biography of Sidney GEIST (1914-2005)

Birth place: Paterson, NJ

Addresses: NYC

Profession: Sculptor, art critic

Studied: St. Stephen's College, NY; ASL; Acad. Grande Chaumière, Paris.

Exhibited: Salon Jeune Sculpture, Paris, 1950; solos: Paris, 1950, New York, 1951, 1957, 1960 & Bard College, 1969; Pittsburgh Int., 1958; Am. Artists Ann., Chicago, 1962. Awards: Olivetti Award, Silvermine Guild, CT, 1960.

Member: College Art Assn. Am.

Work: Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.

Comments: A direct wood carver during the 1950s, his totem-like works of that decade sometimes incorporated found materials and color, and several were constructed in stone. In that decade, Geist visited a Northwest Coast Indian Reservation to observe their method of carving totem poles. Geist has also written extensively on sculpture and Brancusi. Teaching: sculpture instructor, Pratt Inst., 1961-65; sculpture instructor, New York Studio School, 1964-; sculpture instructor, Vassar College, 1967-. Positions: director, New York Studio School, 1964-66; guest curator, Brancusi Retrospective, Guggenheim Mus., 1969. Contributer of reviews on exhibitions to Art Digest, Arts, Art International, and other periodicals. Author: Colored Sculpture (exh. cat., New York: AFA, 1965); Brancusi: a Study of the Sculpture (Grossman, 1968); Constantin Brancusi: A Retrospective Exhibition (Guggenheim Mus, 1969); Brancusi: The Sculpture and Drawings (New York: Abrams, 1975); Brancusi: The Kiss (New York: Harper & Row, 1978).

Sources: WW73; Thomas B Hess, U.S. Sculpture: Some Recent Directions (Portfolio, 1959); Calo, Aspects of Wood Sculpture in America During the 1950s, 81-85.