Ca. 1910-

In 1934, Theodore Andre Beck earned a bachelor’s degree in sculpture from Yale University’s School of Fine Arts. Not much is known about his life, other than he won a competition to create a sculpture for the University of Tennessee, in Knoxville, in 1931. Beck’s design became the official representation of “The Volunteer”, the school symbol for its “spirit and ideas”, and the University had a series of small- scale reproductions manufactured and distributed. Construction of the full-size statue, however, would be delayed until 1965 due to a series of funding issues and the onset of WWII. By then, students and faculty were unfamiliar with the design and objected to it, stating that it didn’t fully reflect the Volunteer’s ethos. Beck agreed to make a series of modifications, and the new nine-foot statue was unveiled in 1968. It is currently located at the University’s Circle Park. Photo: “Pig with Apple”, unattributed.

1904-1958

Son of a well-known sculptor, Burr Churchill Miller Jr. was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Connecticut, and graduated from Yale University in 1928 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. Miller studied architectural sculpture at the Yale School of Fine Arts under the guidance of Swiss sculptor Robert G. Eberhard, and traveled to Paris where he trained with sculptor Henri Bouchard. He later moved to New York, where he studied stone carving with celebrated artist José de Creeft, author of the Alice in Wonderland sculpture in Central Park. In 1939, Miller had his first one-man show and was part of the World’s Fair. He also had exhibitions at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the National Academy of Design, and the Golden Gate Exposition. Miller was a member of the Sculptors Guild, the National Sculpture Society, the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, and the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts. Photo: “Man with Accordion”, unattributed.

1906-1992

Theodore Cotillo Barbarossa was born to Italian parents in Ludlow, Vermont. They relocated to Boston, Massachusetts in the early 1910s, where Barbarossa attended the Massachusetts College of Art and Yale University, receiving an honorable mention at the 1934 Prix de Rome. He then moved to New York, working primarily with bronze, wood and stone, gaining notoriety for his animal and figure sculptures. Much like his contemporaries, Barbarossa was part of President Roosevelt’s WPA New Deal art initiative, for which he created relief sculptures depicting national ideals such as industry, education, and agriculture for post offices and other federal buildings. One of his best-known works are the five statues on the façade of the Boston Museum of Science. He was a fellow of the National Sculpture Society, a member of the National Academy of Design, the Allied Artists of America, the Audubon Artists, the International Institute of Arts and Letters, and the New England Sculptors Association. Photo: “Woman with Doves” attributed to Theodore Barbarossa.

1901-1988

Born to Polish immigrants, Joseph Kiselewski studied at the Minneapolis School of Art, the National Academy of Design and the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design. While he worked as an assistant to sculptor Lee Lawrie, he won the Parisian Beaux Arts competition in 1925 and received the Prix de Rome in 1926. Kiselewski established a highly successful studio in New York in 1929, and in 1936 was appointed an Associate of the National Academy of Design. By 1944, he had become a faculty member. Kiselewski’s work designing numerous medals for the US Air Force and the US Army earned him the J. Sanford Saltus Medal in 1970 for excellence in the art of medallic sculpture. Among his most known sculptures are four pieces at the Bronx County Courthouse, the Bas-Relief above the doors for the George Rogers Clark Memorial. For the 1939 World’s Fair, Kiselewski created a 30-foot-high by 140-foot-wide sundial called “Time.” He retired in 1980 to Browerville, Minnesota. Photo: “Gossip” by Joseph Kiselewski.

1900-1967

Born in the French city of Metz, then part of Germany, Carl Ludwig Schmitz studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. He immigrated to the US in 1923, continuing his studies at the Beaux- Arts Institute of Design in New York. Throughout his career, Schmitz had exhibitions at several prestigious institutions, such as the Architectural League, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum and the National Academy. He also received many awards for his work, including a gold medal from the 1937 International Exposition in Paris, the George D. Widener Memorial Medal for his relief sculpture “Foreign Trade,” and a National Sculpture Society Award in 1945 for his model of Our Lady of Victory. At the 1939 World’s Fair, his sculpture “Drama” was part of the Court of Peace façade of the Hall of Nations. Schmitz also became an instructor at the National Academy of Design, and was later a fellow and secretary of the National Sculpture Society. He lived in New York all his life and had a studio at 246 W 80th St. Photo: “Woman and Child” by Carl Schmitz.

1888-1975

The son of a well-known Russian scientist, Gleb W. Derujinsky studied law and graduated in 1912 from the University of St. Petersburg. Simultaneously, he attended drawing school, gaining praise for his artistic aptitude. He traveled to Paris to study under renowned sculptors, entering the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1913, where he participated in exhibitions, received several prizes and was nominated for a Prix de Rome. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, he fled to Crimea and then to New York as a sailor on a cargo boat. By the early 1920s, Derujinsky was an active member of New York’s art scene. He was elected as a member of the National Sculpture Society, became a teacher at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, and several of his commissions were awarded medals. For the 1939 World’s Fair, he created a fountain group called “Europa and the Bull”. Among Derujinsky’s most known pieces are the busts of Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as pianists Alexander Siloti, Sergei Prokoflev and Sergei Rachmaninoff, for which he was given the Anna Hyatt Huntington Prize at the National Academy of Design in 1949. Photo: “Woman with Harp” by Gleb Derujinsky.

1910-1995

George Kratina was an American sculptor of Czech descent. Both of his parents were artists, his mother Rose was a painter, and his father Joseph was a noted sculptor. After learning from his father at the Sculptors Guild, Kratina attended Syracuse University where he studied chemistry and wood technology, and later trained in sculpture at Yale University. While there, he competed in the “sculpturing” category at the 1932 and 1936 Olympics, in Los Angeles and Berlin respectively. In 1938, Kratina received the Prix de Roma and completed his studies abroad. When he returned to New York, he became a design and sculpture professor at Cooper Union and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he was greatly loved by his students. Kratina worked with wood, bronze, enameled steel and aluminum, often in monumental dimensions. He was awarded many prizes and won several competitions, including a monumental sculpture for the Catholic Welfare Conference Building in Washington D.C., and the Liturgical Arts Society Award. Photo: “Man with Umbrella” by George Kratina.

At the time of Parkchester’s conception, projects under the New Deal programs allowed for thousands of paintings, sculptures, and works on paper to be produced by American artists and displayed in public settings. The 1939 World’s Fair also provided a major platform for artists to present their work to a wider audience, furthering the concept of accessible art that could be part of people’s everyday lives, of which the Parkchester Complex is a unique and remarkable example. Nine prominent sculptors were hired to create artwork for the project. Together, they produced nearly 100 individual original designs of glazed terra cotta sculptures, medallions and plaques. Over 500 pieces were manufactured by the Federal Seaboard Terra Cotta Corporation, which were distributed throughout the buildings’ exteriors and open space. Unfortunately, this feature would not be included in the following developments by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. To date, only a handfull of sculptures have been paired with their author. Over the last few years, several pieces have been removed by the current owners without clear information of their future. In response, the community is actively documenting and cataloguing the remaining artwork of Parkchester.