Julie Rotblatt Amrany is an American

sculptor 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 ...

and painter, whose work explores the resurgence of the figure in

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...

Early life and training

Rotblatt Amrany was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Illinois, and grew up in

Highland Park, Illinois Highland Park is a suburban city located in southeastern Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipali ...

. She completed a B.A. in Art at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and spent her junior year abroad at the

University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (, ) is a public research university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bordeaux, Dax, Gradignan, Périgueux, Pessac, and Talence. There are al ...

in France. Influenced by the works of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

, Rotblatt Amrany developed an artistic interest in the human figure at a time when figurative art had fallen out of favor in academia. After college, Rotblatt Amrany trained at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

figure drawing A figure drawing is a drawing of the human form in any of its various shapes and Human positions, postures, using any of the drawing Drawing#Media, media. The term can also refer to the act of producing such a drawing. The degree of representatio ...

, painting, and sculpting from life. After moving to the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

in 1982, she focused on figurative studies at the

College of Marin The College of Marin, (known as Marin Junior College, 1926–1947) is a Public college, public community college in Marin County, California, with two campuses, one in Kentfield, California, Kentfield, and the second in Novato, California, Novat ...

. As part of her studies, Rotblatt Amrany dissected

cadavers A cadaver, often known as a corpse, is a dead human body. Cadavers are used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a liv ...

at the Indian Valley campus in a program intended for medical students. She also studied from the model under sculptor Manuel Neri at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

. Rotblatt Amrany participated in several art projects in the Bay Area, including assisting with a mural for the Oakland Art Museum.

Italy

Under Neri, Rotblatt Amrany developed an interest in carving marble. In 1985, she traveled to

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

in Italy as part of a program offered by

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, drawing from life and experimenting with stone. Rotblatt Amrany moved to

Pietrasanta Pietrasanta is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of northern Tuscany in Italy, in the province of Lucca. Pietrasanta is part of Versilia, on the last foothills of the Apuan Alps, about north of Pisa. The town is located off the coast, where the ...

, the site of marble quarries that Michelangelo used for many of his sculptures. She began work at Studio Sem. There she created ''Transference in Time'', which reflected her exploration of space and time and the nature of consciousness. Switching to Santoli's Studio, she spent several months on the creation of a large

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

on a one-ton block of rose-colored slate from

Assisi Assisi (, also ; ; from ; Central Italian: ''Ascesi'') is a town and comune of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is generally regarded as the birthplace of the Latin poet Prope ...

. Titled "Holding the Source," the work was shipped to

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

, where it was later destroyed in an

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

Personal life

While in Pietrasanta, Rotblatt Amrany met her future husband, Israeli artist Omri Amrany. The couple married in 1987 and lived for two years at the

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Ashdot Ya'akov Meuhadin in Northern Israel. Their son was born in Israel in 1989. That same year, the couple moved to Chicago.

Career

In 1992, Rotblatt Amrany and Amrany established the Fine Art Studio of Rotblatt-Amrany. This studio aimed to replicate the facilities they encountered in Italy, functioning as both an educational center and a workspace. The studio also took on commissioned projects. They received a commission to create a bronze statue of basketball player

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...

at Chicago's

United Center The United Center is an indoor arena on the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is home to the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

.''The Spirit: Michael Jordan'', ''Chicago: A Pictorial Celebration'', Dennis H. Cremin, Elan Penn, 2006, p. 144 Whilst working on the Jordan sculpture, Rotblatt Amrany was diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

. As a result of her illness, she created ''Healing Energy'' for the Kellogg Cancer Care Center at

NorthShore University HealthSystem NorthShore University HealthSystem (formerly Evanston Northwestern Healthcare or ENH) is an integrated Hospital system, healthcare delivery system serving patients throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. As of late 2021, NorthShore encompasse ...

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

, and ''Dancing Electrons'' for the Simmons Cancer Institute at

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of T ...

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its population was 114,394 at the 2020 United States census, which makes it the state's List of cities in Illinois, seventh-most populous cit ...

. Rotblatt Amrany took part in the Beaux-Arts Invitational Exhibition in Paris and the Shanghai Art Fair 2000. In 2001, she was invited to mount a one-woman exhibition at the

Château d'Amboise The Château d'Amboise is a château in Amboise, located in the Indre-et-Loire ''Departments of France, département'' of the Loire Valley in France. Confiscated by the monarchy in the 15th century, it became a favoured royal residence and was ex ...

in Amboise, France. Rotblatt Amrany's "Theatre of the Soul" exhibition comprised 30 sculptures and paintings. In 2002, Rotblatt Amrany completed her largest project of the decade; ''Veterans Memorial Park'' (2002), a nine-acre site in

Munster, Indiana Munster is a suburban town in North Township, Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is in the Chicago metropolitan area, approximately southeast of the Chicago Loop, and shares municipal boundaries with Hammond to the north, Highland to the ...

. The project comprised six vignettes that included bronze sculptures, bas reliefs, laser-engraved images, and

found object A found object (a calque from the French ''objet trouvé''), or found art, is art created from undisguised, but often modified, items or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already hav ...

art.Veteran's Memorial in Munster, Indiana, ''A Native's Guide to Northwest Indiana'', Mark Skertic, 2003, p. 137 Other works of the 2000s were: *''Quest for Exploration: James A. Lovell'' (2005), an installation about astronaut James A. Lovell at Chicago's

Adler Planetarium The Adler Planetarium is a public museum in Chicago, Illinois, dedicated to astronomy and astrophysics. It was founded in 1930 by local businessman Max Adler (Sears), Max Adler. Located on the northeastern tip of Northerly Island on Lake Michigan ...

*''Preservation of the Union'' (2006), a bas-relief for the Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois *''Chicago White Sox 2005 Championship Piece'' (2007), an bas-relief of bronze and granite outside U. S. Cellular Field in Chicago *''Chick Hearn'' (2010), a bronze figure of sportscaster Chick Hearn at

Staples Center Crypto.com Arena (originally and colloquially known as Staples Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in downtown Los Angeles. Opened on October 17, 1999, as Staples Center, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along F ...

in Los Angeles *''Jackie Chan Tribute'' (2010), a bronze of actor

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born Chan Kong-sang; 7 April 1954), known professionally as Jackie Chan,; is a Hong Kong actor and filmmaker, known for his slapstick, acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and innovative stunts, which he typically perf ...

for the JC Group in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. Rotblatt Amrany helped set up the Julia Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to establishing a

sculpture garden A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings. A sculpture garden may be private, owned by ...

in the Sheridan Reserve Center in

Lake County, Illinois Lake County is a County (United States), county located in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Illinois, along the shores of Lake Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it has a population of 714,342, making it th ...

. In the 2010s, Rotblatt Amrany continued to focus on figurative art, creating ''Jerry West'' (2011) for Staples Center in Los Angeles, and ''Scottie Pippen'' (2011) for Chicago's United Center. On her figurative public art, she said, "I believe we are giving something hopeful and energizing back, as we explore the lives of heroic figures and hold up parts of their human and soulful experience that can inspire others." In 2014, the

Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science The Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (RFU) is a Private university, private Postgraduate education, graduate school in North Chicago, Illinois. It has more than 2,000 students in six schools: Chicago Medical School, College of ...

unveiled a bronze statue of

Rosalind Franklin Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 192016 April 1958) was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer. Her work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, coal ...

by Rotblatt Amrany, near its front entrance.

Works

*'' The Spirit: Michael Jordan'', sculpture * ''Healing Energy'' (painting) * ''Perestroika I and II'', sculpture * ''Quest for Exploration: James A. Lovell'', installation * ''Veterans Memorial Park'' in Munster, Indiana * ''George Halas Memorial'', epic bas-relief * ''Chicago White Sox 2005 World Champions'', epic bas-relief * ''Preservation of the Union'', epic bas-relief * '' Statue of Kobe Bryant'', Los Angeles, California, sculpture (2024) * ''Statue of Mike Modano,'' sculpture * '' Statue of Ryne Sandberg,'' sculpture * '' Statue of Kobe and Gianna Bryant'', Los Angeles, California, sculpture (2024)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotblatt Amrany, Julie Living people People from Highland Park, Illinois 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters American women sculptors 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American women painters 21st-century American women painters People from Fort Sheridan, Illinois 20th-century American women sculptors Year of birth missing (living people) American sports sculptors