Jose de Creeft Artist
José de Creeft (1884, Guadalajara, Spain – 1982, New York, United States) was a Spanish-born American sculptor and teacher.Early LifeJose de Creeft was born in “The Valley of Stones”, Guadalajara, Spain, on November 27, 1884 to Mariano de Creeft and Rosa Champane y Ortiz. Four years later the family moved to Barcelona. In 1890 his father died leaving the family destitute and they moved in with an aunt. At six years of age, De Creeft took his first job earning pennies carrying stone and sand at the construction site of La Sagrada Familia being built by Architect Antonio Gaudi. In 1895 De Creeft began modeling religious figures in clay to sell at the Festival Santa Lucia, Barcelona, which he fired at home in his oven and sold on the steps of the Cathedral of Barcelona. Two years later he began his first apprenticeship with the craftsman Imagier Barnadas who carved religious figures in wood. The following year he starts an apprenticeship at the Artistic Foundry of Masriera & Campins, under sculptor Maria Benlliure, followed by studies with Manolo Hugo.In 1900 he moved to Madrid and studied in the workshop of Don Augustin Querol Subirats, Official Sculptor of Spain, which was De Creeft’s first experience with stone carving. He also studied drawing with Rafael Hidalgo and Gutierrez de Caviedes and sculpture with Ignacio Zuloaga. The following year he worked as a draftsman for the Madrid Administration of Bridges and Roads, where he learns perspective and precision drawing. In 1902 he opened his first Studio with a friend on Calle Espanolette. At this time he observed the art work of a group of Eskimos (Inuit) in El Retiro Park which has a profound impact on his developing aesthetic. “The Eskimos impressed me with their simplicity and their directness of expression. With tiny pieces of ivory they made monumental sculptures that had strength, power and serenity, though they were less than hand-sized”. A year later he held his first exhibition at El Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid that consists of portraits in clay and plaster of children.In 1905 he moved to Paris and, upon the recommendation of Ignatio Zuloaga and on the concurrence of Rodin, he entered the Academie Julian, where he studied for two years. He subsequently opened his first studio at 14 rue Chamberry before establishing a second studio at Bateau Lavoir, Montmartre, where he interacted with Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, Manolo, and Pablo Gargallo, who also had studios there. De Creeft also befriended the artist Mateo Hernandez at this time.De Creeft was awarded the Grand Prix in the 1906 Concours de Sculpture exhibition at the Academie Julian for his piece in clay, Torso, which was the first recognition he had received for his work.In 1909, back in Paris after a time in Spain, he exhibited for the first time at the Salon of the Societe des Artistes Francais showing a bronze head of a man and a plaster bust of a child. And from 1909-28 he exhibits periodically at the Societe des Artistes Francais, Society D’Encouragement Aux Artes, Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Salon d’Automne, Salon des Artes, Salon des Tuileries, Salon des Artes Independent, Exposicion de Bellas Artes, Salon Des Humoristes, and the Esposition De Artes De Becoratizase Industriales Modernas Papillom Espanole.From 1911-14 he was employed at the workshop of La Maison Greber, learning traditional techniques of reproducing sculpture in stone with pointing machines; mise aux point. In 1915 he eschewed the purely classical methods of sculpture which consisted of copying from a plaster models and enlarging with a pointing machine. He began using the technique of taille direct, or direct carving. He referred to this method of carving as “pure sculpture.” De Creeft destroyed all his previous casts, molds, and clay pieces. When he had destroyed all but two pieces, his friend Julio de Diego came to visit him. De Creeft, along with de Diego, took the remaining two sculptures outside to the traffic surrounding the Arc de Triomphe and placed bets on which car would hit which sculpture.De Creeft completed his first direct sculpture, Barbare, in wood in 1915 and the next year his first in stone, a red granite head, and displayed it at the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts. He also completed his first portrait carved directly from life in stone, Enigma, Black Belgium Marble. The following year he took his first private students from Mexico and South America.Following the conclusion of World War I, the demand for artistic tributes to the heroes of the war begins and in 1918 he is awarded a commission to carve a seven foot granite war memorial of a French Infantryman, Le Poilu, in Saugues, which stands on a ten foot base in the town square. He completes this work in 1921, and as a result of his work is elected Officier de I’InstructionPublique, Paris. This lead to his executing twenty-one drawings for “Twenty-one Meditations”, a book by Albert Rid.In 1924 De Creeft developed the first of several original techniques, chased lead (cast then chiseled). Working with large, rough forms he hammered, carved, and incised the lead with chasing tools, that are used in foundries for finishing. Examples of works made with this technique include Portrait of César Vallejo and Orchidia. Both works feature solid forms with open spaces, both of which were made during this year. At that time no other artists attempted to use this technique.In 1925 de Creeft created a new technique when he was asked by the world famous flamenco dancer Vicente Escudero to create a piece for the Gran Bal Espagno. At the time De Creeft was bedridden with fever and flu. Being told the piece must be ready in days, De Creeft dismantled his stove to create Le Picador, an eight foot figure on horseback. Adding used tire tubes to depict the horse’s intestines protruding from its torso. De Creeft paraded this piece through the streets of Paris to great acclaim and the event received worldwide press coverage. It was the first time an artist turned scrap metal into a sculpture. De Creeft had witnessed the mistreatment of horses as a boy, when a relative had taken him behind the bullfight arena. He had seen them putting the intestines back in the horse, sewing them up with straw and sending them back to the bullfight. Le Picador was displayed at the Societe des Artistes Independants the following year. It was at this time he met Alexander Calder, who became his student in direct carving. De Creeft encouraged Calder to display his mechanical toys. He put together his Circus for the first time in De Creeft’s studio and showed it to other artists. Calder and de Creeft remained friends later when the de Creefts moved to the United States.In 1927 he moved to Puerto Pollenca, Mallorca, Spain, upon receiving a commission to create sculptures for the painter Roberto Ramonge’s fourteenth-century fortress there. Granted complete artistic freedom, He undertook the work with such vigor and enthusiasm that in eighteen months he carved more than two hundred pieces in stone. While continuing to reside in Mallorca he exhibited in Paris, and traveled there periodically during the following year.Emigration to the United StatesIn 1929, de Creeft married an American Alice Robertson Carr in London, who was one of his private students and later became well known for her bronze portraits of show and race horses. In Paris Alice studied etching with De Creeft's friend Stanley W. Hayter. De Creeft’s first trip to American was in June 1929. In July he held his first solo exhibition in the United States at the Seattle Arts Museum, Washington.During this trip he visits his father-in-law. He arrived in New York City in September and established a studio at 1 Washington Square. In December he has his first solo exhibition in New York City, which is to be his home for the next 54 years, at the Ferargil Galleries. Among the sculptures were the Portrait of Vallejo in chased lead and the Silver Fox made of found materials. His second exhibit at the Ferargil Galleries, in September, coincided with the stock market crash; as a consequence no sales resulted from the exhibition.In 1930 he took a studio at 22 Minetta Lane, and residence at 1 Washington Place, New York where he developed the innovative technique of Beaten Lead: creating three dimensional sculptures from one-quarter inch thick sheets of lead. His process involves suspending a lead sheet from the ceiling with clamps, and using ball peen hammers to work both sides of the sheet simultaneously. Also during this year he created his first beaten lead portrait from life, Portrait of Jolas, and has solo exhibitions at the Arts Club of Chicago, and the 56th Street Gallery, New York City.During 1931 he returned to Paris, then goes to Mallorca, and completeed a life size portrait bust of Gertrude Lawrence in beaten lead (collection of The Museum of the City of New York) that is exhibited at the opening of Lawrence’s play, “Can a Leopard?"His son William was born in 1932 in Paris and De Creeft spent part of the year in Paris and took a group of American students to Mallorca for summer instruction, where he held a solo exhibition at the Galleria Costa Palma. His first comprehensive exhibition is held that year at The New School for Social Research, New York City and he joins the faculty. His daughter Nina is born in 1933.In 1936 the Spanish Civil War erupted in Pollensa, where the De Creeft’s had a house. Alice de Creeft and her two children had to be evacuated to an American ship and returned to America. The Forteleza was bombed damaging many of De Creeft’s sculptures there. That year he becomes a founding member of the American Artist’s Congress and he joined the Georgette Passedoit Gallery, New York City, where his first show includes sculpture and watercolors of Mallorca and Connecticut. From 1936 – 48 De Creeft has eleven solo exhibitions at Passedoit. Also in 1936, he takes a group of students to Paris for instruction during the summer. Santa Barbara, California becomes his home for three months during 1937 where he travels to visit his children. During this trip he exhibits watercolors and sculpture at the Faulkner Memorial Art Gallery, Santa Barbara, California.In 1938 he becomes a founding member of the Sculptors Guild, an exhibiting group based in New York City..He divorces Alice Carr De Creeft in February 1939 and relocates his studio to 218 Greene Street, New York. Eva Campos was one of de Creeft’s private students, and she introduced her husband Jules Campos to De Creeft. They lived close by and Jules taught de Creeft fencing, which they enjoyed together. In 1940, at Campos’ urging de Creeft became a U.S. citizen.As war came to Spain and then the rest of Europe in the 1930s, artists who are able come to the United States, and De Creeft was reconnected with some of his artist friends from Spain, including Esteban Vicente, Luis Quintanilla, Salvador Dali, many of whom also move permanently to the United States. ;He resigned from the Artist’s Congress in 1940, due to its unquestioning support of the Soviet Union, and forms the alternative Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors.In 1940 and 1941 de Creeft was at the Yaddo Art colony in Saratoga Springs, New York. While there he became friends with Eudora Welty, who wrote an article about de Creeft in 1944, in the Magazine of Art.In 1944 he taught in the summer program at Black Mountain College, North Carolina, and during the term there met his student, Lorrie Goulet, of Los Angeles, CA, and in November they married in New York City, with the ceremony performed by Society of Ethical Culture. While at Black Mountain College, de Creeft met the director, Joseph Albers, his wife Annie and the architect Walter Gropius (all formally of the Bauhaus school) as well as the Spanish architect Josep Lluis Sert and the French artists Jean Charlot and Amedee Ozenfant.He was also elected to Board of Directors of the Society Independent Artists, and he had a solo exhibition at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia.In 1946 De Creeft and Goulet purchase a hundred acre farm in Hoosick Falls, NY where they establish a studio and part-time residence. Working in the outdoors improved De Creeft’s health and relieved the lung difficulties he had experienced from carving stone. De Creeft was an avid woodsman, cutting, splitting and stacking all of the wood used for heating and cooking. It is here where he creates his second portrait carved directly from life, of his wife, Lorraine, in English Caen stone. In 1948 their daughter, Donna Maria, was born in New York City and de Creeft is a founding member of the Artists Equity Association. In 1956 he joins the Contemporary Galleries, New York City, where he has solo exhibitions biannually until 1966.In 1970 he joins the Kennedy Galleries, New York City, where he has solo exhibitions in , ’72, ’73, ’74, and ’79.Commissions1951 marked the beginning of a five years work, during the summers, on Poetess, an eight foot granite figure, for the Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial, Fairmont Park, Philadelphia. This work required De Creeft to utilize his forging skills to sharpen and re-temper over two hundred points (tools) daily, using the forge he built at his farm.He is awarded a commission in 1957 for a hammered-copper sculpture, Theme, for the Jewish Community Center, in White Plains, New York.He was commissioned to do a bronze sculpture group of Alice In Wonderland, by George T. Dellacorte as a memorial for his wife, Margarita in 1956. The 12’ x 16’ bronze work, near 74th street in Central Park, was dedicated by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses during a gala public event in 1959. The sculpture was intended to be climbed on by children. De Creeft’s Daughter, Donna Maria was the model for the face of Alice. In 1995, the short film, “The Making of Jose De Creeft’s Alice In Wonderland Sculpture Garden – Narrated By Lorrie Goulet” is produced and directed by J. D’Alba. Due to the amount of usage the piece receives it was cast and the mold stored by the Parks Department for future replacements. The monument is one of de Creeft’s major work- the work for which he is known worldwide.The City of New York awarded a commission to De Creeft in 1961 for a mosaic mural at the Bronx Municipal Hospital Center, Nurses Residence and School, Bronx, New York, completed in 1962.De Creeft is commissioned by the City of New York to create a bronze relief , Medical Science – The Gift of Health, for the Public Health Laboratory of Bellevue Hospital in 1966.Later LifeIn May 1960, the Whitney Museum held the first major retrospective of de Creeft’s work, organized by the American Federation of Arts. The exhibition traveled for the next two years to thirteen museums throughout the United States. After opening at the Whitney, the exhibition traveled for the next two years to thirteen museums throughout the United States. He and his family traveled to Spain for three months that year, visiting the places where he had worked and lived, including Forteleza in Mallorca to survey the damage to his outdoor works there, inflicted during the Spanish Civil War. During the trip they had the occasion to visit his friend Salvador Dalí at his house in Cadaqués.He exhibited at The White House in 1965 in the Festival of the Arts, and he and Goulet attend the opening dinner in the Rose Garden hosted by Ladybird Johnson. In 1966 Robert Hanson produces documentary film of De Creeft sculpting The Hand of Creation, white Carrere marble (Collection of the Art Students League of New York). This is the only filmed record of De Creeft carving directly. In the film he states: “I love the stones. I respect the stones like my grandfather.” De Creeft and Goulet also purchase a four story building on West 20th Street, New York City where they establish permanent residence and studio.De Creeft becomes one of three American artists chosen for the permanent collection of The Vatican Permanent Collection of Religious Art, Rome, Italy when they purchased De Creeft’s work, The Baby’s Sleep, marble in 1972. He was awarded the Comendador de La Orden de Isabela La Catolica, Madrid, Spain in 1973. The following year a special exhibition of the De Creeft pieces in the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC, was held in honor of his 90th birthday, including a display of his tools, and a major retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the New School for Social Research, New York City.In 1976 he is honored by the Spanish Consulate in New York City, Alberto Lopez Herce, who arranges an audience with King Juan Carlos I of Spain for De Creeft and Goulet on the occasion of the King’s first visit to the US. In 1977 De Creeft is named Hijo Predilicto (Honored Son) of Guadalajara, Spain. A street is named in his honor; a plaque placed on the house of his birth and he is awarded the keys to the city. De Creeft is unable to attend the ceremony and sends Goulet who gives the acceptance speech on his behalf.In 1981 La Aventura humana de Jose de Creeft is organized by Carles Fontsere. This major retrospective is shown at the Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona, Spain. Though De Creeft, unable to attend, he sends Goulet. The exhibition is well received by the Spanish press and travels to seven museums throughout Spain over two years. De Creeft donates Le Picador, a metal assemblage, to the Fundacio Joan Miro in honor of his father, Mariano De Creeft y Masdeu.In 1976 the town of Hoosick Falls, New York passed a resolution for a memorial honoring De Creeft to be placed in Wood Park. De Creeft donated his sculpture The Guardian, granite, and he designs the marble seating and pedestal on which it is placed. The citizens of the town raised the funds for this project. The Guardian had been produced in 1918 to demonstrate to the French government his ability to carve granite for the commission of Le Poilu, Saugues, France. On September 11, 1982 De Creeft passes at the age of ninety-seven at his home in New York City. His ashes are buried in Hoosick Falls, New York, at the foot of The Guardian monument in a granite urn carved by a group of his students. The monument reads:Jose De Creeft November 27, 1884 - September 11, 1982 “Love and Respect One Another” A major retrospective honoring the life and art of De Creeft, was held the following year at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC in addition to memorials held in the Great Hall at Cooper Union and the Art Students League.“The Figure in American Sculpture – A Question of Modernity” exhibition is organized by the Los Angeles Museum of Art, and De Creeft’s work The Cloud, University of Washington Press, 1995 appears on the cover. Two Solo Exhibitions of De Creeft’s work are held in 1997 – Drawings, at the MB Modern Gallery, and Sculpture and Drawings at The Child’s Gallery (Both New York, New York). Recognition1906 - awarded the Grand Prix in the Concours de Sculpture for his piece in clay, Torso, at the Academie Julian. 1933 - awarded the Crowninshield Prize for sculpture at the Twenty-fifth Annual (Massachusetts) Art Exhibition. Also he is elected to the Board of Directors for the New York Society of Independent Artists; he installs the sculpture section of the Nineteenth Exhibition of Society of Independent Artists at Grand Central Palace, New York City1940 and 1941- wins a fellowship to spend the summer at Yaddo Art Colony, Saratoga Springs, New York1941- elected President of the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors1942 - at the Artists For Victory Exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, he is awarded first prize and the purchase prize of $5,000.00 for Maternity, ; Art News selects Maternity as the best sculpture of the year; and his show at the Passedoit Gallery is selected as one of the ten outstanding exhibitions of the year.1945 - Gold Medal Recipient for Rachmaninoff , Beaten Lead, at the 140th annual of The Pennsylvania Academy of The Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; is “Critics Choice” at the Seventeenth Regiment Armory Show, New York, New York1946 - elected to the National Sculpture Society.1948 - elected Associate of National Academy of Design.1951 - Les Adieux (The Farewell), Beaten Lead, is awarded top prize of $10,000 in the American Sculpture competition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City1952 - becomes a member of Board of Directors of Audubon Artists.1954 - Gold Medal for Young Woman, marble, at the twelfth annual exhibition of Audubon Artists.1956 - Acrobats, stone, wins Medal of Honor at the Audubon Artists.1958 - elected Fellow of the National Sculpture Society1961 - elected first Vice-President, New York Chapter of the Artists Equity Association1969 - awarded the Therese and Edwin H. Richard Prize for Dream, Pink Tennessee Marble, by the National Sculpture Society. Elected to Chair at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York City.1975 - Columbia University in New York City awards De Creeft the Florence Eickemeyer Award for Excellence on recommendation of the National Academy Museum1980 - receives a Merit Award from Artists Equity Association.Exhibitions1903 first exhibition at El Circulo de Bellas .Artes in Madrid1929 first solo exhibition in the United States at the Seattle Arts Museum, Washington1929 December solo exhibition at the Ferargil Galleries in New York.1932 joint exhibition with etcher, Alphonse Legros, at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.1943 solo exhibition at the St. Paul Gallery, Minnesota.1961 exhibition of drawings at the Louis Alexander Gallery, New York City1989 solo exhibition of De Creeft’s Sculpture and Drawings 1917-1940, at the Child’s Gallery, New York City, and José de Creeft (1884-1982), a survey of drawings, is held at Louis Newman Galleries, Beverly Hills, California1992 Snyder Fine Arts Gallery, New York City hosts a solo exhibition of his watercolors.Teaching1944 teaches at Black Mountain College, North CarolinaFrom 1944-48 he teaches at The Art Students League, New York CityFrom 1949 to 1950 he is a visiting Instructor at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine, during the summer , and in the winter he is visiting instructor at the Norton Gallery and School of Fine Arts, West Palm Beach, Florida.From 1957-60 De Creeft teaches at The New School For Social Research, New YorkFrom 1957- 81 he teaches at The Art Students League, both in New York, New York.Collections1938: The Brooklyn Museum, New York purchases Semitic Head, Beaten Lead; and Woman in The Sun, White Marble, is purchased by Billy Rose for his Art Garden at The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.1939: Maya, Black Belgium Marble, is purchased by Wichita University.1940: Museum of Modern Art purchases Saturnia, Beaten Lead.1941: Whitney Museum of American Art purchases The Cloud, Limestone; the Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased Emerveillement, Serpentine Marble1943: Whitney Museum, New York, NY, purchases Himalaya, Beaten Lead1945: Atlantis, Green Serpentine Marble is purchased by the University of Pennsylvania.1951: Rachmaninoff , Beaten Lead,is purchased by the Pennsylvania Academy1967: New Being, marble, is purchased by The Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas1976: Nude, walnut, is acquired by the Smithsonian Museum of American Art.1983: Marguerite, bronze on stone base, is acquired by Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center as a Gift of Lorrie Goulet De Creeft and Head of Gertrude Stein, ceramic and shell, 1931,was purchased by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation.1986: Continuite, marble, is acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, as a gift of the Sara Ruby Foundation.PublicationsCampos, Jules. Jose De Creeft. Erich S. Herrmann, NY, 1945Cunningham, John J. Jose De Creeft. University of Georgia Press/National Sculpture Society, Athens, Georgia, 1950.Campos, Jules. The Sculpture of Jose De Creeft. Kennedy Graphics, Inc., NY, 1972