Gaetano Cecere

Gaetano Cecere, (November 26, 1894 – 1985) was an American sculptor. He was born, educated and worked in New York City. He studied with Hermon A MacNeil, with work in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and Gaetano, known as "Guy," attended the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design and the National Academy of Design. In 1920 he won the Prix de Rome and studied at the American Academy in Rome for several years. During this period a "tendency to simplify forms for decorative effects was developed."^[1] Cecere has works and documents housed in many major museums and collections, including the Smithsonian Institution, the "National Collection of Fine Arts" and the Archives of American Art".

He was a member of the National Sculpture Society.^[2]

Cecere served as director of the Department of Sculpture at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York City. In 1940 he was selected to redecorate portions of the U.S. Capitol building's House of Representatives Chamber. Later in his career, Cecere taught art at Mary Washington College, Fredericksburg, Virginia.^[3]

Cecere sculpted the plaster model for the first version of the Distinguished Service Cross and later designed the Soldier's Medal.^[4]

Selected works

Relief entitled Commerce and Industry on the former Federal Reserve Bank building in Jacksonville, Florida

General Sidney Sherman Memorial on Broadway in Galveston

• Eighth issue of the Society of Medalists No Easy Way from Earth to Stars, 1933.
• Abraham Lincoln Memorial "larger than life" (10" 6") bronze statue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, War Memorial Plaza, 1934^[5]
• 1939 New York World's Fair, two monumental statues representing American Manhood and American Womanhood 1939
• USPO, Great Neck, New York, Large carved in stone American Eagle,1940
• U.S. Capitol, United States House of Representatives Chambers and rotunda, bas relief portraits of famous lawmakers Alphonso X, "the Wise", George Mason, Simon de Montfort and Justinian, 1949-50^[6]
• Smithsonian Institution collection
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
• Norfolk Museum of Art
• Brookgreen Gardens, published featured artist,1938
• National Collection of Fine Art, Smithsonian Institution
• Former Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Jacksonville Branch entryway reliefs, carved at Ingalls Stone Company in Bedford, IN in 1952

References

• Catell Press,1970 ed. American Artists
• AskArt.com/Gaetano Cecere
• American Academy, Rome, Italy
• americanart.si.edu/collections/search...
• www.si.edu/collections/collection

1. Proske, Beatrice Gilman, Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture, Brookgreen Gardens, SC, 1943 pp. 311-314
2. National Sculpture Society, ‘’Contemporary American Sculpture’’, National Sculpture Society, NY 1929
3. "Gaetano Cecere | Smithsonian American Art Museum".
4. Borch III, Fred L. (2013). "Distinguished Service Cross". Medals for Soldiers and Airmen: Awards and Decorations of the United States Army and Air Force. McFarland. pp. 30–42. ISBN 9780786474127.
5. Buck, Diane M and Virginia A Palmer ‘’Outdoor Sculpture in Milwaukee: A Cultural and Historical Guidebook’’, The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison 1995 pp. 14-16
6. Architect of the Capitol, ‘’Compilation of Works of Art and Other Objects in the United States Capitol’’, United States Printing Office, Washington 1965 p79-80

External links

• American Manhood and American Womanhood, 1939 World's Fair