Jose de Creeft
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José de Creeft
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| Born | November 27, 1884 Guadalajara, Spain |
| Died | September 11, 1982 (age 97) New York, NY |
| Resting place | Hoosick Falls, NY |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Sculptor, artist, teacher |
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| Movement | Modernism |
| Awards | Crowninsheild Prize for Sculpture Gold Medal, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Richard Prize, National Sculpture Society - Fellow, National Sculpture Society Associate, National Academy of Design President, Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors |
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José Mariano de Creeft (1884-1982) was a Spanish-born American artist, sculptor, and teacher known for modern sculpture in stone, metal, and wood, particularly figural works of women. His 16 ft bronze Alice In Wonderland climbing sculpture in Central Park is well known to both adults and children in New York City. He was an early adopter, and prominent exponent of the direct carving approach to sculpture. He also developed the technique of lead chasing, and was among the very first to create modern sculpture from found objects. He taught at Black Mountain College, the Art Students League of New York, and the New School for Social Research. His works are in the Whitney Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and many other public and private collections.
José de Creeft was born in Guadalajara, Spain, on November 27, 1884 to Mariano de Creeft y Masdeu and Rosa Champane y Ortiz. Four years later the family moved to Barcelona. In 1890, when his father died leaving the family destitute, de Creeft, his mother and two sisters moved in with an aunt. At six years of age, de Creeft took his first job earning pennies by carrying stone and sand at the construction site of La Sagrada Familia, designed and built by the architect Antonio Gaudi.
In 1895, de Creeft began modeling religious figures in clay to sell at the Festival Santa Lucia, Barcelona, which he fired at home in his kiln and sold near the steps of the Cathedral of Barcelona. Two years later he began his first apprenticeship with the craftsman and imagier, Barnadas who carved religious figures in wood. A year later, he was apprenticed at the Artistic Foundry of Masriera & Campins, under the sculptor Mariano Benlliure, followed by studies with Manolo Hugo.
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