Neil Estern Explained

Neil Estern
Birth Name:Neil Carl Estern
Birth Date:18 April 1926
Birth Place:Brooklyn, New York
Death Place:Sharon, Connecticut
Nationality:American
Occupation:Sculptor
Alma Mater:Temple University
(BFA & BS, education, 1948)

Neil Carl Estern (April 18, 1926 – July 11, 2019) was an American sculptor.[1] [2] Known for his public monuments, Estern's best-known works are his sculptures of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Fala at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington. Estern was also the creator of Patti Playpal.[3]

Early life

Neil Carl Estern was born on April 18, 1926, in Brooklyn, New York to Marc J. and Molly (née Sylbert) Estern. He was interested in sculpting from a young age, playing with clay as a child.[1] Raised in Flatbush, he graduated from the High School of Industrial Art.[3] In 1948, Estern graduated from Temple University's Tyler School of Fine Arts with a BS in education and a BFA. He also studied at the Barnes Foundation and spent time at a foundry in Pietrasanta, Italy.[4]

Career

Estern began as a toymaker, developing the Patti Playpal doll for Ideal Toy Company.[5] He modeled the heads and arms, and his wife Anne designed the wardrobes and worked on the overall concepts.[1] [3] [6]

For much of his career, Estern worked out of a studio in Brooklyn Heights, commonly working in bronze. He also created sculptures of Jimmy Carter (Time, August 18, 1980),[7] J. Edgar Hoover (Life, April 9, 1971),[8] and Princess Diana for covers of Time and Life.[1]

His sculpture of John F. Kennedy in Prospect Park was originally erected on May 31, 1965, on a marble base: Estern's first commissioned monument. Robert F. Kennedy officially unveiled the sculpture. Plaza renovations were started in 2002, and the statue was removed later on October 6, 2003.[9] After small tweaks by Estern, it was re-dedicated in 2010, this time on a granite base as originally intended by Estern, who said that "[m]arble is a very soft material, very rarely used for monuments".

Estern designed the medal for the Raymond E. Baldwin Medal, first awarded in 1981. The 2.5-inch medal is bronze, with the Great Seal of Wesleyan University on one side and Judge Raymond E. Baldwin on the other.[10]

In 1990, Estern recreated three bronze plaques for the restoration of the Sedgwick Memorial at Cornwall Hollow, Connecticut, which had been vandalized the previous year.[11] [12]

Perhaps Estern's best-known work is at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, which took decades to complete from inception to dedication. After working on them for over a decade, Estern created three sculptures which are in room 3 of the memorial: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Fala. Controversially, the nine-foot-tall President Roosevelt figure is depicted sitting in a wheelchair.[13]

In 2002, the statue of Fiorello H. La Guardia was unveiled in Greenwich Village, New York. Estern had been selected to create the monument years earlier, in 1988. LaGuardia is depicted mid-stride by Estern, who spoke positively about the reception to his choice, saying "I got letters from people in all parts of the country who said, 'That's La Guardia.'"[14] Estern based the work on "many, many still photographs and also the frame-by-frame study of many newsreels".

Estern twice served as president of the National Sculpture Society, once from 1994 to January 1997, and again from 2005 to 2007.[2] He was also a member of the Century Association and the Rembrandt Club.

Personal life and death

In 1948, Estern married Anne Graham; the couple had three children, two sons, Peter Estern and Evan Estern, and a daughter, film director Victoria "Tory" Estern Jadow.[1] [15] The Esterns moved to a four-story townhouse on Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights in 1958.[16] [17]

In his retirement, Estern lived in West Cornwall, Connecticut. On July 11, 2019, Estern died in Sharon, Connecticut, of renal failure.[3]

Selected works

Awards

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Frost . Mary . Neil Carl Estern, sculptor of monumental works, dies at 93 . . July 31, 2019 . July 17, 2019.
  2. Web site: Neil Estern (1926–2019) . . July 31, 2019.
  3. Web site: Roberts . Sam . Neil Estern, Sculptor of Monumental Public Works, Dies at 93 . . July 31, 2019 . July 30, 2019.
  4. Book: Kurzweil . Edith . Full Circle: A Memoir . Edith Kurzweil . 2017 . . Milton . 9781351518383 . 1004191900 . August 1, 2019 . They didn't grasp that I preferred seeing the friends we had made in Pietrasanta, where American sculptors, among them Neil Estern, Jacques Lipchitz, and Stanley Bleifeld, had worked at a foundry..
  5. Web site: Rosencrantz . Linda . Life-sized dolls 'Ideal' collectibles . NWI Times . August 1, 2019 . July 1, 2000.
  6. US . 195220 . patent . Doll or similar article . May 14, 1963 . May 11, 1962 . Estern, Anne . Estern, Neil .
  7. Web site: Carter Presidency August 18, 1980 . Time . August 1, 2019.
  8. Web site: LIFE Apr 9, 1971 . August 1, 2019. April 9, 1971.
  9. Web site: Newman . Barry . Sculptor Wages Long Twilight Struggle to Restore His Bust of JFK . . August 1, 2019 . November 19, 2008.
  10. Web site: Kudos and honors – Baldwin Medal . The Middletown Press . August 1, 2019 . June 4, 2004.
  11. Web site: Sedgwick Memorials and Grave . Cornwall Historical Society . August 1, 2019 . August 22, 2014.
  12. Web site: Connecticut's Civil War Monuments: MAJOR GENERAL JOHN SEDGWICK MEMORIAL . Connecticut Historical Society . August 1, 2019.
  13. Parsons . John G. . The Public Struggle to Erect the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial . . 2012 . 31 . 1/2 . 145–159 . 10.3368/lj.31.1-2.145 . 43332535 . 108764766 .
  14. Web site: UP-DATE ON THE NEWS; La Guardia Statue: A Study in Action . . August 1, 2019 . January 3, 1988 . "Of course, I feel good about it," Mr. Estern says, claiming an "outpouring" of support for his rendition. "I got letters from people in all parts of the country who said, 'That's La Guardia.'".
  15. Web site: Jonathan Jadow and Victoria Estern . . August 1, 2019 . September 17, 1995.
  16. Web site: Calderone . Michael . Jon Stewart Inks $4 Million Deal . Observer . August 1, 2019 . October 31, 2005.
  17. Web site: Neuman . William . BIG DEAL; $8.5 Million Brownstone Deal Raises the Bar in Brooklyn . . August 1, 2019 . Among the homes at the top of the Heights market, one of the more interesting is 82 Remsen, which is owned by the sculptor Neil Estern. It is 37 1/2 feet wide and sits on a 150-foot lot with a carriage house at the back end, on Grace Court Alley. Its real estate broker, Kevin J. Carberry, said the four-story main house, which was built in 1837, contains about 10,000 square feet, divided between two apartments. Among other works, Mr. Estern is known for his bronze sculpture of the seated President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Roosevelt Memorial in Washington. . February 6, 2005.
  18. Web site: "Say It With Music": Irving Berlin Is Honored at the Music Box Theatre . Rodgers & Hammerstein . January 1, 1995 . Instead, the Berlin family commissioned the creation of a bronze plaque that now resides permanently in the street-level public lobby of the theatre. Modelled by the distinguished American sculptor Neil Estern, the image of Irving Berlin in profile was cast in bronze at the Tallix Arts Foundry in Beacon, New York..
  19. Web site: Irving Berlin . . August 1, 2019.
  20. Web site: Fiorello La Guardia Statue . NYC Parks . August 1, 2019 . December 20, 2001.
  21. Web site: Prospect Park: 100th Anniversary Plaque . NYC Parks . August 1, 2019.
  22. Web site: Bush . Daniel . For J.F.K. sculptor, Grand Army Plaza memorial special . Brooklyn Downtown Star . August 1, 2019 . August 24, 2010.
  23. Web site: Estern is sculptor . Pulse . Florida Health Care Association . August 1, 2019 . January 2004.
  24. Web site: Calloway . Shannon . The Claude Pepper Center . Exploring FSU's Past . August 1, 2019 . 2006.
  25. Web site: Expulsion from Paradise . Brooklyn Museum . August 1, 2019.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Neil Estern".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.