Sketch

Object number2008.1.1

Date1926

MediumPaper; Charcoal

Credit LineGift of Estate of Sibyl Barsky Grucci

DescriptionCharcoal sketch on paper of female, looking to her proper left, sitting down with proper right arm resting on furniture arm. Written under sketch is dedication text. On back: five rectangular stickers, white with green border, on corners and left side, typed name and address.Dimensions11.5 x 15.875 in. (29.2 x 40.3 cm)
Signed"Wm Wolfson '26" proper left of female figure, in black.
InscriptionsWritten under sketch (caption), "To "Sybil" with fond and nostalgic memories Wm Wolfson".

On back: five rectangular stickers, white with green border, on corners and left side, typed, "JOSEPH L GRUCCI / 525 W FOSTER AVE / STATE COLLEGE PA".
Historical NotesPart of a collection from the estate of Jewish artist Sibyl Barsky Grucci. William Wolfson was a Jewish artist who grew up in Pittsburgh. Before attending art school in New York, he graduated from Central High School in 1913 and attended the School of Design at the Carnegie Institute of Technology for two years. 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 institution Carnegie Mellon University

Related institution Central High School

Previous owner Sibyl Barsky Grucci (born 1905)

Related person Joseph L. Grucci

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