International sculptor, Esther Wertheimer, a resident of Boca Raton, has been selected to display her sculptures in two upcoming exhibits in China. The sculpture exhibits are a first in China, which has little public art.
They said their development of urbanization has not caught up with culture and art. Their intention is to put large sculptures in the city buildings, bringing art to the people.
The Shanghai Sculpture Space Museum is presently hosting an international sculpture exhibition using the theme, “Dialog with the City in Way of Sculpture.” The exhibit has accepted six model’s of Wertheimer’s sculptures.
Wertheimer has 34 sculptures worldwide. Fourteen monumental sculptures are displayed in Japan in City Halls, Performing Art Centers, Museums and Parks. From 101 applicants, she recently won a commission to do a nine-foot sculpture for the Washington DC East Gate Condominium. The sculpture of four figures entitled Celebration, is to be installed by the end of 2007. The prestigious competition was sponsored by the Commission of the Arts and Humanities.
Born in Poland, Esther Wertheimer has lived most of her life in Montreal. She maintains studios in Montreal and Florida, as well as returning to Italy for several months each year to work in the artists’ colony of Pietrasanta. She also travels extensively to other cities where her works are exhibited.
There is a deep-rooted joy forming the essence of each work – the joy of living. The artist’s passion for dance, family, and love are imbued through her sculptures. Her sculptures personify the energy and ecstasy of life – rich in emotion, consistently moving forward challenged by reaching the next zenith.
Esther Wertheimer Among the Western Artists Embraced by the “New China” By Skip Sheffield
Arts Editor, Boca Raton (Fla.) News
Business is booming between China and the West. Now the cultural arts are beginning to catch up.
Canadian artist Esther Wertheimer is an internationally-acclaimed sculptor whose work has found a place in the new China.
Raised in Montreal, where she maintains a studio, Wertheimer was among the 190 artists selected for the World Wide Expo 2007 Shanghai International Annual Sculpture Exhibition at Shanghai Urban Sculpture Center. On display were 251 works from artists from Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, France, Italy, Spain and the USA. Among her six works selected was the monumental and idealistic work, “Invictus.” The Canada China Business Council has encouraged Wertheimer to pursue her ambition to create monumental and idealistic sculptures for China.
“You just can’t imagine what is going on in China,” said Wertheimer recently. “Everywhere you look there are huge construction projects. There is actually a shortage of cranes they use to build high-rises. But many people feel the arts have not kept up with industry. That’s why projects like Shanghai Sculpture Space are so important. Without art, an urban environment is not fully alive or complete; it is barren.”
Shanghai Sculpture Space Museum is a prime example of China’s recycling of its industrial past to reflect a more democratic and arts-minded future. The 7,000 square-meter facility was built in 1956 as Shanghai No. 10 Steel factory, but it had been deserted and derelict for years before it was redesigned as a public art facility. The site was chosen both to honor Shanghai’s industrial past and to promote its reuse as a gathering place for international artists. Shanghai will be the site of the massive World Expo in 2010.“China has changed incredibly since I first visited in 1989,” explains Wertheimer. “That was the year they had the Tienneman Square crisis. Students were demonstrating for more democracy, but they were being harshly suppressed. Now China has emerged as a major world power with closer ties to the West, and Canada is a major partner with China on a number of projects, including the arts.”
Esther Wertheimer’s monumental sculptures are on public display throughout Canada and across the USA. She is particularly appreciated in Japan, where she first visited in 1988. She has also won the prestigious Hacone Rodin competition in 1989. There are no fewer than 14 monumental Wertheimer sculptures on display in Japan representing some of the larger cities. Wertheimer’s latest monumental installation is “Celebration” at Eastgate Senior residence facility in Washington, D.C., where a life-sized sculpture of four figures will be installed.
“The sculpture represents the generations of grandparents, parents and children,” says Wertheimer. “It is a very joyous piece. You can see the past, the present and the future in these figures. The sculpture competition was voted by some of the future residents of Eastgate. Some had tears in their eyes, of happiness.”
While Wertheimer has been interested in art since childhood, it was not until 1970 that she went back to school at Loyola College in Montreal to continue her art studies. Wertheimer developed an arts department at Loyola that grew from an initial 40 students to 1,000 students by 1974, when she received her BFA degree. She later went on to earn a Masters of Fine Art at Goddard College.
Wertheimer then won a scholarship to the Academia di Belle Arte in Florence, Italy to study classical sculpture, including the “lost wax” technique of casting she uses to this day.
Esther Wertheimer maintains a studio in Montreal and since the early 1980s she has wintered in Boca Raton, Florida, where she has a second studio. When her touring schedule permits, she spends part of the summer at the artists’ colony in Pietrasanta, Italy for what she calls an artistic re-charge. -
Esther Wertheimer
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