James David Esterly Jr. (May 10, 1944 – June 15, 2019) was an American

limewood ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Great Britain and Irelan ...

carver, self-described sculptor and writer. He was known as an exponent of the high-relief naturalistic style of the British carver

Grinling Gibbons Grinling Gibbons (4 April 1648 – 3 August 1721) was an Anglo-Dutch sculptor and wood carver known for his work in England, including Windsor Castle, the Royal Hospital Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and other London church ...

(1648–1721).

Early life and education

Esterly was born in

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

but raised in Orange County,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He received a BA from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

and a BA and Ph.D. from

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, where he read English at St Catharine's College and was a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the peopl ...

. His doctoral dissertation on

Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

and

Plotinus Plotinus (; , ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a Greek Platonist philosopher, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neoplatonism. His teacher was the self-taught philosopher Ammonius ...

was supervised by

Thomas Rice Henn Thomas Rice Henn (10 November 1901 – 10 December 1974), known professionally as T. R. Henn, was an Irish literary critic. Life Henn was born in Albert House, County Sligo, Ireland, and educated in Fermoy and latterly at Aldenham School, before ...

. He had rejected the idea of an academic career even before a conversion experience in 1974, when the sight of a Grinling Gibbons carving behind the altar at St. James, Piccadilly turned him towards

woodcarving Wood carving (or woodcarving) is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ...

. Esterly retreated to a cottage in

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

where he taught himself to carve in the high-relief illusionistic style of Gibbons. After the 1986 fire at

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

he spent a year re-carving the seven foot long Gibbons drop destroyed in the flames. The experience inspired his memoir ''The Lost Carving: A Journey to the Heart of Making'' (2012). In 1998 he curated the Grinling Gibbons exhibition at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, which was named as one of the exhibitions of the year by the art journal

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

. His accompanying book, ''Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving'' (fifth printing, March 2013), was described as “a marvelous study” that has “a rare intimacy with its subject." Esterly’s own carving began as decorative foliage work but developed in the direction of still life sculpture, trophy-like tableaus, and botanical heads in the manner of

Giuseppe Arcimboldo Giuseppe Arcimboldo, also spelled Arcimboldi (; 5 April 1527 – 11 July 1593), was an Italian Renaissance painter best known for creating imaginative portrait Human head, heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish ...

, which he began carving in 2002 while a guest artist at the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome, Italy. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History 19th century In 1893, a group of American architect ...

. He worked on commission for patrons in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

, and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Retrospective exhibitions took place in 2013 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute in Utica, NY.

Personal life

Esterly was married to Marietta von Bernuth and lived in the rural hamlet of Barneveld in upstate New York. In 2019, at the age of 74, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with

ALS Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

. With the help of assistants, he completed his final commission for the

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission. Overview ...

. He died at his home in Barneveld on June 15, 2019.David Esterly obituary
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Examples of David Esterly's Work

File:Musical trophy 2004.jpg, Musical trophy, limewood, 2004. File:Botanical head 2005.jpg, Botanical head, 2005. File:Overmantel 2007.jpg, Overmantel (detail), 2007.

Bibliography

* ''Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving'', Abrams, 1998 * ''The Lost Carving: A Journey to the Heart of Making'', Viking/Penguin, 2013

External links

Official site

Supplementary material for ''The Lost Carving''

Re-Creating The 'Lost Carving' Of An English Genius

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esterly, David 1944 births 2019 deaths Artists from Akron, Ohio Writers from Akron, Ohio Harvard University alumni American woodcarvers Alumni of the University of Cambridge