Located in Palm Springs, CA
A beautifully detailed bronze of a whale on a marble base by the talented, noted American Sculptor Frank Eliscu. The artist is most known as the creator of the Heisman Trophy, one of American Sports’ most iconic symbols. This piece is beautifully detailed with sea shells forming the body of the whale or fish.
The bronze is in good condition with some surface grime and a few imperfections to the marble base.
From Wikipedia:
Frank Eliscu (July 13, 1912 – June 19, 1996) was an American sculptor and art teacher who designed and created the Heisman Memorial Football Trophy in 1935[1] when he was only 23 years old. The first Heisman Trophy, a strong young bull of a football player cast in bronze, was presented to a college football player in 1935, and is considered one of the greatest honors a college athlete can receive. Over the years the Heisman Committee has paid tribute to Eliscu and his creation several times, and in 1985, the Heisman Committee invited him to speak at the 50th Anniversary Heisman ceremonies.[2]
Eliscu amassed a body of work that spans from public fountains to ex-President Gerald Ford's inaugural medal (later given as a gift to Leonid Brezhnev when Ford visited Russia), to the five-story bronze frieze that decorates the glass panes above the doors to the Library of Congress. This massive sculpture won the Henry Hering Memorial Medal from the National Sculpture Society. Eliscu also is represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with his Sea Treasures.[3]
A resident of New York and later Sarasota, Eliscu died in Sarasota, Florida on June 19, 1996 at the age of 83.[4]
Family
Frank Eliscu was born in Washington Heights, Manhattan. His parents were Charles Eliscu and Florence Kane who was of Jewish descent.[3] He had a sister, Rita Rothman and two brothers, William Eliscu and Nelson Eliscu. He married Mildred Norman and had one daughter, Norma Eliscu Banas.
Education
Eliscu graduated from Pratt Institute in 1931 and from New York Teacher's College in 1942. He was awarded a permanent teaching certificate in 1944. In 1941, Eliscu apprenticed with Rudolph Evans and worked with him on the sculpting of the statue of Thomas Jefferson for the Jefferson Memorial.[5]
Military service
Eliscu served in the army in World War II from 1942 to 1945. He was first put to work on camouflage and maps for the Allied invasion. In 1943, he developed a unique technique used by the US Army to rehabilitate facial disfigurements from war injuries. According to his discharge papers, "Made drawings in the operating room of surgical procedures, modeling of features for reconstructive surgery, and carving cartilage for grafting in plastic surgery, pigmentation of skin in plastic procedures. Had three assistants working under him. Served at Valley Forge General Hospital in Plastic Surgery Department."[6] Following his service, the unique research Eliscu did on tattooing pigmentation to cover the discoloration from skin grafts and for people with port wine stains was used at the New York Hospital. Eliscu applied for a patent for the tool he developed to use intradermal injections of permanent pigments.[7]
Career
Teacher, School of Industrial Art, NYC (currently called the High School of Art and Design) 1945 to 1970. As a sculptor, Eliscu had his first one-man show in 1929 at age 17. From there, Eliscu went on to a career that brought him international fame.
He has two National Monuments to his credit, "Uncle Joe Cannon" at the Cannon House Office Building and "Falling Books", a four-story bronze at the James Madison Library of Congress.[8] The four-story falling books on the face of the Library of Congress building in Washington, D.C., took Eliscu 10 years to complete and in 1985 won him top honors from the National Sculpture Society. The heroic bronze, along with Eliscu's plaque of Uncle Joe Cannon in the same city, has been declared a national monument, and by law can never be removed or changed in any way.[2]
He is represented in Brookgreen Gardens;[9] in the Metropolitan Museum with a medallion titled Sea Treasures, 1965;[10] in the Smithsonian Museum Archives, coins titled, Lewis & Clark, 1966;[11] and in National Academy of Fine Arts Museum, with a bronze, 1967.
Eliscu created medals for the Society of Medalists...
Category
1950s Vintage American Decorative Objects
