Images(3)

Portrait of Rudolph Liska

Object number2021.119.1

Artist Vincent Nesbert (1898 - 1976)

Date1936

MediumPastel; Paperboard; Graphite

Credit LineDonated on behalf of the Liska family: Joseph and Ursula Liska, Catherine Liska Sorg and Creighton Sorg, Pamela Sorg Sturgill

DescriptionPolychrome pastel study sketch on rectangular brown paperboard. Sketch is executed in brown, black, blue, and white pastel. Sketch depicts an older man with his body in frontal view from the knees up, slightly hunched forward. Man's head is in three-quarter view turned slightly to the proper left. Man has short brown hair and wears a blue collared short-sleeve shirt with white undershirt and blue pants. Man holds brown pole or handle in his hands. DimensionsHeight x Width x Depth: 19.75 x 16 x 0.125 in. (50.2 x 40.6 x 0.3 cm)
Depth (Due to planar distortion): 0.813 in. (2.1 cm)
SignedArtist signature in pencil the viewer's bottom right corner "V. Nesbert".
InscriptionsPaperboard's reverse has handwritten text in the viewer's top left quadrant in blue ink "Study for the Murals in / the Court House of the Allegheny / Pittsburgh Pa. / 1936 ".
Historical NotesPortrait of Rudolph Liska by Vincent Nesbert. Nesbert created the sketch in preparation for his labor figures in the Allegheny County Courthouse murals. It is presumed that Nesbert met Liska at Carnegie Tech, where Liska was employed as a night watchman and occasionally worked as an artist’s model for painting and drawing courses. Liska also modeled for the “Spirit of Steel” statue commissioned by J&L Steel for Philadelphia’s Sesquicentennial Exhibition. According to donor Pamela Sturgill, Liska was a bodybuilder in his native Essen, Germany, before immigrating to the United States. He worked initially as a coal miner before working at Carnegie Tech. Liska’s family preserved this sketch along with a scrapbook of clippings about Liska’s modeling work and images depicting Liska in various poses.

Related person Rudolph Liska

Related institution Carnegie Mellon University

Related institution Jones and Laughlin Steel Company

Related person Catherine Liska Sorg

Subjects