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John Safer | |
|---|---|
 Safer and Jack Frazee, 2012 | |
| Born | John Safer (1922-09-06)September 6, 1922 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Died | 7 December 2018(2018-12-07) (aged 96) |
| Alma mater | George Washington University Harvard Law School |
| Occupation(s) | sculptor,entrepreneur |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Janine Whitney Tom Safer Kathryn Scott(step) Mark Scott (step) |
| Website | www |
John H. Safer (September 6, 1922 – December 7, 2018) was an American sculptor. Safer's varied career spanned work intheater lighting, television,real estate, politics and banking.
Safer was best known for his monumental sculptures, but he has also created many smaller works. These include award sculptures for organizations such as theNational Air and Space Museum, thePGA Tour, theGeorgetown University Lombardi Cancer Center, the World Peace Foundation, and the Shakespeare Guild.
Safer's works stand in museums, galleries and embassies throughout the world. In 1972 and in 1989 theU.S. Department of State sent a group of Safer sculptures abroad to be exhibited as examples of America's finest art. He died in December 2018 at the age of 96.[1][2]
Safer's earliest sculptures in the 1950s and 1960s were small works ofLucite. Over time he also began to work inbronze andstainless steel. The pieces became larger and in 1979 his first public commission,Judgment, a multi-tonpatinatedbronze, was installed atHarvard Law School inCambridge, Massachusetts.[3][4]
This was the first in a long string of public installations.
As thecommissions grew in number they grew in size as well.Interplay, created in 1987, is 18 feet (5.5 m) high.Leading Edge, created in 1989, is 20 feet (6.1 m) high. His hallmark work,Ascent, which stands at the entrance of theSmithsonian Institution'sUdvar-Hazy Center atDulles Airport inVirginia, is 75 feet (23 m) high.
"Through his work, John has tried to capture the essence and reduce the subject to the pure line in space thatAristotle believed to be the basis of sculpture."[5]
John Safer was born and raised inWashington, D.C., the only child of John and Rebecca Herzmark Safer. His father, who operated a moving and storage business, was alawyer who graduated fromGeorgetown University Law School at the head of his class. His mother Rebecca Herzmark Safer was asocial activist,suffragette and intellectual. John learned to read and write by the age of four. At this time his mother entered him into first grade at the Maret French School.
Safer continued as a precocious student. Fluent inFrench, he entered high school at the age of eleven and graduated when he was fourteen. He was pressured by his mother to enroll atHarvard University. Safer, uncomfortable at the thought of being a fourteen-year-old college student, deliberately failed the Harvard entrance exam by handing in blank pages.[6]
Safer instead attended Woodward Prep School. There he discovered his love for and ability inathletics. This theme would greatly influence his art and his life. Until then, his age and size had prevented him from participating in sports and left him with the sense that he was a misfit.
At the age of sixteen, Safer enteredGeorge Washington University where he majored ineconomics. He became an assistant to Professor Edward Acheson –– brother of theUnited States Secretary of StateDean Acheson –– who became a mentor. At the beginning ofWorld War II, Safer enlisted in theUnited States Air Force to become aflying cadet.
Safer became afirst lieutenant and served inIndia,Burma andChina. When the war ended in 1945 he opted for an additional year in the Air Force hoping to fulfill a dream of seeingEurope's great works of art while he was stationed there. His new assignment allowed him to visit theParthenon, theTate, and theLouvre. While inRome, he learned that he was suddenly to be transferred toAthens. Unwilling to leaveItaly without visiting theAccademia inFlorence, Safer "borrowed" a jeep to make the drive to seeMichelangelo'sDavid. The Accademia was closed but he convinced the caretaker to let him in. The two hours Safer spent alone with the masterpiece resulted in a seminal experience, but it was Michelangelo's other sculptures in the Gallery,The Prisoners, which gave Safer an insight that was to impact his entire life and transform his artistic career.
The Prisoners are heroic figures rising from rough hewn stone. The upper portion of the figures are finished while the lower part remains uncarved. As Safer studiedThe Prisoners he realized the power of the abstract –– a realization that gave direction to his future work.
After Safer graduated fromHarvard Law School in 1949 his fascination with the emerging technology and promise of television prompted him to take a job as ahandyman atWXEL inCleveland, Ohio. He quickly rose to the position ofprogram director. During this time his innovations led the new independent station to "beat the ratings of all the network affiliates."[7]
In 1953 Safer's father became terminally ill and he returned to Washington, D.C. to take over his father's affairs. Although Safer successfully parlayed these into a majorreal estate development business he did not find his commercial life a rewarding one.
In 1974 Safer entered the world of banking, becoming chairman of the executive committee of Financial General Bankshares, and in 1981 the chairman of the Board of DC National Bank which later became part ofBank of America.
In 1999 Safer became chairman of the Board of Materia, Inc. Materia specializes inOlefin metathesis, and is noted for its Nobel Prize–winningGreen chemistry.
Safer never formally studied art. His first forays into sculpture were experiments with plastic swizzle sticks. In 1957 he made his first creations, and he continued to experiment, eventually beginning to carveLucite. In 1969 Safer had his first show inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the Michael Berger Gallery. Several shows in private galleries followed with a major exhibition at the Pyramid Gallery in Washington, D.C.[8]
In 1971 the renowned art collector andU.S. Ambassador toGreat Britain,Walter Annenberg, invited Safer to have an exhibition at theAmerican Embassy in London.
In 1972 PresidentGerald Ford presented Safer'sLimits of Infinity to KingJuan Carlos of Spain as a gift of state. This in turn led to several major events in Safer's sculptural career. As a result of a news report of President Ford's gift, theDean of Harvard Law School sought to acquire a Safer sculpture for the school. This culminated in 1979 with the installation ofJudgment, a monumental bronze work which was presented to Harvard Law School as a gift of Safer's class of 1949. This was Safer's first monumental public work.
John McArthur, the Dean ofHarvard Business School visited the palace atZarzuela where King Juan Carlos had installedLimits of Infinity. Moved by the sculpture, Dean McArthur returned to America and commissioned Safer's 20-foot-high (6.1 m)Search for Harvard Business School. The patinated bronze was installed on the Business School grounds in 1984 adjacent to the spot where Safer's daughter, Janine, received herMBA five days later.
In 1985 Safer was invited to exhibit sculpture in the Pioneers of Flight Hall at theSmithsonian Institution'sNational Air and Space Museum, in Washington, D.C. He has the distinction of being the only artist to have ever had an exhibition in the central gallery of the most visited museum in theworld.[1]
In 1989 theU.S. Department of State again sent Safer sculptures to Europe. As of 2008, the department has exhibited Safer sculpture inLondon,Paris,Beijing,Dublin,Bern,Lisbon,Brussels,Bucharest,Belgrade,Nassau, Washington, and New Deli. Both public and private exhibitions of Safer sculpture can be seen in venues throughout the world.
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Safer continues to create sculpture. He works with his stepdaughter Kathryn Scott, to whom he taught his trade and offered his mantle.[9] In 2007, they began work on a monumental sculpture, Quest, for theJohns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute. The 35-foot-high (11 m) stainless steel fabricated sculpture and state of the art research center, the Robert H. and Clarice Smith Building,[10] was dedicated two years later, on October 16, 2009, 80 years to the day after the pioneering institute's first building made its debut. Safer, a patient, donated the multi-ton sculpture as a gift of appreciation[11] It is one of the largest gifts of art that Johns Hopkins has received. In December 2011, Scott and Safer began work on a model for a monumental sculpture for the Marine Aviation Memorial.
Over the next ten years the Safer-Scott partners continued to collaborate on private and public projects. The eleven foot-high (3.4 m) mirror finished,Interplay, was commissioned for the LEED wing of the $340M Kimmel Cancer Center expansion at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC. In 2014 Scott began negotiations with MGM Resorts International for a centerpiece at MGM National Harbor in Maryland. The 60 foot high (18.3 m) stainless steel sculpture,Unity, weighting eighteen thousand pounds and unprecedented in its scale, was installed two years later on November 12, 2016—one month before the opening of the $1.4B resort.
Safer explains the motivation behind his sculpture:
At its best, sculpture can give a glimpse of the relationship between that which lies within us and that which does not. I strive to make works that will elevate the human spirit. What I see and try to capture is the movement of beauty. I try to freeze a line of motion that expresses strength, power, or grace. I try to grasp and make permanent something that is ephemeral.
What I aspire to, as an artist, is contained in thephilosophy of the Golden Age ofGreece: Truth is beauty; nothing in excess; know thyself. The essential thought behind the creation of my Sculpture is humanity. My goal is to increase the awareness of the beauty of life for myself and for others.
I read once thatMozart could conceptualize a wholesymphony in an instantaneous flash. Then he would have the laborious task of committing it to paper. This struck achord, Mozartian I hope, in me. That's the way I create most of my sculpture. I get a kind of instantaneous flash, a look, a total concept, and then I have to give it substance, make it occupy space.[12]
Safer credits his wife, Joy, with giving him "a new perspective on the world ... which lifted my sculpture to a level I had not previously attained."
| Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum | Board of Directors |
|---|---|
| The Scripps Research Institute | Board of Directors |
| The Shakespeare Guild | Board of Directors |
| Washington Gallery of Modern Art | Founder and Director |
| Washington Tennis Center | Founder |
| Eugene andAgnes Meyer Foundation | Treasurer |
| U.S. Department of State | Inspector |
| Eugene McCarthy forPresident | National Campaign Director |
Safer's interest in sports has provided the inspiration behind many of his sculptures.Dancer and the Dance,Serve,Before the Wind, andLine of Flight are works that capture a line of athletic motion.[13]
As a youngster, Safer was ahead of, and therefore smaller than his classmates in school, so it was later that he discovered his own athletic prowess.[14] Safer has awards inmarksmanship,baseball andbowling. Safer, now ninety, still plays competitivegolf. In November 2012, Safer and his partner Jack Frazee won the Lyford Cay Shootout. Later that week, Safer and his team won the "B" flight in the Lyford Cay Four-Ball Invitational tournament, a tournament they won in 2007, when Safer was 85.
Safer has been awarded two honorary degrees:Doctor of Philosophy fromDaniel Webster College and Doctor of Literature fromLees-McRae College. In May 2009, Safer received a third honorary degree–Doctor of Fine Arts fromGeorge Washington University.[15] Along withRahm Emanuel and Jeanne L. Narum, Safer delivered a commencement speech,[16] from theNational Mall, to the graduating class of 2009.
Safer explains the motivation behind his career:
There is one other basic principle that guides my work, my business career, and my life in general, and that is balance. I believe that theAristoteliangolden mean is as good a guidingphilosophy for life as you can find. In business, I adhere to it continually, trying to balance the necessity for a successful business always to move forward with the caveat that too much motion can be counterproductive or unnecessarily dangerous. In art, the human spirit is gratified by balance, by a tonic note. And so I try to express a sense of balance and completeness in my work.[17]
Digitized Nov 13, 2007ISBN 0-89674-008-0,ISBN 978-0-89674-008-2
Contributor David Finn Published by Hudson Hills Press, 1992 Original from the University of MichiganDigitized Nov 13, 2007ISBN 1-55595-063-9,ISBN 978-1-55595-063-7
Published by The Galleries, 1975
John Safer Harvard Judgment.
