Portrait of William Barsky
Object number2008.1.11
ArtistPossibly
Sibyl Barsky Grucci
(born 1905)
Date1942
MediumPaper; Charcoal
Credit LineGift of Estate of Sibyl Barsky Grucci
DescriptionBlack charcoal sketch of male, looking to the proper left.Dimensions12.625 x 19.125 in. (32.1 x 48.6 cm)Signednone
MarksOn proper left of neck, "1942"; written on bottom left corner, "William".
Historical NotesThis sketch is of her eldest brother, William, was her "favorite brother." He was stationed in London, Africa, and Italy during World War II; he died when his tank exploded in 1946. Part of a collection from the estate of Jewish artist Sibyl Barsky Grucci. Sibyl Barsky Grucci had a long career as a sculptor based first in Pittsburgh and later in State College, Pennsylvania. She was born in Russia on March 20, 1905, and in 1907, emigrated from the Ukraine to Pittsburgh with her family at the age of eight. The family settled in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. By the age of twelve, Sibyl had experienced the deaths of a sister close to her in age and of both of her parents. She and her older sister Belle supported and cared for their four younger brothers. Sibyl studied painting briefly at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) but was self-taught as a sculptor. Among her Pittsburgh artist friends were Samuel Rosenberg, Sam Filner, and William Wolfson. At the suggestion of Samuel Rosenberg, Barsky taught art during one summer term at the Irene Kaufman Settlement. On September 24, 1940, Sibyl Barsky married Joseph L. Grucci, a poet and professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh and then at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania, where the Grucci's made their permanent home beginning in 1950.
Related person
William Barsky
(died 1946)
Related institution
Carnegie Mellon University
Related institution
Irene Kauffmann Settlement
(Founded 1911)
On View
Not on view
Sibyl Barsky Grucci
