Neil Carl Estern (April 18, 1926 – July 11, 2019) was an American sculptor. Known for his public monuments, Estern's best-known works are his sculptures of

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...

, and Fala at the

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial is a presidential memorial in Washington D.C., dedicated to the memory of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, and to the era he represents. The memorial is one of two in Wa ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. Estern was also the creator of Patti Playpal.

Early life

Neil Carl Estern was born on April 18, 1926, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

to Marc J. and Molly (née Sylbert) Estern. He was interested in sculpting from a young age, playing with clay as a child. Raised in Flatbush, he graduated from the High School of Industrial Art. In 1948, Estern graduated from

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

's Tyler School of Fine Arts with a BS in education and a BFA. He also studied at the

Barnes Foundation The Barnes Foundation is an art collection and educational institution promoting the appreciation of art and horticulture. Originally in Merion, the art collection moved in 2012 to a new building on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, ...

and spent time at a foundry in

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 ...

, Italy.

Career

Estern began as a toymaker, developing the Patti Playpal doll for

Ideal Toy Company Ideal Toy Company was an American toy company founded by Morris Michtom and his wife, Rose. During the post–World War II baby boom era, Ideal became the largest doll-making company in the United States. Their most popular dolls included Betsy ...

. He modeled the heads and arms, and his wife Anne designed the wardrobes and worked on the overall concepts. For much of his career, Estern worked out of a studio in

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south ...

, commonly working in

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

. He also created sculptures of

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

(''Time'', August 18, 1980),

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...

(''Life'', April 9, 1971), and

Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William ...

for covers of ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' and ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

''. His sculpture of John F. Kennedy in Prospect Park was originally erected on May 31, 1965, on a

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

base: Estern's first commissioned monument.

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...

officially unveiled the sculpture. Plaza renovations were started in 2002, and the statue was removed later on October 6, 2003. After small tweaks by Estern, it was re-dedicated in 2010, this time on a

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

base as originally intended by Estern, who said that " rble is a very soft material, very rarely used for monuments". Estern designed the medal for the Raymond E. Baldwin Medal, first awarded in 1981. The 2.5-inch medal is bronze, with the Great Seal of

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

on one side and Judge Raymond E. Baldwin on the other. In 1990, Estern recreated three bronze plaques for the restoration of the Sedgwick Memorial at Cornwall Hollow, Connecticut, which had been vandalized the previous year. Perhaps Estern's best-known work is at the

, which took decades to complete from inception to dedication. After working on them for over a decade, Estern created three sculptures which are in room 3 of the memorial: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Fala. Controversially, the nine-foot-tall President Roosevelt figure is depicted sitting in a wheelchair. In 2002, the statue of Fiorello H. La Guardia was unveiled in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

, New York. Estern had been selected to create the monument years earlier, in 1988. LaGuardia is depicted mid-stride by Estern, who spoke positively about the reception to his choice, saying "I got letters from people in all parts of the country who said, 'That's La Guardia.'" Estern based the work on "many, many still photographs and also the frame-by-frame study of many newsreels". Estern twice served as president of the

National Sculpture Society Founded in 1893, the National Sculpture Society (NSS) was the first organization of professional sculptors formed in the United States. The purpose of the organization was to promote the welfare of American sculptors, although its founding member ...

, once from 1994 to January 1997, and again from 2005 to 2007. He was also a member of the

Century Association The Century Association is a private social, arts, and dining club in New York City, founded in 1847. Its clubhouse is located at 7 West 43rd Street near Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It is primarily a club for men and women with distinctio ...

and the Rembrandt Club.

Personal life and death

In 1948, Estern married Anne Graham; the couple had three children, two sons, Peter Estern and Evan Estern, and a daughter, film director Victoria "Tory" Estern Jadow. The Esterns moved to a four-story townhouse on Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights in 1958. In his retirement, Estern lived in

West Cornwall, Connecticut West Cornwall is an unincorporated village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Cornwall, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is on the west side of the town, on the east side of the Housatonic River, which forms the bo ...

. On July 11, 2019, Estern died in

Sharon, Connecticut Sharon is a New England town, town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States, in the northwest corner of the state. At the time of the United States 2020 Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population ...

, of

renal failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...

Selected works

* Bronze relief of

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...

Music Box Theater The Music Box Theatre is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 239 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1921, the Music Box ...

, Manhattan, New York;

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

, Washington * Statue of Fiorello H. La Guardia (2002),

, Manhattan, New York * 100th Anniversary Plaque (bronze) featuring

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, Social criticism, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the U ...

and

Calvert Vaux Calvert Vaux Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, FAIA (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape architect, landscape designer. He and his protégé Frederick Law Olmsted designed park ...

(1966),

Prospect Park Prospect Park may refer to: Businesses * Prospect Park (production company), entertainment production company *Prospect Park Productions NZ, theatre company based in Dunedin, New Zealand Places New Zealand * Prospect Park, New Zealand, a portion ...

, Brooklyn, New York * John F. Kennedy Memorial (1965),

Grand Army Plaza Grand Army Plaza, originally known as Prospect Park Plaza, is a public plaza that comprises the northern corner and the main entrance of Prospect Park in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It consists of concentric oval rings arranged as s ...

, Brooklyn, New York * Sculpture of

National Cathedral National Cathedral may refer to: * Iglesia Filipina Independiente National Cathedral, a cathedral of the Philippine Independent Church in Manila * National Cathedral of Ghana, a planned interdenominational cathedral in Accra * National Cathedral ...

, Washington * Sculpture of Senator

Claude Pepper Claude Denson Pepper (September 8, 1900 – May 30, 1989) was an American politician of the Democratic Party. He represented Florida in the United States Senate from 1936 to 1951, and the Miami area in the United States House of Representatives ...

(2003), Pepper Museum,

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2024, the est ...

, Florida * ''Expulsion From Paradise'' (1962),

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

Awards

* Mildred Vincent Prize,

, 1992 * Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Award (''Fiorello H. La Guardia''), 1996 * Daniel Chester French Award, National Academy, 1997 * Maynard Award,

National Academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, and serves as a public policy advisors, research ...

, 1999 * Medal of Honor,

, 2008

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Estern, Neil People from Flatbush, Brooklyn 20th-century American sculptors American sculptors Temple University Tyler School of Art alumni Ideal Toy Company National Sculpture Society members 1926 births 2019 deaths