biography of Chaim GROSS (1904-1991)

Birth place: Kolomea, Austria

Addresses: NYC/Provincetown, MA

Profession: Sculptor, instructor, illustrator

Studied: Nat. Acad. of Fine Arts, Budapest, 1919; Kunstgewerbe Schule, Vienna, 1920; Educ. Alliance, New York, 1921-26; BAID, with Elie Nadelman, 1925; ASL, 1926, with Robert Laurent.

Exhibited: Salons of Am.; S.Indp.A., 1927, 1929-30, 1933, 1935, Gallery 144, 1932 (solo); Tiffany Fellowship, 1933; PAFA ann., 1934, 1943-54 (prize), 1958-64; Boyer Gal., 1937; WFNY, 1939,1964-65; Sculptors Guild, 1938-40, 1942; WMAA, biennially; CI, 1938, 1940; BM, 1940; AIC, 1938-42; MoMA, 1940, 1961-62 (The Making of Sculpture); Detroit IA, 1946; CAM, 1946; FAP, 1936 (prize); AV, 1942 (prize); Paris Salon, 1937 (medal); Am. P&S, Moscow, USSR, 1959; Drawings by Sculptors, SI, 1961-63; Medici II Gal., Miami Beach, FL, 1971 (solo); Jewish Mus., NYC, 1977 (retrospective); NYC WPA Art" at Parsons School Design, 1977. Awards: NIAL grant, 1956, 1963 (award of merit medal)."

Member: Sculptors Guild (board member); Educ. Alliance Alumni Assn.; Fed. Modern P&S; NIAL; AEA; Am. Artists Congress; An Am. Group.

Work: MMA; WMAA; MoMA; NMAA; Newark (NJ) Mus.; Hirshhorn Mus.; Worcester AM. Commissions: aluminum figures for Main Post Office, Wash., DC, 1936; relief for the Fed. Trade Commission Bldg., Wash., DC, 1938; Reiss-Davis Child Guidance Clinic, Beverly Hills, CA, 1961; Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem, 1964; Temple Shaaray Tefila, New York, 1964.

Comments: One of the pioneers of the first generation of direct carvers. Came to the U.S. in 1921; worked for the WPA in the late 1930s. Was active in Provincetown, MA, 1924, 1938-39, and 1943-on. He worked primarily in wood until the late 1950s when he switched to bronze casting. Teaching: sculpture, Educ. Alliance Art School, NYC, 1927-c.1987; sculpture, New School Social Res., 1948-; MoMA. Illustrator of childrens stories by N. Gross. Publications: author, A Sculptor's Progress," Magazine of Art 31 (Dec., 1938): 694-98; author, Fantasy Drawings (Beechhurst, 1956); co-author, "Tree Truck to Head" & "A Sculptor Speaks" (art films), 1956; author, The Technique of Wood Sculpture (1957); author, TV program, Educ. Alliance School Art, 1964; contributor of articles to various art magazines.

Sources: WW73; Baigell, Dictionary; Fort, The Figure in American Sculpture, 200-01 (w/repro.); Roberta Tarbell, Chaim Gross, Retrospective Exhibition: Sculpture, Paintings, Drawings, Prints (exh. cat. New York: Jewish Mus., 1977); New York City WPA Art, 38 (w/repros.); Provincetown Painters, 181; Falk, Exh. Record Series.