REUBEN NAKIAN – SCULPTOR — Remarkable Armenians

Reuben Nakian: American Sculptor 1897 - 1986 (image courtesy of nakian.org)

I had the pleasure of interviewing Reuben Nakian while I was the host of the Heritage of Armenian Culture radio program on January 11, 1979 at our studio on the campus of St. John Armenian Church in Southfield, Michigan. We were joined by Edmond Azadian, producer of HARC, Dr. Robert Metzger, director of the Stamford, Connecticut Museum and Paul Nakian, Reuben’s son. I will use some parts of our hour-long interview for this blog.

NOTE: Images are from the Reuben Nakian’s website: nakian.org.

Early life

Reuben Nakian - 1930
Image from Walter Evans

“My parents must have come to the United States around 1880. They were on the same ship but had no contact. The story is that it took 66 days from Smyrna to America. They came in a sailboat and it almost sank in a storm. So I guess they met and got together, being Armenians. They moved to different places such as Providence and New York where I was born in College Point, the last of five children.” - Reuben Nakian

While the family lived in Union City they attended an Armenian Protestant church with a Sunday School. His mother would send him to another Armenian home for Magart, which was necessary to begin a new batch of Yogurt. In 1915 Reuben studied at the Independent School of Art in New York City. Later he studied at the Art Students League of New York and was apprenticed to Paul Manship, an American sculptor who created mythological pieces in a classical style and who was a major force in the Art Deco movement.

Sculpting Heads

Reuben’s early art work was sculpting heads. Someone working in Hugh Johnson’s office of the NRA wanted a portrait of him. “We got the idea to do the entire cabinet so he called everybody and they all said ‘OK we’ll pose’. So I used to go to their offices and they were very busy. I had four heads going at one time.” I asked where the busts were now. He said there were only one or two left. The Roosevelt head was purchased by a collector in Connecticut. I asked him about his 8 foot sculpture of baseball great Babe Ruth. “I had a Guggenheim scholarship in 1930 so I went to France and Italy and that was great. Then I got bored and felt that I was an American and should go back to America to make American art. So I came back and began making portraits of artists and writers and had an exhibition.”

Babe Ruth

The only time Reuben went to a baseball game Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run on September 27,1927.

“Years later, when everything was Americana, I thought of Babe Ruth. He wouldn’t pose so I used photographs. That made a sensation and people were so surprised, the sports world broadcast it all over the country.” - Reuben Nakian

His friendship with Arshile Gorky

In 1935 Reuben met the great Armenian-American painter, Arshile Gorky in New York City at a gallery where they were both showing their work. “We were poor so we would go to the Automat, have a cup of chocolate and a donut. When we had a couple of dollars on us we would go to 27th Street where there were a couple of Armenian restaurants. Gorky was very kind and intelligent and the most advanced artist we’ve had. He was fantastic.” They were very close for 10 years as poor struggling artists. Under Gorky’s influence, Abstract Expressionism, Reuben began a new phase of development.

**Europa and the Bull**
1945, bronze - 10 x 9 ½ x 4 ½”
Private collections - 30.013

Mythology

From 1935 to the late 40’s Reuben stopped exhibiting and reappraised his manner of working. His new themes were heroic, mythological and erotic. He looked upon the themes of classical mythology for subject matter using legends such as “Europa and the Bull” and “Leda and the Swan” and others. When I asked him about this change he said:

“I knew you would bring that up. Being a sculptor, what is a sculptor going to do? He can’t paint a landscape, He can’t paint a picture of a flower pot. All he can do is make portraits and the human figure. So a sculptor is tied up. And in mythology you have the human figure. Then you have a swan and a bull and the swan is majestic and the bull with his strength and horns. You have a beautiful woman and the waves and draperies. It’s the subject matter made by all the great artists. Instead of having a man and a woman, which would be obvious, you have poetry.” - Reuben Nakian

Religious subjects

Edmond Azadian said the November 1978 issue of Arts Magazine had an interview of Reuben by Larry Rosing who seemed to be in love with Reuben’s work titled “The Descent from the Cross” which was placed at St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral in New York City. Mr. Rosing says it is Reuben’s greatest work. “I feel it is good – a very fine piece.”

**Descent from the Cross**
1972, bronze - 120 x 120 x 153”
St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral, New York, NY
Photo: St. Vartan Cathedral - 10.19

“That falls into the category of your religious subjects in parallel with your mythological subjects.” “I go from tragedy to comedy – religious to mythology. It’s a mix. I always insist on putting human content in my abstraction which few artists do. They make abstraction and it’s only design and that bores me. When you make abstraction there should be human content, you should feel it.” - Edmond Azadian

I asked him if all his works had to be cast in Bronze. “You can’t make things in Bronze. You make them in clay and plaster. Then you go to a hard material. You send it to the foundry. It takes six months of hard labor and a furnace. Carving out of marble or granite would cost a fortune.”

Dr. Metzger feels that the resurgence of biblical subject matter in Reuben’s work can be traced to his involvement with the Armenian Church in New York City and St. Vartan Cathedral, especially since he was commissioned to do “The Descent from the Cross”. I asked Dr. Metzger what he thought was the biggest difference in Reuben’s style from before 1935 to what he is producing now. “Well, of course, his abstraction. I should say that, historically, Reuben is the only sculptor to come out of the post war movement of abstract expressionism, which was mostly a painting movement. He is the only sculptor who is connected with this very important, worldwide, historically recognized movement. And this is only being known now. At the time there was some recognition but it faded and the abstract methods that he used are phenomenal today.” The Detroit Institute of Arts received his “Goddess with the Golden Thighs” which was commissioned by Ferry W. Hawkins who gave it to the museum. It was installed in the sculpture garden of the museum in 1969.

Legacy

Reuben Nakian - 1985
Image from Mary Kay Daughters

Reuben Nakian taught at Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts from 1946 – 1951 and then once a week at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn from 1952 – 1956. He also taught at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture. His legacy earned him a much desired place in the history of American Art.

Dr. Robert Metzger, who accompanied Reuben Nakian at the HARC interview wrote the following in 1998:

“He enjoyed a long and renowned career, maintaining his innovative spirit and creativity over more than 70 years. Constantly rethinking and revising his modes of sculptural expression and exploring and mastering new media - marble, clay, plaster metal, paper and in his last years, Styrofoam.”

Nakian was elected a member of the National Institute of Art and Letters and received honorary doctorates and numerous medals from institutes of art throughout the United States. He was a guest of honor at the Famous Artist’s Evening at the White House and the Smithsonian Institute produced a documentary on his life and work titled “Reuben Nakian: Apprentice to the Gods” in 1985. His work is represented in the permanent collections and sculpture gardens of many of America’s most prestigious museums and institutions.

He was one of the most distinguished American sculptors of the 20th century.

Reuben Nakian died On Dec. 4th 1986 at the age of 89.