Robert Berks

Robert Berks (April 26, 1922 – May 16, 2011) was an American sculptor, industrial designer and planner. He created hundreds of bronze sculptures and monuments including the Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial, and the Albert Einstein Memorial in Washington, D.C. Bob was prolific and created numerous sketches, drawings, and paintings; often in service of sculpture and site-planning subjects. He worked for over 50 years in a converted schoolhouse on the north fork of Long Island, NY. For projects with living subjects, Bob would often invite individuals to visit with he and Tod for a period of a week or two so he could observe them in real life; through this time he captured emotions, tendencies, facial expressions, and body language. It was this commitment to understanding his subject below the surface that facilitated the intimacy and personality found in his sculptural portraits. Bob's work is spread around the world, but he is best known for his commissions in Washington DC. Bob is one of the only artists in the world to have multiple pieces regularly on display in the Oval office. Depending on the desires of the sitting US President, Berks' busts of famed civil servants and civl rights leaders line the walls of the Oval (Eight (8) original works are owned by the National Gallery); most often on view are busts of FDR, Lincoln, RFK, Ronald Reagan, and JFK.

Robert Berks
Born
Robert S. Berks

(1922-04-26)April 26, 1922
Boston, Massachusetts
DiedMay 16, 2011(2011-05-16) (aged 89)
New York City
Occupationsculptor
Known forJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy bust
SpouseDorothy "Tod" Berks
Children3

The large 8 foot bust of John F Kennedy in front of the Kennedy Center, is most commonly recognized given the reach of televised programs including the annual Kennedy Center honors and The Mark Twain Prize. In the 1960's, Berks was named "The Capitol's Michelangelo" for his bronze monuments around the mall.

Life

He grew up in Hecht House, Boston. He studied at the Boston Museum.[1] In 1953, he married Dorothy “Tod” Berks.[2]

One of Berks's most famous works is a bust of former President John Fitzgerald Kennedy that can be found in the Grand Foyer of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.[2]

A copy of his Bust of Abraham Lincoln was displayed in the Oval Office during the Clinton Administration. Another of his statues, that of the Swedish botanist and physician Carl Linnaeus, can be found in the Heritage Garden of the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois. In 2005, he donated a sculpture of Einstein to Princeton University.[3] In 2007, he made a sculpture of Fred Rogers for Pittsburgh.[4]

He died on May 16, 2011, at the age of 89 from natural causes.[2]

Public monuments
Louis Brandeis statue at Brandeis University (1956)
Bust of John F. Kennedy located at the Kennedy Center (1971)

References
  1. Duncan, Erika (April 14, 1996). "ENCOUNTERS;A Sculptor Whose Model Is History". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  2. Kelly, Tim (May 17, 2011). "Bob Berks, Orient artist who sculpted images of presidents and popes, dies at 89". The Suffolk Times. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
  3. Braun, Candace. "Sculptor Donates Planned Einstein Bust to Princeton". Town Topics. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  4. McNulty, Timothy (May 23, 2007). "A statue of Mister Rogers will adorn the North Shore". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  5. "Memorial to Brandeis: 9-Foot Statue of Justice to Be Unveiled Nov. 13". The New York Times. April 15, 1956. p. 39. ProQuest 113897312.
  6. Wick, Steve (January 26, 2021). "Late Orient sculptor's work on display in the Oval Office". The Suffolk Times. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  7. Cascone, Sarah (January 21, 2021). "We Decode the New Art Biden Just Installed in the Oval Office, From a Bust of Cesar Chavez to a Calming Childe Hassam Painting". Artnet News. Retrieved January 25, 2023.

Sources
  • James M. Goode: Outdoor Sculpture of Washington D.C. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979, ISBN 0-87474-138-6
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