Elbert Weinberg (May 27, 1928 – December 27, 1991) was an American sculptor. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Displaying an early interest in art, he enrolled at the

Hartford Art School Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since th ...

at night while attending Weaver High School. After two years he transferred to the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

. At the young age of 23, he was awarded the prestigious

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

, which allowed him to perform further art study in Italy. Upon returning to the U.S., he became a teacher at the Yale School of Design. There he produced a wood carving that caught the eye of a trustee from the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...

, and this sculpture was shown on the cover of ''

Art in America ''Art in America'' is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world in the United States, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It ...

''. In 1959, he was awarded 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 he decided to return to Rome, where he remained for the next eleven years. Returning to the U.S., he taught sculpting at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original c ...

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptists, Baptist minister Russell Conwell an ...

(while in Rome) and

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, ...

. He became Professor of Sculpture at

in 1983. His early works were influenced by themes of mythology, religion and the Holocaust. They have been displayed at multiple museums, including the New York

, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the

Wadsworth Atheneum The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School la ...

in his home town of Hartford. Among his most acclaimed works are the ''Joie de Danse'' in the Portman San Francisco hotel and the 1980 ''Holocaust Memorial'' at Freedom Plaza in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christin ...

. His work ''Procession'' was displayed at the

Jewish Museum of New York Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

, ''Jacob Wrestling with the Angel'' was shown at

Brandeis University Brandeis University is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational institution sponsored by the Jews, Jewish community, Brandeis was established on t ...

, the ''Procession 2'' at Beth El Temple in West Hartford, and ''Justice'' at the

Boston University School of Law Boston University School of Law (Boston Law or BU Law) is the law school of Boston University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top law schools in the United States and considered an el ...

. Despite being widely recognized as a talented sculptor, Elbert Weinberg never attained financial success during his lifetime, in part because he did not prefer the abstract form of sculpture that sold more readily during this period. He died of

myelofibrosis Primary myelofibrosis (PMF) is a rare bone marrow blood cancer. It is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a type of myeloproliferative neoplasm, a group of cancers in which there is growth of abnormal cells in the bone marrow. ...

and was survived by his daughter Julia and mother Rose Apter Weinberg. The ''Elbert Weinberg Prize'' was established in his memory out of a trust fund set up in his name.

Awards

* ''Prix de Rome'', 1951 * ''Award for Achievement in the Arts'', Yale University, 1959 * ''Guggenheim Foundation Award'', 1960 * ''American Academy of Arts and Letters Sculpture Award'', 1968 * ''Elizabeth H. Watrous Gold Medal for Sculpture'', 1989, National Academy of Design * ''Lifetime Achievement in Sculpture, Alex Ettl Grant'', 1991, National Sculpture Society

References

External links

*
Portrait of Elbert Weinberg
by Barbara Swan, 1970 {{DEFAULTSORT:Weinberg, Elbert 1928 births 1991 deaths 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists American male sculptors