A Tribute to Reuben Nakian: Remembrances of the Artist

By Carolee Ross

Reuben Nakian by Gordon Parks
1958

I’ve been thinking of my friend, sculptor Reuben Nakian lately. Perhaps it is because I just rediscovered an article I wrote that was dedicated to him on his passing in 1986. This was first published in the Times-Mirror Newspaper syndicate, The Greenwich Time and The Stamford Advocate. Reuben first encouraged me to pursue my dream of arts writing when I first met him in 1977.

A Young
Reuben Nakian Relaxing
by Walker Evans,
1930's

            A giant walked among us and his name was Reuben Nakian. He lived and worked in Stamford, Connecticut for over forty years and most of us knew him as a gifted artist who had sculpted American heroes such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Babe Ruth during the 1930’s, taking the art world by storm. Others remembered the sensuous drawings and monumental abstract sculptures of heroic mythological figures he had discovered later in his career, working the theme from the 1940’s until his death in 1986.

Unidentified Portrait
by Reuben Nakian
1930's

Nakian remained committed to traditional subjects, the stories of classical mythology, especially Europa, and in this respect his work harks back to that of his teacher, Paul Manship (1885-1966), who had elevated Europa and the Bull to a central place in his work in the 1920s. 'Myths are good', Nakian said, 'because they give you form and a grand story. I don't want only form; I want philosophy and love.'

Leda and the Swan
Drawing by Reuben Nakian

Recollections of Reuben: Friends and Family

            Some Stamford neighbors knew only Reuben’s family; his wife Rose and his sons, Paul and George or his assistants; the late potter, James Jackson Burt, and sculptors Basil Racheotes and Don Ross, who fiercely guarded their master’s privacy so he could spend his time at what he loved best, his art.

            That was the closest many of us got to Reuben. But others, who were fortunate enough to know Reuben on a more personal level, remember the multifaceted threads in the tapestry that composed the life of the craggy-faced, soft-spoken man with the impish sense of humor and the great mane of white hair.

            I knew Reuben through George Nakian, his youngest son. Back in the late seventies, as an aspiring writer and art historian, the greatest thrill of my life was the evening that George brought his father to my home to have dinner with my father, who had dreamed of sculpting his entire life. The two men enjoyed the food and although both were basically shy, they talked until the wee hours about art throughout the ages, philosophy, mythology and a shared love of beautiful women.

Europa and the Bull
by Reuben Nakian
Bronze, 1975
Jack Rutberg Fine Arts
Los Angeles, CA

Paul Nakian Remembers His Father     

Eldest son Paul Nakian, a local atorney, remembers growing up in Staten Island during World War II, before the family moved to Stamford.

            “My father had a studio in the house and he had to get there through a trap door in the floor,” he recalled with a laugh. “Those years were when he removed himself from the art scene and stopped exhibiting in galleries because he wanted to find a different way, his own personal vision. For him those years were his eventual transition to mythology. Prior to that, in the early twenties, he was apprenticed to sculptor Paul Manship and shared a studio with famed French-American sculptor Gaston Lachaise. He developed quite a reputation as an animal sculptor and then went on to portraiture with the New Deal Administration.”

Reuben Nakin in his studio in Stamford, Connecticut

            Nakian also recalls that his father never disciplined him or his brother, George. “My mother had to be the disciplinarian and the support of the family because my father was obsessed with his art and worked on it almost constantly. It was hard then, because when I was growing up, nobody knew what an artist was. People were recovering from the war, trying to better their housing conditions and an artist was a peripheral part of society.”

            “People are more aware of art today. Back then, there wasn’t an appreciation and unfortunately, Stamford missed some artistic opportunities and one of them was not acquiring more of my father’s work.”

            Sara Nakian, daughter of Paul and wife Maria, recalls a quiet but playful grandfather, who wove tales of two characters named Skunky Wunky and Froggy Woggy, who resided in a defunct flower box in the garden. “I would beg him to tell more of the adventures” says Sara. “”Although he was quite shy, Grandpa was also a lot of fun and loved to have a good time at parties. It was kind of cool growing up with a grandfather who had long hair like a hippie and liked to hang out with my friends at my graduation party.”

The Stamford Art Community Remembers Reuben

            Kenneth Marchione, former Director of Art at the Stamford Museum, never got to meet Reuben. But, while working on an exhibit at the Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Reuben Nakian: Working the Image, he discovered that everyone with whom he had spoken had heartfelt memories of the man and his art. 

            Vivien White, who served on many art councils remembers going to art parties at the Nakian studio. “I was always surprised to see him refreshing drinks and emptying ashtrays for his peers,” says White. “Actually, my fondest memory is when he was having a gallery showing in New York. I walked around, admiring his work and suddenly, Reuben emerged through a back door and handed me a drawing he had made on the spot for me. He had a very generous nature.”

            Dina Pise, a sculptor who was a neighbor of Reuben’s for almost two decades, also remembers the artist’s love of parties. “He was very hospitable and loved showing his work to other artists. He particularly enjoyed being with voluptuous women, says Pise. “As a sculptor, he was very tactile and many of us remember the infamous Reuben pinch. Although he did say in the Smithsonian documentary that if he ever met a naked woman he’d run the other way, I doubt it. And of course, his wife, Rose always watched him very carefully.”

            Every artist who has ever come in contact with Reuben has fond memories of him. Renee Kahn, local artist and urban preservationist, remembers that she first saw Reuben about 25 years ago, as a passenger on the High Ridge city bus line. “Although we hadn’t met, I knew that I was in the presence of someone great, with his leonine head and the massive shock of white hair,” she recalls. “I sat there, transfixed. Because Reuben never drove, either Rose or his sons would drive him downtown where he had one of his first studios. If no one was available, he would take the bus to his studio, just like an ordinary Stamford resident.”

Artist Renee Kahn
at a showing of her
"Box City" exhibit

            The late Stamford artist James Jackson Burt first met the artist with whom he would work for almost fourteen years during a visit to the artist’s studio on Sawmill Road, which had been arranged by the Stamford school system.

            “When I was in high school, there was a very progressive program where gifted art students were chosen to tour local artist’s studios,” he said. “We visited about eight studios and they were all tame, compared to Reuben’s. I had been going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and looking at Greek vases and I could visualize Reuben’s drawings on my work.”

Terra Cotta Vase
by James Jackson Burt
Leda and the Swan drawing
by Reuben Nakian

            “After the studio visit, I was so impressed that I called him and asked if he would draw on my vases,” said Burt. “To my surprise, he said yes, immediately, and I went to pick him up and took him back to my dad’s studio (David Burt, also a sculptor). We made a vase together and he drew on it and that was the beginning of a long and wonderful relationship that had a major effect on my life.

            “One of the greatest lessons I learned from Reuben was the day he asked me if I were shy. When I answered yes, he advised, ‘Don’t be shy, it doesn’t pay.’ He wanted to pass that along to me and it has helped tremendously in my career. ”

             Sculptor Basil Racheotes of Fairfield first met the artist when he was attending the New York Studio School in 1974. “Although there were three teachers, Peter Agostini, a pop artist, Giorgio Spaventa, a more academic artist and Reuben, says Racheotes, “everyone loved Reuben and his enthusiasm for art and flair for life. “He would take us to Greenwich Village coffee houses, or suddenly, during class, he would decide that it was a good time for a trip to the Metropolitan Museum, where he paid for all of us and then gave us a grand tour.”

            “During the golden years as his assistant,” says Racheotes, “I must have mixed hundreds of pounds of plaster.  When the weather was good, we worked outside on the studio deck, where he enjoyed it most.” Racheotes oversaw the production of the sculpture of the late abstract expressionist
artist Reuben Nakian. Duties included creating monumental plaster enlargements, oversight of all aspects of bronze casting, from wax models to final patina, exhibition installation, studio maintenance, while working closely with the artist in all phases of production. He now focuses on his own works in terra cotta and bronze.

            “Watching Reuben sit at a drawing table,” adds Racheotes, I would think about how lucky I was.  Not many people had an opportunity to see someone with so much skill creating art.”

Reuben Nakian’s Career and Awards 

Nakian was a guest of honor at the Famous Artist’s Evening at the White House (1966), and the Smithsonian Institution produced a documentary on his life and work titled “Reuben Nakian: Apprentice to the Gods,” (1985). He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1931 and a Ford Foundation Fellowship in 1958, and he represented the United States as the major sculptor in the VI Bienal in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The Rape of Lucrece
Painted Steel
by Reuben Nakian
1955-1958

Nakian’s work is represented in the permanent collections and sculpture gardens of many of America’s most prestigious museums and institutions. He has been honored with major one man exhibits at the Los Angeles County Museum (1962), the New York Museum of Modern Art (1966), the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC (1981), the Milwaukee Art Museum (1985), the Gulbenkian Centro de Arte Moderna, Lisbon, Portugal (1988), and a Centennial Retrospective at the Reading (PA) Public Museum and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC (1999), the site of Nakian’s first one-man museum exhibition in 1935 (1961) and the 1968 Biennale in Venice, Italy.

Reuben Nakian Sculpture Exhibition
at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts Gallery