StudioEIS

StudioEIS was founded in 1977 by New York City natives Ivan Schwartz (BFA Boston University College of Fine Arts) and Elliot Schwartz (BFA California Institute of the Arts, MFA Yale University). It pioneered the design and production of innovative figurative sculptures for use as visual storytelling elements within museum settings during the 1970s. When the company was founded there was growing resistance to using mass-produced mannequins for museum exhibitions. StudioEIS found a niche for itself in the world of narrative storytelling for museums and with the American Bicentennial at hand and a renewed interest in American history. Numerous museums were established across the country to address topics such as African American history, civil rights, Native American history and science & technology. This confluence of talent and need created the initial impetus for StudioEIS' work.

Foundry view of bronze Henry Ford for National Harbor, Maryland. Photo (c) Elliot Schwartz for StudioEIS

Museums large and small began out-sourcing displays via exhibition designers, and called upon StudioEIS to create lifelike sculptures to tell stories about American culture and its political history in vivid ways that put a face to history. StudioEIS' early commissions, for the National Civil Rights Museum and the American Museum of Natural History, were figurative, life-sized, and designed to engage the museum visitor.

With its growing reputation, StudioEIS began to work outside the museum world where innovative object making through visual storytelling was born. The studio now began to work with architects, industrial and scenic designers, restaurant designers & hotel and casino designers. Sony, the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nike's flagship stores in Portland and Chicago, The Discovery Channel, and Martha Stewart Living are among its many corporate clients. StudioEIS' sculptures have been on display outside the United States in Mexico, Japan, Taiwan, Italy, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi.

The prominence of the studio grew as it became especially well known for its bronze portrait sculptures and public works, which have included sculptures of iconic figures, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Elvis Presley, Albert Einstein, Frederick Douglass and 42 bronze Founding Fathers at the National Constitution Center - which may be the largest bronze sculpture project of its type in American history. To date, StudioEIS has created more significant historical sculptures than any studio in American history.

The distinguished portrait sculptures created by StudioEIS are featured in important cultural institutions such as The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History, The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, The Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia and The American Museum of Natural History in New York City. StudioEIS' expertise has been called upon for high-profile "forensic" reconstruction projects for George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, the exhibition "Written in Bone" at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution and the exhibition JANE, Starvation, Cannibalism & Endurance at Jamestown for Jamestown and the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

Today StudioEIS' staff of sculptors, painters, costumers, researchers, and model-makers is enhanced by specialists in wax works, metal fabrication, and bronze casting. A project will often include collaboration with scholars in anthropology, costume history, and forensic science. The sculptures of George Washington at ages 19, 45 and 57 that were unveiled at Mount Vernon in 2006 involved state-of-the-art forensic research and computer reconstruction.

StudioEIS’ Archive resides at the Briscoe Center of American History at the University of Texas/Austin. The Archive was unveiled in November 2014.

• Kennewick Man: The Scientific Investigation of an Ancient American Skeleton. Written by Douglas W. Owsley 2014.
• The 9,000-Year-Old Man Speaks, Kennewick Man. Written by Douglas Preston for the Smithsonian Magazine, 2014
• JANE, Starvation, Cannibalism, and Endurance at Jamestown. Written by James Horn, William Kelso, Douglas Owsley, Beverly Straube, 2013
• Their Skeletons Speak; Kennewick Man and the Paleoamerican World Written by Sally M. Walker, Douglas W. Owsley, 2012
• The Many Faces of George Washington: Remaking a Presidential Icon. Written by Carla Killough McClafferty, 2011
• Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland. Written by Sally M. Walker, 2009
• The National Constitution Center. Written by Michael Les Benedict, John Bogle, 2007
• The Letters of Pierce Butler, 1790–1794. Edited by Terry W. Lipscomb, 2007
• Cincinnati Sculpture Unveiled: The Story Behind the Art Written by Randy Centner & Philip Farr, 2006
• Watching the World Change: The Stories Behind the Images of 9/11. Written by David Friend, 2006
• US Postage Stamp "To Form A More Perfect Union" Commemorative Stamps. United States Postal Service, 2005
• The American National Tree, National Constitution Center. Biographies from an exhibit, 2004
• Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center. Written by Theresa Hayward Bell, Jack Campisi, Steve Dunwell, 2000
• The National Civil Rights Museum Celebrates Everyday People. Written by Alice Faye Duncan, 1995
• World War II: Personal Accounts Pearl Harbor to V-J Day: A Traveling Exhibition Sponsored by The National Archives and Records Administration, 1992. Written by Gary A. Yarrington

• Gettysburg Foundation, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 2019. "Symbols, Myths & History" with Ivan Schwartz
• President Lincoln's Cottage, Washington, DC, 2018. "Statues of Limitations" with Ivan Schwartz
• Metropolitan Club, Washington, DC, 2010. "Picturing History" with Ivan Schwartz
• National Trust for Historic Preservation, President Lincoln's Cottage, Washington 2010. "Picturing History" with Ivan Schwartz
• Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg, PA, 2010. "Conversation with Ivan Schwartz", Director of StudioEIS
• Montgomery College, Takoma Park, MD, 2009. "StudioEIS and the Art of Visual Storytelling, Two new sculpture of Abraham Lincoln"
• Washington College, Chestertown, MD, 2006
• Marymount College, New York, NY, 2006
• Lower East Side Tenement Museum, New York, NY, 2000
• U.S. Army Museums Conference, Fort Leonard Wood, MO, 1998. Conference "Thinking Outside the Box"
• Exhibit Design, World Symposium, Chicago, IL, 1998
• The University of Minnesota School of Architecture, 1976

• UPS, TV Commercial, New York, NY, 2010 - Larger than life replica of wooden mannequin foot
• Nurai Island Residence, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 2008 - 25 architectural models representing unique limited edition beach front villas developed by Zaya Real Estate Corporation

• StudioEIS website