Vincent Glinsky (December 18, 1895 – March 19, 1975) was an American sculptor. He is especially noted for his architectural decorations.

Life

Vincent Glinsky was born in Russia on December 18, 1895 and emigrated to America just before World War I, settling in Syracuse, NY, with his family. In 1916 he moved to New York City, joining the inaugural class of the Beaux Arts Institute of Design, where he later taught (1931–32; 1940–41). During 1925–26 Glinsky studied at Columbia University's School of Architecture and moved into the field of architectural sculpture, working with Albert Kahn ("the architect of Detroit"), on the

Maccabees Building The Maccabees Building (sometimes called Wayne Tower) is a historic building located at 5057 Woodward Avenue in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and is currently owned by Wayne State U ...

, among other projects. Glinsky designed the entranceway reliefs, bronze elevator doors, and letterbox for New York's Fred F. French Building (constructed 1927; added to the National Register of Historic Places, 2004). In 1927 Glinsky went to live in Europe for approximately two years, settling first in Rome. He later moved to Paris, where he was acknowledged as part of L'Ecole de Paris, a group of artists which included sculptors such as Calder, Giacometti, and Lifschitz, and painters such as Picasso, Dufy, and Roualt. In Paris Glinsky had a one-man show at the Galerie Zak in February 1929, followed by two group shows in Paris, one at Galerie Zak in 1929, and the other at Le Salon des Tuileries in 1930. In 1932 he was part of the Parisian show, "Artistes Americains de Paris," at the Galerie de la Renaissance. On his return to New York, Glinsky began to exhibit widely. A solo show at The Fifty-Sixth St. Galleries was followed by showings in group exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Architectural League, Art Institute of Chicago, National Gallery of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among other venues. In 1935 he received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

, and the following year the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Widener Gold Medal The George D. Widener Memorial Gold Medal was a prestigious sculpture prize awarded by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1913 to 1968. Established in 1912, it recognized the "most meritorious work of Sculpture modeled by an American cit ...

for his work, The Awakening. As a

Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...

artist, Glinsky exhibited and presented live sculpture demonstrations at New York's

1939 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 Purcha ...

, and won competitive commissions from the

Treasury Relief Art Project The Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) was a New Deal arts program that commissioned visual artists to provide artistic decoration for existing Federal buildings during the Great Depression in the United States. A project of the United States ...

and the

Section of Painting and Sculpture The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture was a New Deal art project established on October 16, 1934, and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury. Commonly known as the Section, it was rena ...

, to create bas-reliefs for United States Post Offices in

Hudson, NY Hudson is a city and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. Located on the east side of the Hudson River and 120 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, it was named for the rive ...

, Weirton, WV, and Union City, PA. In 1937 Glinsky joined with 56 other artists as a Founding Member of the Sculptors Guild in New York. The Sculptors Guild was conceived as an advocacy and exhibiting organization devoted to furthering the sculptural arts. Its 1938 inaugural show included works by Glinsky,

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, and 40 other artists. Glinsky served as Executive Secretary of the Sculptors Guild between 1955–60, and stayed active in the organization until his death. Over the years he took on active roles in other arts organizations, including Vice-President of the

Architectural League of New York The Architectural League of New York is a non-profit organization "for creative and intellectual work in architecture, urbanism, and related disciplines". The league dates from 1881, when Cass Gilbert organized meetings at the Salmagundi Club for ...

(1956–58), Fellow of the

National Sculpture Society Founded in 1893, the National Sculpture Society (NSS) was the first organization of professional sculptors formed in the United States. The purpose of the organization was to promote the welfare of American sculptors, although its founding members ...

, Academician of 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 a member of the Audubon Artists' Society. During World War II Glinsky served as a draftsman at the Brooklyn Navy Yard (1943–46). He won an Arts and Letters Award from the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

and National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1945, and the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.3rd Sculpture International at the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

. At the same time Glinsky also began a career in teaching, joining the faculty of

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

(1949–55), Columbia University (1957–62), and New York University (1950–75). Later commissions included a series of panels for the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

in Bethesda, MD, (which were posthumously enlarged for display in the lobby of N.I.H.); a bust of aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright for the N.Y.U. Hall of Fame for Great Americans; a bronze head of Eleanor Roosevelt, which became part of the collection at the U.S. Department of Labor; "The Waters of Life" sculpture for All Faiths' Memorial Tower; and an over-life-size piece for St.Paul's College in Washington D.C. His last commission, from the Tupperware Company, was a giant seal in carrara marble. In 1969 he was elected into the

as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1970. Following the artist's death on March 19, 1975, his students initiated the Vincent Glinsky Memorial Lecture, an annual event at NYU. The series ran for 12 years beginning in 1982, and featured noted art historians, critics, and artists. The inaugural lecture was given by

Kirk Varnedoe John Kirk Train Varnedoe (January 18, 1946 – August 14, 2003) was an American art historian, the Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art from 1988 to 2001, Professor of the History of Art at the Institute for Advance ...

, Curator of the Museum of Modern Art. Other speakers in the series included

Hilton Kramer Hilton Kramer (March 25, 1928 – March 27, 2012) was an American art critic and essayist. Biography Early life Kramer was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and was educated at Syracuse University, receiving a bachelor's degree in English; Col ...

, Richard McDermott Miller, Joseph Veach Noble, Lewis Sharp, Richard Brilliant, Barbara Lekberg, Judd Tully,

Marcel Jovine Marcel Jovine (1921 – January 20, 2003), was an Italian-born American sculptor who was best known as the creator of the toys "The Visible Man" and "The Visible Woman". He also created the municipal seal for the Borough of Closter, New Jersey, w ...

, Greg Wyatt, and Louis Trakis. Glinsky's colleagues also moved to honor his memory: The Sculptors Guild dedicated the 1976 Lever House exhibit to his memory, and the Audubon Artists named a yearly award in his honor. Vincent Glinsky’s papers are held at Syracuse University and the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art. He was married to the American sculptor

Cleo Hartwig Cleo Hartwig (20 October 1907 – 18 June 1988) was an American sculptor who worked in stone, wood, terra cotta, plaster, paper, woodcut, and ceramic. She won a number of awards, including national awards, and her work is exhibited across the nor ...

(1907–1988). His son is composer and author

Albert Glinsky Albert Glinsky (born December 9, 1952) is an American composer and author. His music has been performed internationally by soloists, ensembles, and dance companies. His book, ''Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage'' won the 2001 ASCAP Deems Tayl ...

Bibliography

*Images of America; Sculpture of Brookgreen Gardens Robin R. Salmon Arcadia Publishing, San Francisco, 2009 *Who Was Who in American Art: 1564–1975; 400 Years of Artists in America Falk, Peter H. Sound View Press, 1999 *Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors, & Engravers Fielding, Mantle/Opitz, Glenn B. Apollo, NY, 1986 *A Dual Autobiography Durant, Will and Ariel Simon and Schuster, NY, 1977 *Index to Artistic Biography, First Supplement Havlice, Patricia Pate Scarecrow Press, NJ, 1973 *Contemporary American Sculpture Brumme, C. Ludwig Crown Publishers, New York, 1970 *Contemporary Stone Sculpture Meilach, Dona Z. Crown Publishers, New York, 1970 *Fifty Contemporary American Artists Gulack, Herman C. Plantin Press, New York, 1957 *Brookgreen Gardens, Sculpture Vol. II Proske, Beatrice Gilman Order of the Trustees, Brookgreen, S.C. 1955 *Mallett's Index of Artists; International-Biographical Daniel Trowbridge Mallett Peter Smith, NY, 1948 *Sculpture in Modern America Schnier, Jacques University of California Press, 1948

References

External links

Biography at www.omnidisc.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glinsky, Vincent American art educators 1895 births 1975 deaths Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists American male sculptors Federal Art Project artists Section of Painting and Sculpture artists Treasury Relief Art Project artists Sculptors Guild members Beaux-Arts Institute of Design (New York City) alumni Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni Brooklyn College faculty