ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURE MODELER

Daniel Altshuler

Sculptor

CONTACT THE SCULPTOR: daltshuler@nii.net

 

BIOGRAPHY

Daniel Altshuler, a Massachusetts native was educated at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and was sole sculptural assistant for thirteen years to renowned sculptor Walker Hancock—considered a Dean of American Sculpture.  His experience of making statuary, busts and bas-reliefs in public locations began with assisting Hancock with a number of private, governmental and public commissions. 

In the past 31 years Mr. Altshuler has been modeling in clay.  Mr. Altshuler modeled works with Mr. Hancock developing modeled statuary with him, finishing the work in clay to plaster, then to bronze and marble.  During that time, Mr. Altshuler made numerous independent, expressive works and developed his own style in the Neoclassical tradition.
 
Mr. Altshuler curated two major sculpture exhibitions:  1) The Rockport Art Association, Sculptors of Cape Ann, From Medals to Monuments (1997); and 2) with Mayor Bruce Tobey of Gloucester during Gloucester's 375th Anniversary,  American Sculptural Heritage, Anchored in Gloucester (1998-1999), for which he designed Gloucester's 375th Anniversary medal.

His appointment to the Citizen Coinage Advisory Committee by U.S. Department of the Treasury, Secretary John S. Snow allowed him to influence American Coinage Designs between 2003 and 2005. 
Today Mr. Altshuler continues the strong tradition of Neoclassical influence in his public and private works.  His 8' portrait statue of Donald Chisholm was installed in the new building of Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, and in 2012, his busts of Francis Crick and James D. Watson were installed in the permanent collection of the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. 

His other works include: President Jimmy Carter and Roselynn Carter, the Seal of New York City, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, John W. Berry for the Berry Library at Dartmouth College, President Anthony Tanner at Health South Headquarters, Dr. Harold Schuknecht at Mass General Hospital and Ernest Amory Codman at Mount Auburn Cemetery, among others.

Mr. Altshuler’s clients include Dartmouth College, Massachusetts General Hospital, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Lahey Clinic in Boston, and his works are featured at The White House, the United States Mint, the Carter Center Presidential Museum and Library, the Texas A&M Museum, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Brookgreen Gardens, the Helen Keller Foundation, Perkins School For The Blind Museum, the Thoreau Institute Museum and Library, the Orchard House Museum, the Cape Ann Historical Museum and The Royal Mint, UK, Japan, Vietnam, as well as globally.

Assistant to Walker Hancock setting up working models, developing statuary in clay, plaster, wax, bronze and marble:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_Hancock

1998

• Sky Hook statue, Cape Ann Historical Museum, Gloucester MA. Restoration plaster models-Hancock Estate.
• Underwater Spiral-bronze, private           
• Dillon Ripley Ph. D.  (Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute), Location – Smithsonian Institute, Sackler Museum , Washington, DC.

1997   

• Vice President George H. W. Bush, bust, 1/10th over life size, plaster, private, MA. Marble located in the Senate Wing of the US Capitol, Washington, DC.
• Vice President Gerald Ford, bust, 1/10th over life size, plaster, private, MA. Marble located in the Senate Wing of the US Capitol, Washington, DC.
• Seeds of Art, 7”dia relief, model made in 1930, For Rockport Art Association, sculpture exhibition, “Sculptors of Cape Ann From Medals to Monuments”
• US Air Mail Flyers Medal of Honor, 10”diameter, Private MA.
• Handstand figurine-bronze
• Basketball figurines-bronze private, and Cape Ann Historical Museum, Gloucester MA.

1996   

• Spiral figurine-bronze, private  
• Arion 3rd scale model
• President James Madison 3rd scale model-Full size in the Madison Library, Washington, DC.
• Vice President Gerald Ford bust-bronze, private-(marble in the Senate Wing of the US Capitol, Washington, DC.)
• President George H. W. Bush, private TX
• Dwight D. Eisenhower Inaugural Medal, 10” model-bronze, private,
• Basketball players-bronze

1986-1995      

• Good Shepherd, 3rd scale model relief, plaster, reproduction and restoration, Full size, location, Washington National Cathedral, Washington, DC.

 1995   

• President James Madison, 3rd scale model, plaster, private, NH, Location of the full size statue, marble, Madison Library, Washington, DC.
• Mulatto, full size-bronze, private
• Arion Statue,7’ Male Figure riding a over life size dolphin, modeled in clay and plaster-bronze fountain-private garden, Manchester MA.

1994   

• Deanie French, portrait head, marble carving and finishing, Private collection, MA
• W.E.B. Dubois, bust, plaster, private, MA., Location – refinished marble carving, Memorial Hall, Harvard University.
• Andrew Mellon portrait relief, restored plaster model, Original limestone-National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC.

1993

• W.E.B. Du Bois, Bust, set up clay model, Memorial Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

1992   

• Revelation statue, bronze, full size, private, MA
• Revelation statue, plaster, full size, private, MA
• Infant Pauline Manship, Paul Manship sculptor, Cape Ann Historical Museum, Gloucester, MA

1991   

• The Honorable George White, worked on the bronze, Location-The Architects Office in the US Capitol Building, Washington, DC.   
• To Flight statue, 12’ statue, preliminary drawings-models, enlargement modeling clay, US Military Academy, West Point, NY.

1990   

• To Flight memorial, preliminary sketches and models, 3rd scale model armature, full scale statue-assisted in modeling in clay, cleaned up the imperfections in the plaster cast, overseeing of bronze statue with Walker Hancock.
• In the studio of W. Hancock, Restoration of Council of War, John Rogers sculptor, For Private collection, NH     
• John Paul Jones, bust, Charles Grafly sculptor, 1915 for Ulrich Museum, Witchita, KS,
• Mother and Child, statue, Charles Grafly sculptor, 1905 for Ulrich Museum, Witchita, KS
• Frank Duveneck, bust, Charles Grafly sculptor, 1915, for Ulrich Museum, Witchita, KS
• Memory to Mrs. Morris, bust, Charles Grafly sculptor, 1902, for Ulrich Museum, Witchita, KS
• Impression of Albright, bust, Charles Grafly sculptor, 1905, for Ulrich Museum, Witchita, KS

1989   

• Restoration of works of Walker Hancock for Hancock one man show, Cape Ann Historica Museum.
• Model standard for The Mead Memorial statue, by Charles Grafly, Washington, DC.

1988   

• Air, 3rd Scale model, statue location, Philadelphia Civics Center, Philadelphia, PA
• Mask of Silenus, 3rd scale model, Full size wall fountain (marble) Locatio-Federal Reserve Building, Washington, DC
• Female Nude, Statue, Private, MA
• Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, plaster, private collection, MA., Location – US Supreme Court (marble)
• Piatt Andres, bust, for American Field Service Memorial, Musee de Blerancourt, Blerancourt, France – Cape Ann Historical Museum, Gloucester, MA
• 1988    The Diver, statue – Private, MA., Location of statue – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Sleeping Apostles, 3rd scale model, Cape Ann Historical Museum, Location of Statue –Trinity Church, Topsfield, MA
• President Thomas Jefferson relief, private, MA.  Location – Washington, DC.
• Angel above Christ, The Majestrate statue, private, MA. Location – Limestone, Washington National Cathedral, Washington, DC.
• Cenotaph, full size – American Academy Rome, Location – Private, MA.
• Ides van der Gracht, Architect of Pentagon Building, Washington, DC. Location – Private, Switzerland
• President James Madison, 3rd scale model, Private, MA. Location- statue (marble) Madison Library, Washington, DC.
• General Mc Arthur, 3rd scale model, Private, MA., Location – Statue, West Point Military Academy, West Point, NY.
• WW I Soldiers Memorial, 3rd scale model, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA., Location – St. Louis MO, Limestone.
• Triton Statue, modeled clay enlargement, Stage Fort Park, Gloucester, MA.

1987

• Obert C. Tanner, set up clay model, Private collection, Salt Lake City, UT
• Dr. Dillon Ripley, set up clay model, develop robe in clay model, Smithsonian Institute, Sacchler Museum, Asian-African Museum.
• Early Morning, statuette, Private collection, MA
• Sky Hook statue, developed armature, worked on plaster model, Location bronze - NYC.
• Arion Statue, worked in clay model, plaster model, Location - Methodist Hospital, Houston TX

1986   

• Ernest Hopkins Memorial Tablet, set up model and developed clay model with Hancock, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, NH

1985 – 1986   

• Pennsylvania War Memorial, WW II war memorial, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA and Cape Ann Historical Museum, Gloucester, MA,(CAHM)  full size statue – 30th Street Station, Philadelphia, PA
• Madonna and Child, Andrea Della Robia, sculptor, plaster cast, base modeled in clay and cast in plaster, for Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church, Rockport, MA.