CRONBACH, Robert (1908-2001)

Birth place: Saint Louis, MO

Addresses: Westbury, NY; Long Island, NY

Profession: Sculptor

Studied: St. Louis School Fine Arts, with Victor Holm, 1925-26; PAFA, with Charles Grafly & Albert Laessle, 1927-30; Cresson scholarship to Europe, 1929-30.

Exhibited: PAFA, 1930, 1936; Rosenthal Potteries, 1931 (prize); PMA, 1940; Hudson Walker Gal., 1940 (solo); FAP, 1940 (prize); Sculptors Gld., 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942; PAFA; WMAA; ACA Gal.; Springfield (MO) Mus. Art; MoMA; CAM; HemisFair, San Antonio, TX; PAFA; Houston MFA; BM; NYC WPA Art" at Parsons School Design, 1977. Awards: Nat. competition for sculpture for Social Security Bldg., Washington, DC, 1939; competition for sculpture for U.N. Bldg., New York, 1960; Reynolds Metals Sculpture Trophy, 1961."

Member: PAFA, 1929, 1930; John Reed Club; Am. Artists Congress; Artists Union; United Am. Sculptors; Sculptors Gld.; Municipal Art Soc.; Arch. League; An Am. Group; Federation Mod. Painters & Sculptors; Artist-Craftsmen New York.

Work: CAM; Social Security Bldg., Washington, DC; St. Louis Municipal Auditorium; Willert Park Housing Project, Buffalo, NY; PMA; Nat. Collection of Smithsonian Inst., Washington, DC; St. Louis Art Mus.; Springfield (MO) Art Mus; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; Mus. Fine Arts, Skopje, Yugoslavia; plus others. Commissions: bronze screen, Dorr Oliver Bldg., Stamford, CT, 1960; bronze & steel wall sculpture, U.N. Gen. Assembly Bldg., NYC, 1960; fountain, Federal Office Bldg., Saint Louis, 1963; fountain, Kanawha County Public Library, Charleston, WA, 1966; Tribute to Leroy Grumman (stainless steel sculpture), Long Island Assn. Hall of Fame, 1972.

Comments: Political activist. Often placed figures together with architectural forms. Preferred media: direct metal, bronze, concrete, terra cotta. Positions: WPA artist, 1936-39; chairman of board of governors, Skowhegan School Painting & Sculpture; member, Nassau County Fine Arts Commission; member, Mayor's Committee Beautification of New York. Publications: author, New new deal art projects, an anthology of memoirs," Smithsonian Inst. Press, 1972. Dealer: New Bertha Schaefer Gallery, New York, NY. Teaching: instructor, Adelphi Univ., 1948-62; instructor, N. Shore Community Arts Center, 1950-55; instructor, Skowhegan School Painting & Sculpture, 1959, 1960, 1964, 1965 & 1972.

Sources: WW73; John I. H. Baur, Revolution and tradition in modern American art (Harvard Univ. Press, 1959); Minor L. Bishop, Fountains in contemporary architecture (Am. Federation Arts, 1965); Louis G. Redstone, Art in architecture, (McGraw-Hill, 1968); New York City WPA Art, 24 (w/repros.); Fort, The Figure in American Sculpture, 187 (w/repro.)"