Untitled+by+Richard+Stankiewicz

1959 **Richard Stankiewicz** Born: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1922 Died: Worthington, Massachusetts 1983
 * ==[[image:1984.80_1c.jpg link="http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=22849"]]== || ==__Untitled__==

Made from iron and welded steel 29 1/2 x 16 3/8 x 14 in. (75.0 x 41.7 x 35.6 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Museum purchase in part through the Julia D. Strong Endowment 1984.80 Smithsonian American Art Museum 3rd Floor, North Wing ||

Looking at a sculpture by Richard Stankiewicz is a bit like reading a Beat Generation novel. Down-and-out scraps of metal come together in seemingly random incidences. Each work is a masterfully composed character study of awkwardly elegant humanity. This is sculpture at its best—abstract and crusty—fully dimensional, both physically and metaphorically.

[[file:Activity for the Stankiewicz.doc]]
**Richard Stankiewicz** (1922 - 1983) was an American sculptor, known for his work in scrap metal. Stankiewicz was born in Philidelphia, but spent his formative years in Detroit. He began painting and sculpting while in the United States Navy, in which he served from 1941 until 1947. Beginning in 1948 and continuing into the following year, he studied in New York City with Hans Hoffman; in 1950-51, in Paris, he studied with Fernand Laeger and Ossip Zadkine. Upon his return to New York, Stankiewicz joined the cooperative Hansa Gallery; he exhibited there until the end of the 1950s, moving to the Stable Gallery in 1959. Stankiewicz continued to exhibit internationally until his death in 1983. Today his work may be seen in numerous museum collections, including those of the [|Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden], the [|Smithsonian American Art Museum], the [|Cleveland Museum of Art], and the [|Walker Art Center].