John M. DeStefano

Last updated

John M. DeStefano (died April 8, 2008, in Naples, Florida [1] ) was an American sculptor, painter and businessman.

Born in Avellino, Italy, he immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts with his family at the age of six. DeStefano studied at the North Bennett Street Industrial School and earned a scholarship to attend the School of the Museum of Fine Arts but was forced to drop out after two years due to a lack of funds.

In 1933, while still a student, DeStefano created a cast bronze bas-relief profile portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt that is located in the Roosevelt Room of the White House and is highlighted by tour guides. Former Boston mayors James Michael Curley and John F. Fitzgerald and two local businessmen provided the funds for the bronze and for DeStefano to travel to Washington D.C. to personally present the work to Roosevelt. [1] Many of DeStefano's future subjects were also of a civic nature.

During the Great Depression, DeStefano worked as an art teacher and on projects for the federal Works Projects Administration jobs program. Although his lifelong ambition was to be a professional artist, DeStefano felt that he could not support his family with his artwork. In 1937, DeStefano established a business, DeStefano Studios House of Mannequins, which restored and created mannequins for local department stores. During World War II, DeStefano served in the United States Navy in the South Pacific as a member of the 58th Seabee Battalion. He returned to his business after the war and continued to make mannequins commercially until his retirement in the 1980s.

By the late 1970s, DeStefano's factory in Woburn, Massachusetts produced over 3,000 mannequins a day for stores such as Jordan Marsh, Filenes and Lord and Taylor. [2] In a 1979 profile, the Boston Globe referred to DeStefano as "the dean of local mannequin makers." [1]

As an artist, DeStefano worked in cast bronze, terra cotta and stone. His sculptures are displayed at Plimoth Patuxet and at Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Revere</span> American silversmith and Patriot in the American Revolution

Paul Revere was an American silversmith, engraver, folk hero, early industrialist, Sons of Liberty member, and Patriot. He is best known for his midnight ride to alert the colonial militia in April 1775 to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1861 poem, "Paul Revere's Ride".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tip O'Neill</span> American politician (1912–1994)

Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill Jr. was an American politician who served as the 47th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, representing northern Boston, Massachusetts, as a Democrat from 1953 to 1987. The only Speaker to serve for five complete consecutive Congresses, he is the third longest-serving Speaker in American history after Sam Rayburn and Henry Clay in terms of total tenure and longest-serving in terms of continuous tenure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gutzon Borglum</span> American sculptor

John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum was an American sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Mountain in Georgia, statues of Union General Philip Sheridan in Washington D.C. and in Chicago, as well as a bust of Abraham Lincoln which was exhibited in the White House by Theodore Roosevelt and which is now held in the United States Capitol crypt in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John F. Tierney</span> American politician (born 1951)

John F. Tierney is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts from 1997 to 2015. He is a Democrat who represented the state's 6th district, which includes the state's North Shore and Cape Ann. Born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts, Tierney graduated from Salem State College and Suffolk University Law School. He worked in private law and served on the Salem Chamber of Commerce from 1976 to 1997. Tierney first ran for the House of Representatives in 1994 against Republican incumbent Peter G. Torkildsen, losing by a small margin. He defeated Torkildsen in a rematch in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph P. Kennedy II</span> American businessman and politician

Joseph Patrick Kennedy II, better known as Joe, is an American businessman, Democratic politician, and a member of the Kennedy family. He is a son of former United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, and he is also a nephew of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy and former U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Aspinwall Roosevelt</span> American businessman

John Aspinwall Roosevelt II was an American businessman and the sixth and last child of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyrus Edwin Dallin</span> American sculptor (1861–1944)

Cyrus Edwin Dallin was an American sculptor best known for his depictions of Native Americans. He created more than 260 works, including the Equestrian Statue of Paul Revere in Boston; the Angel Moroni atop Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City; and Appeal to the Great Spirit (1908), at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He was also an accomplished painter and an Olympic archer.

The 2006 Massachusetts general election was held on November 7, 2006, throughout Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum</span> Contemporary art museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts

The DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is a sculpture park and contemporary art museum on the southern shore of Flint's Pond in Lincoln, Massachusetts, 20 miles northwest of Boston. It was established in 1950, and is the largest park of its kind in New England, encompassing 30 acres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walker Hancock</span> American sculptor

Walker Kirtland Hancock was an American sculptor and teacher. He created notable monumental sculptures, including the Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial (1950–52) at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, and the World War I Soldiers' Memorial (1936–38) in St. Louis, Missouri. He made major additions to the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., including Christ in Majesty (1972), the bas relief over the High Altar. Works by him are presently housed at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the Library of Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the United States Capitol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bashka Paeff</span> American artist

Bashka Paeff, was an American sculptor active near Boston, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Sherrill Houser</span> American painter and sculptor

John Sherrill Houser was an American painter and sculptor.

<i>Coal Miner</i> (statue)

Coal Miner is a public artwork by Polish American artist John J. Szaton (1907–1966) which is located in two US State capitals; the original, commissioned in 1963 in Springfield, Illinois, as well as a copy on the west lawn of the Indiana State House in Indianapolis The statues commemorate coal miners who had lost their lives in those states' mining industry. The 7-foot (2.1 m) tall statue rests on a 3-foot (0.91 m) square, granite base supported by a cement foundation that is 4–6 inches (100–150 mm) thick.

<i>Robert Gould Shaw Memorial</i> Sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

The Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment is a bronze relief sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens opposite 24 Beacon Street, Boston. It depicts Colonel Robert Gould Shaw leading members of the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry as it marched down Beacon Street on May 28, 1863 to depart the city to fight in the South. The sculpture was unveiled on May 31, 1897. This is the first civic monument to pay homage to the heroism of African American soldiers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John A. Wilson (sculptor)</span> Canadian sculptor (1877–1954)

John Albert Wilson was a Canadian sculptor who produced public art for commissions throughout North America. He was a professor in the School of Architecture at Harvard University for 32 years. He is most famous for his American Civil War Monuments: the statue on the Confederate Student Memorial on the campus of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the Washington Grays Monument in Philadelphia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyrus Dallin Art Museum</span> United States historic place

The Cyrus Dallin Art Museum (CDAM) in Arlington, Massachusetts, United States is dedicated to displaying the artworks and documentation of American sculptor, educator, and Indigenous rights activist Cyrus Dallin, who lived and worked in the town for over 40 years. He is well known for his sculptural works around the US including The Scout in Kansas City, Missouri, TheSoldiers' and Sailors' Monumentin Syracuse, New York and The Signal of Peace in Chicago. Locally, he is best known for his iconic Appeal to the Great Spirit and Paul Revere Monument statues, both located in Boston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quentin Palfrey</span> American lawyer

Quentin Palfrey is an American lawyer, policymaker, and political candidate. He currently serves as Deputy General Counsel at the United States Department of Commerce. He previously served as the Executive Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) North America and is the Co-Director of the Global Access in Action project at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua Bowen Smith</span>

Joshua Bowen Smith (1813–1879) was an abolitionist, conductor on the Underground Railroad, co-founder of the New England Freedom Association, and politician, serving one term as a Massachusetts state legislator. He worked as a caterer in Boston, starting his own business at the age of 36.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boris Mirski Gallery</span> American art gallery

The Boris Mirski Gallery (1944–1979) was a Boston art gallery owned by Boris Chaim Mirski (1898–1974). The gallery was known for exhibiting key figures in Boston Expressionism, New York and international modern art styles and non-western art. For years, the gallery dominated with both figurative and African work. As an art dealer, Mirski was known for supporting young, emerging artists, including many Jewish-Americans, as well as artists of color, women artists and immigrants. As a result of Mirski's avant-garde approach to art and diversified approach to dealing art, the gallery was at the center of Boston's burgeoning modern mid-century art scene, as well as instrumental in the birth and development of Boston Expressionism, the most significant branch of American Figurative Expressionism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equestrian statue of Joseph Hooker</span> Equestrian statue in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

An equestrian statue of Joseph Hooker is installed outside the Massachusetts State House, facing Beacon Street in Boston, in the United States.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Negri, Gloria (5 May 2008). "John DeStefano; brought artist's touch to stores". The Boston Globe. p. B9. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  2. Foreman, Judy (12 April 1978). "Guess what's more lifelike these days". The Boston Globe. p. 37.