Samuel Cashwan

Samuel Adolph Cashwan (1900 - 1988) was an American sculptor born to Jewish parents in Cherkasy, Ukraine.

History

His parents left the Ukraine and emigrated to New York City in 1906. Cashwan began his art studies after the family moved to Detroit in 1916. His first exposure came from his art teacher, Katherine Conover at Detroit's Central High School. He followed this by taking instruction at the John Wicker School followed by courses at the Detroit City College.

1918 found him serving in the US Army. He was discharged following the end of the war and returned to New York City where he continued with his art training at the Architectural League of New York. This was followed by an extended stay in Paris from 1923 to 1926 where he attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle He returned from France and moved back to Detroit, Michigan in 1927. There Cashwan obtained a position as an art instructor at the University of Michigan. He also served as the head of the sculpture department of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts from his arrival in Michigan until 1942. Later he also was employed by the WPA [Works Progress Administration] from 1936 until 1942 as the supervisor of its sculpture and ceramics program. He was to credit these teaching positions, and the income derived from them with creating the financial security that allowed him to pursue his own art as he saw fit, rather than being hampered by the demands of the market. In 1942 he presented work in MOMA in a show called Americans, 1942.

Following the end of WW2 Cashwan was hired as a designer for General Motors, a position that he held until his retirement in 1965. He moved to North Carolina shortly thereafter, where he lived until his passing in 1988.

While Cashwan suggested that his work had been influenced by both Romanesque and Hindu sculpture, as his career progress his work developed along more and more abstract lines. By the late 1930s his figural work had become very angular, stressing sharp lines and large volumes. His pieces created following the Second War were even more abstract, his later ones having altogether abandoned figural reference.

Like many of the sculptors of his day Cashwan was endowed with both the skills and the opportunity to work with architects and create architectural sculpture. Buildings adorned by his hand can be found in both Lansing and Detroit Michigan.

Architectural Work

*St. Aloysius Church, Donaldson & Meier architects, Detroit, Michigan - two Angles on fascade 1927
*Water Conditioning Plant, Black & Black architects, Lansing, Michigan, 1938
*Olin Health Center, Ralph Calder, architect, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 1939
*Abbott Street Entrance Marker , Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 1939
*Edward Denby Memorial, Brodhead Armoury, Detroit MI, 1939
*Music Building, Ralph Calder, architect, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 1940
*Student Union Addition, "Prometheus Frieze", Ralph Calder, architect, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 1948

Public Monuments

*"Brady Memorial", Belle Isle, Detroit MI 1928
*"Abraham Lincoln", Lincoln Consolidated Schools, Augusta Township, MI 1938
*"Pioneer Mother", Clare, Michigan 1938
*"Three Musicians", Michigan State University, East Lansing MI c. 1940
*"Miller Memorial", Kellog Building, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 1940

References

*Barrie, Bentley, Helms and Raspond," Artists in Michigan: 1900-1976", Wayne State University Press, Detroit 1989

*Brunk, Colby, Jacobs et al, "Arts and Crafts in Detroit 1906-1976: The Movement, The Society, The School," Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit MI 1976

*Colby, Joy Hakanson, "Art and a City: A History of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts", Wayne State University Press, Detroit MI 1956

*Doyle, Right Reverend John M., "Saint Aloysius Church: The Old and the New", Centennial Publishing Company, Detroit 1930

*Hendry, Fay L., "Outdoor Sculpture in Lansing", iota Press, Okamos, MI 1980

*Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, "Architectural Sculpture in America", unpublished manuscript

*Miller, Dorothy C., ed. "Americans 1942: 18 Artists From 9 States", Museum of Modern Art, New York 1942

*Smith, Dorothy Hitchingham, "Footsteps From the Past", mimeographed booklet 1975

External links

Official Samuel Cashwan Website
*http://www.cashwan.com

Brady Memorial
* http://www.detroithistorical.org/collections/vewebsite2/exhibit3/e30004a.htm

Clare Pioneer Women
* http://www.wpamurals.com/ClareMI.htm

Samuel Smith Flagpole
* http://www.detroithistorical.org/collections/vewebsite2/exhibit3/e30023a.htm

Willoughby Miller Memorial
* http://www.plantext.bf.umich.edu/planner/sculpture/central/millmem.htm