1894 - 1973
Lovet-Lorski studied sculpture and architecture at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg from 1914 to 1916 after which he traveled in Europe for three years. He moved to America to live with his brother in Boston in 1920 and became a United States citizen five years later. The following year he moved to New York and then taught for two years at the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee. He was back in New York by 1925 when a large exhibitions of his work was held at the Reinhardt Galleries. He spent the years 1926-32 in Paris and Rome and it was then that he began experimenting with direct carving in stone. In the following years, he used a variety of stones for his work: marble, granite, slate, onyx, bronze, jade, and lava, among others. He became a specialist in the sculpting of idealized, allegorical or classicized figures, an aesthetic epitomized by some of his early works such as Memories (location unknown) and Venus (The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco). Eventually, his work reflected an interest in primitive art and the influence of Constantin Brancusi and Pablo Picasso as well as in Art Deco.
Lovet-Lorski also showed proficiency in the modeling of portrait busts. Among his famous sitters were Albert Einstein, Albert Schweitzer, Arturo Toscanini, and a number of American presidents including Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy. The sculptor's colossal bust of John Foster Dulles (1962) is at the Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Other public commissions included a statue of Abraham Lincoln (1946) for the Court House in Decatur, Illinois, and the Manila War Memorial (1954-1957) for the American Military Cemetery in the Philippines.
Due to his extensive travels, Lovet-Lorski was not an active exhibitor at the National Academy. Nevertheless, his regard for the organization was expressed when he left the Academy a bequest of $50,000. A large retrospective exhibition of his sculpture was held at Wildenstein in New York in 1940.
Lovet-Lorski also showed proficiency in the modeling of portrait busts. Among his famous sitters were Albert Einstein, Albert Schweitzer, Arturo Toscanini, and a number of American presidents including Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy. The sculptor's colossal bust of John Foster Dulles (1962) is at the Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Other public commissions included a statue of Abraham Lincoln (1946) for the Court House in Decatur, Illinois, and the Manila War Memorial (1954-1957) for the American Military Cemetery in the Philippines.
Due to his extensive travels, Lovet-Lorski was not an active exhibitor at the National Academy. Nevertheless, his regard for the organization was expressed when he left the Academy a bequest of $50,000. A large retrospective exhibition of his sculpture was held at Wildenstein in New York in 1940.
