Modern Art Foundry

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Modern Art Foundry
Industry Foundry
Founded1932;91 years ago (1932)
FounderJohn Spring [1]
Headquarters18-70 41st Street
Astoria, New York 11105,
United States
Key people
Jeffrey Spring, President [2]
Website www.modernartfoundry.com

The Modern Art Foundry is an historic foundry in Astoria, Queens, New York, founded in 1932 by John Spring. His descendants continue to operate the business [3] in what used to be the carriage house of the Steinway Mansion. [2]

Contents

Modern Art Foundry specializes in working with artists who create limited edition works, usually intended for museums and galleries. [4] The foundry utilizes the lost-wax casting method for producing its large-scale work. [3] It also does maintenance and conservation of existing works. [5]

History

John Spring, a Polish immigrant, started his business in 1932 on Astoria Boulevard, at the end near what is now the Socrates Sculpture Park. [4] In 1947, the foundry moved from its location near the East River to where it is at present. [2] Spring built the business on close relationships with a small group of "prominent and prolific" artists. Among the artists who have worked there are Jose de Creeft, Jacques Lipchitz, Louise Bourgeois, [3] Gaston Lachaise, Joan Miró, Alexander Archipenko, and Isamu Noguchi. [6]

Operations

In contrast to most foundries that have switched over to ceramic shell casting, Modern Art utilizes the lost-wax casting method for producing its large-scale work. [3] Workers first create a wax copy of the artist's original model and then apply a plastic coating to it. The mold is then fired in a kiln, which causes the wax to melt away. Molten bronze is then poured into the mold. This method yields an exact bronze replica of the artist's original model. [3]

The foundry is known for its exacting and innovative work. Bourgeois chose the foundry to cast the Maman sculpture because of its reputation and output. [3] In the early 1960s, Jasper Johns cast "Light Bulb," "Flashlight; Painted Bronze (ale cans)", "Painted Bronze (paintbrushes)", "Flag", and "Bronze (Light Bulb, Socket, Wire on Grid" at the foundry. [7]

In 2002, artisans at the foundry replaced the original zinc statues that were part of the 1867 Civil War Soldiers Monument in the Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, with bronze replicas. [8]

Related Research Articles

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sculpture:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astoria, Queens</span> Neighborhood of Queens in New York City

Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeast, and Woodside to the east. As of 2019, Astoria has an estimated population of 95,446.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bronze sculpture</span> Sculpture cast in bronze

Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as well as bronze elements to be fitted to other objects such as furniture. It is often gilded to give gilt-bronze or ormolu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lost-wax casting</span> Process by which a duplicate metal sculpture is cast from an original sculpture

Lost-wax casting is the process by which a duplicate metal sculpture is cast from an original sculpture. Intricate works can be achieved by this method.

<i>Chimera of Arezzo</i> Ancient Etruscan artwork

The Chimera of Arezzo is regarded as the best example of ancient Etruscan art. The British art historian David Ekserdjian described the sculpture as "one of the most arresting of all animal sculptures and the supreme masterpiece of Etruscan bronze-casting". Made entirely of bronze and measuring 78.5 cm high with a length of 129 cm, it was found alongside a small collection of other bronze statues in Arezzo, an ancient Etruscan and Roman city in Tuscany. The statue was originally part of a larger sculptural group representing a fight between a Chimera and the Greek hero Bellerophon. This sculpture is likely to have been created as a votive offering to the Etruscan god Tinia.

<i>Little Dancer of Fourteen Years</i> Sculpture by Edgar Degas

The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer is a sculpture begun c. 1880 by Edgar Degas of a young student of the Paris Opera Ballet dance school, a Belgian named Marie van Goethem.

<i>Maman</i> (sculpture) Sculpture by Louise Bourgeois

Maman (1999) is a bronze, stainless steel, and marble sculpture by the artist Louise Bourgeois. The sculpture, which depicts a spider, is among the world's largest, measuring over 30 ft high and over 33 ft wide (927 x 891 x 1024 cm). It includes a sac containing 32 marble eggs and its abdomen and thorax are made of ribbed bronze.

<i>Louis Riel</i> (sculpture) Sculpture of Louis Riel by John Cullen Nugent

The Louis Riel sculpture is a monument to Louis Riel located on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg. Commissioned by the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) and sculpted by Miguel Joyal, the statue is located on the building's south grounds and faces the Assiniboine River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jose de Creeft</span> Spanish born American sculptor

José Mariano de Creeft was a Spanish-born American artist, sculptor, and teacher known for modern sculpture in stone, metal, and wood, particularly figural works of women. His 16-foot (4.9 m) bronze Alice in Wonderland sculpture climbing sculpture in Central Park is well known to both adults and children in New York City. He was an early adopter, and prominent exponent of the direct carving approach to sculpture. He also developed the technique of lead chasing, and was among the first to create modern sculpture from found objects. He taught at Black Mountain College, the Art Students League of New York, and the New School for Social Research. His works are in the Whitney Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and many other public and private collections.

Roman Bronze Works, now operated as Roman Bronze Studios, is a bronze foundry in New York City. Established in 1897 by Riccardo Bertelli, it was the first American foundry to specialize in the lost-wax casting method, and was the country's pre-eminent art foundry during the American Renaissance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casting</span> Manufacturing process in which a liquid is poured into a mold to solidify

Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process. Casting materials are usually metals or various time setting materials that cure after mixing two or more components together; examples are epoxy, concrete, plaster and clay. Casting is most often used for making complex shapes that would be otherwise difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods. Heavy equipment like machine tool beds, ships' propellers, etc. can be cast easily in the required size, rather than fabricating by joining several small pieces. Casting is a 7,000-year-old process. The oldest surviving casting is a copper frog from 3200 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morris Singer</span> British art foundry

Morris Singer is a British art foundry, recognised as the oldest fine art foundry in the world. Its predecessor, Singer was established in 1848 in Frome, Somerset, by John Webb Singer, as the Frome Art Metal Works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of George Washington (Indianapolis)</span>

George Washington is a public artwork by American sculptor Donald De Lue, located on the grounds of the Indiana Statehouse, in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The bronze statue of George Washington that occupies the Indiana Statehouse south lawn is one of several copies of a 1959 original wax cast at the Modern Art Foundry in Long Island, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of George Washington (Houdon)</span> Statue of George Washington by Jean-Antoine Houdon

George Washington is a statue by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon from the late 18th century. Based on a life mask and other measurements of George Washington taken by Houdon, it is considered one of the most accurate depictions of the subject. The original sculpture is located in the rotunda of the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia, and it has been copied extensively, with one copy standing in the United States Capitol Rotunda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steinway Mansion</span> Historic house in Queens, New York

The Steinway Mansion is at 18-33 41st Street on a one-acre hilltop in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens in New York City. It was built in 1858, originally on 440 acres (1.8 km2) on the Long Island Sound, by Benjamin Pike Jr., a manufacturer of scientific instruments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew DeVries</span> American sculptor

Andrew W. DeVries is an American artist and sculptor living and working in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. His works, primarily in lost wax cast bronze produced at his own foundry, explore the human body portrayed through dance, though he has a substantial body of work centered in the purely symbolic form as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Underhill</span> American artist (1933–2022)

William Underhill was an American sculptor.

<i>Horse and Rider</i> (wax sculpture)

Horse and Rider is a beeswax sculpture depicting a rider on a horse. The history of the sculpture is unknown before the 20th century. The work has been attributed to Leonardo da Vinci by the Italian art historian Carlo Pedretti, though most historians have ignored or denied the attribution. A number of casts have been made, using a mold taken from the wax original.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artistic Foundry Battaglia</span>

Artistic Foundry Battaglia is one of the oldest artistic bronze foundries in the world. It specializes in producing artistic sculptures using the lost-wax casting technique.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Benjamin Franklin (Columbus, Ohio)</span> Statue in Columbus, Ohio, U.S.

Benjamin Franklin, a 1974 bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin, stands inside the Franklin County Government Center in Columbus, Ohio. The statue was created by James P. Anderson and cast in Pietrasanta, Italy.

References

  1. Jeffrey Spring. "About". Modern Art Foundry. Retrieved January 26, 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 Mukhi, Karun (November 14, 2016). "The Modern Art Foundry, A Jewel Hidden in Plain Sight in the Steinway Mansion Carriage House" . Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Anderson, Nicole Gates (September 6, 2012). "Where Bronze Transforms Into Fine Art". The New York Times .
  4. 1 2 3 Evelly, Jeanmarie (May 19, 2017). "See Inside The 85-Year-Old Astoria Foundry Where Famous Sculptures Get Made". Astoria & Long Island City. DNAinfo. Archived from the original on November 18, 2017. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  5. "Modern Art Foundry". JebusandAndrea. May 27, 2017.
  6. Freudenheim, Ellen (2013). Queens What to Do, Where to Go (and How Not to Get Lost) in New York's Undiscovered Borough. St. Martin's Publishing Group. p. 38. ISBN   9781466852389.
  7. Leggio, James; Weiley, Susan (1991). John Elderfield (ed.). American Art of the 1960s. New York: Museum of Modern Art. p. 62. ISBN   9780870704581.
  8. "Modern Art Foundry Recreates Civil War Statue". Queens Scene Magazine. August 15, 2019.
  9. Evelly, Jeanmarie (March 18, 2015). "7-Foot Sophocles is Final Piece in Astoria Park Greek Statues Collection". Astoria & Long Island City. DNAinfo. Archived from the original on August 28, 2019. Retrieved March 18, 2015.

Coordinates: 40°46′43″N73°53′53″W / 40.77853°N 73.89815°W / 40.77853; -73.89815