|
|
Ad Code: 4
|
An example of work by Mico Kaufman
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
|
|
Biography from Whistler House Museum of Art:
| This biography was submitted by Whistler House Museum of Art, courtesy Peter Kostoulakos, ISA Fine Art Consultant www.pkart.com
Mico Kaufman---international sculptor and medallist---was born on January 3,1924 in Buzeu, Romania and has lived and worked in Tewksbury, MA since 1967. From the age of 17 Kaufman would constantly draw and his desire to be an artist grew each day.
While living in Romania with his parents and two siblings, Kaufman taught himself to draw and sculpt. His first project was a nude female figure whittled from his uncle's cane in 1941. His parents preferred a different profession for young Mico his mother wanted him to be a concert violinist and his father wanted him to be an accountant. WWII and three years of had labor in a Nazi concentration camp delayed Kaufman's dream until his release at age 21.
Kaufman's formal art training took place at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, Italy from 1947 to 1949 and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence from 1949 to 1951. When asked by the school officials why he thought he could sculpt, he showed them the nude female he whittled and they let him in. Mico was able to study at the academy on a scholarship before immigrating to America and settling in Massachusetts with his new wife Katia. He became a United States citizen in 1956.
Supporting a family made it difficult for Kaufman to work as an artist so he would occasionally deviate from his artistic path and do any job that would pay the rent and put food on the table. His free time would be spent working at his true genius sculpting. Kaufman received his first commission as a designer in the mid-1960s to redesign a logo for a restaurant chain. After that he decided to place his full attention at the act of sculpting.
During the 1960s and 1970s there was a huge demand for numismatic medals and Kaufman's career took off. He received many commissions at that time one for over 190 medals for the U. S. Bicentennial. Some of his 300 plus medals are portraits of scientist Albert Einstein, inventor Thomas Alva Edison, humorist Will Rogers, singer Michael Jackson, golfer Arnold Palmer, and U. S. presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush.
Later, Kaufman went on to create over 15 monuments two reside in England and several are located in Tewksbury and the Lowell, MA area.
Bronze monument subjects include:
Artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler at the Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell, MA
French composer Claude Debussy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell and in St. Germaine en Laye, France
The Christos G. Rouses Monument at the Lowell Police Department
Italia at the John F. Kennedy Civic Center in Lowell, MA
Humanitarian Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan at the Town Hall of Tewksbury, MA
Homage to Women, 1984 in Lowell, MA
St. Eugene at St. Joseph Shine in Lowell, MA
Kecoughtan Indian at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Hampton, VA
The Wamesit Indian in Tewksbury, MA
Tewksbury World War II Veterans Honor Roll in Tewksbury, MA
The Muster in Tewksbury, MA
Touching Souls in Tewksbury, MA and at the Tewksbury Abbey, outside the Visitor Centre, in Tewksbury, England
Bust of conductor Arthur Fiedler.
Kaufman also works with molten plastic a co-venture with the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Brien Allardice of the National Plastics Center and Museum in Leominster, MA has stated "His stuff is very professional, abstract and very fluid. His work is more fine art than traditional art. It's the Picasso version of a painting."
Some of his many awards include:
The 1967 Alma & Ulysses Ricci, for the Best Conservative Painting or Sculpture, Rockport Art Association, Rockport, MA
1978 Sculptor of the Year, American Numismatic Association, Houston, TX
1992 J. Sanford Saltus Award, "for signal achievement in the art of the medal," American Numismatic Society, New York City
1st prize, North Shore Art Association, Gloucester, MA
Medal of Honor, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA.
Kaufman is listed in Who's Who in American Art, 1970 to present and Who's Who in American Art in the East, 1975 to present.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
American Medallic Sculpture Association in New York City
Fellow, American Numismatic Society in New York City
Fellow, the National Sculpture Society in New York City
Cambridge Art Association.
He had a solo exhibit at the Whistler House Museum of Art; the National Museum of Plastics; and the American Numismatic Society in 1992. Other exhibits include Colorado Springs, Co in 1987; the Audubon Artists; the Allied Artists of America in New York City; Helsinki, Finland in 1973 &1990; Krakow, Poland in 1975; Budapest, Hungary in 1977; Lisbon, Portugal in 1979; Florence, Italy in 1983; and Stockholm, Sweden in 1985.
"Why did I decorate the working smock that Whistler wears in my sculpture with butterflies? Because I was sure that this was what Mr. Whistler would have wanted me to do, if I had lived in his time." -- Mico Kaufman, August 28, 2002, commenting on the bronze sculpture of James Abbott McNeill Whistler at the Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell, MA.
References: Dealer's Choice Biographical Encyclopedia of American Painters... page 736; Smithsonian Institution Research Information System; The Sun, Lowell, MA, March 2, 1997; Whistler House Museum of Art files.
|
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|