Museum Art

 

ARTIST

Adolph Alexander Weinman, American, born Germany, 1870–1952

TITLE

Descending Night

DATE

1915

MEDIUM

Bronze

DIMENSIONS

Overall: 54 × 54 × 19 in. (137.2 × 137.2 × 48.3 cm) Base (Height of cylindrical display base in Beck): 90 1/2 in. (229.9 cm)

CURRENT LOCATION

The Audrey Jones Beck Building
110 GLASSELL SCULPTURE COURT

ACCESSION NUMBER

26.3

CLASSIFICATION

Sculpture

PROVENANCE

Research ongoing

Adolph Alexander Weinman was born to Gustave Weinmann, a shoemaker, and his wife Katherina in Durmersheim, Germany on December 11 1970 .He arrived in the United States with his mother at the age of 14. He had a talent for drawing and modeling in clay, which led him to an apprenticeship with Frederick Kaldenberg. When he was 15 he attended classes at Cooper Union and later studied at the Art Students League of New York. He worked in many studios and had an outstanding reputation which led him to a position of assistant director. He eventually opened his own studio and his first commission was the award medal for participants in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition held at St. Louis in 1904. Weinman and two other sculptors to submit their ideas and designs for a US dime, quarter and half dollar in 1916. His dime and silver half dollar were selected and became known as the Mercury dime and Walking Liberty half dollar. The designs were from Elsie Kachel Stevens wich he sculpted in a bust. Weinman designed many famous sculptures across the U.S. The Descending Night was designed in 1915 to be displayed in San Francisco for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The Panama–Pacific International Exposition was a world’s fair held in San Francisco, in the United States, between February 20 and December 4 in 1915. Itwas to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal. He made money selling small reproductions of his larger sculptures, such as the descending night. Weinman is seen in history as a famous medalist, but he wants to be known as an architectural sculptor. He produced many architectural works of art on state capital buildings in the U.S. Weinman passed away on August 8, 1952 in Port Chester, New York. His most famous works are the Mercury dime and the Walking Liberty half dollar.

 

Angel Otero, No Light on Full Moon, 2010 Oil-paint skins and silicone on canvas. 96 x 108 x 2 inches. Collection of Susie and Rick Rieser, Palm Beach, Fla. Image courtesy the artist and Kavi Gupta.

Angel Otero was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico 1981. He is a contemporary visual artist specializing in painting. At 24 years old he moved to Chicago to earn a Master’s of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work consist of the relationship with family, and life in Puerto Rico. He creates oil skins, created from paint poured onto glass and peeled off in sheets after it dries. The oil skins on placed on canvas or sculpture and combined with other materials. Otero has exhibited internationally in solo and group exhibitions. Otero’s studio is based in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Growing up in Puerto Rico he knew only of old artist and modernist art.