph, busts, and small sculptures are on display at the American Heritage Bank. Two of his large statuary sculptures are located in front of the Catholic church in Browerville. iOn March 26, 1987, Minnesota Governor Rudy Perpich visited Browerville and declared the day officially "Joe Kiselewski Day".
See also
*
List of Saltus Award winners
The J. Sanford Saltus Medal Award is an annual award made to artists "for lifetime achievement in medallic art". It is administered by the American Numismatic Society. The award was first awarded in 1913 on the initiative of J. Sanford Saltus to re ...
References
External links
Minneapolis college of art and designaskart online art directory and auction listingsartprice online art biographies and auction listingsUS military information siteSmithsonian American Art MuseumTime sculpture at
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchas ...
*The sculptures of Joseph Kiselewski
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiselewski, Joseph
1901 births
1988 deaths
American architectural sculptors
American male sculptors
Modern sculptors
People from Browerville, Minnesota
National Academy of Design alumni
20th-century American sculptors
20th-century American male artists
Sculptors from Minnesota