Mellon completes statue of Eastman

Thursday, 12 November 2009 01:00

Marc Mellon Sculpture Studios has announced the completion and installation of an eight-foot bronze statue of inventor and philanthropist George Eastman, which was unveiled at the University of Rochester on Oct. 10.

As one of the foremost representational sculptors in the country, Marc Mellon creates his works at Marc Mellon Sculpture Studios (www.marcmellon.com) in Redding, an art complex he shares with his wife Babette Bloch, a pioneer in laser-cut stainless steel sculpture.

Mr. Mellon was commissioned by the university to create the statue of Mr. Eastman in homage to the pioneer’s spirited philanthropic support for higher education. Mr. Eastman, a self-made inventor and entrepreneur, is recognized as the leading force in transforming photography into a mass-produced, low-cost standardized form and for developing the Eastman Kodak Company into a multinational leader at the forefront of American industry.

As a tribute to Mr. Eastman’s legacy, the statue is sited across from the University of Rochester’s Rush Rhees Library, of which Mr. Eastman was a major benefactor. Mr. Mellon created the replica to gesture symbolically with his left hand toward the library while holding rolled up blueprints in this right hand as a testament to Mr. Eastman’s endowment of higher education.

“I came to see Mr. Eastman’s life’s work as a remarkable template for great innovators,” said Mr. Mellon in a release. “By placing a small, affordable camera in the hands of every man, Eastman used a series of innovations to transform the way we see and interact with the world. As his great fortune grew, so did his interest in philanthropy, higher education in particular. I designed the statue to convey Eastman as a man of action, an innovator, a visionary, and one of our nation’s greatest philanthropists.”

“I’ve been privileged to create busts and statues of prominent leaders from all over the world,” the artist said. “In each case, I focus on the qualities that represent his or her personal achievements, qualities that have over time become associated not just with the individual, but with his or her contribution to society. These portraits do more than honor the giants of education, industry and world affairs; they help an institution tell its unique story about its values, and about its ongoing goals.”

The artist spent nearly two years developing and creating the statue of Mr. Eastman. During the initial design phase, he immersed himself in learning about Mr. Eastman through biographies, university resources, and photographic research at the George Eastman House.

Based upon his research, Mr. Mellon developed a series of maquettes, or small-scale models, from which one 16-1⁄2-inch maquette was approved by the university. Concurrently, Mellon worked with campus architects to identify optimal sites for the new statue. Based upon the chosen site, the study was further modified to a mid-scale more finished model of 32 inches, and images of that model were reviewed by the university’s Art on Campus committee. With the committee’s approval, the mid-scale model was then enlarged to the full eight-foot scale, and then further refined by Mr. Mellon over a period of four months in his Redding studio.

Mr. Mellon then had a team of mold-makers create a plaster mold from the full-scale plastiline. The mold was then transported to a casting house in New York City, where a positive plaster cast was made and then touched-up by the artist. The final phase was conducted at the Bedi Makky Art Foundry in Greenpoint, Brooklyn (renowned for its large scale work in bronze, including the Iwo Jima Monument at Arlington National Cemetery), where the bronze was poured, welded and chased (surface finishing) under Mr. Mellon’s direction, prior to the patination (coloring) process. The 1,050-pound George Eastman statue was transported to the university on Sept. 28.

Mr. Mellon’s portrait busts and statues of luminaries around the globe include bronze sculptures of Pope John Paul II, President George H.W. Bush (The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution), former Taiwanese President Lee Teng Hui, Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, and legendary entertainer Tony Bennett. Mr. Mellon’s work is also well known to sports fans — he is the sculptor of the MVP trophies for both the National Basketball Association and the Women’s National Basketball Association, among many other notable sports sculptures. His limited edition dance bronzes are widely collected, and have been exhibited from New York to Tokyo.

Mr. Mellon has completed a number of high-profile busts for universities, including a bust of President Emeritus John Silber of Boston University; a bust of William Pitt for Sacred Heart University; and a bust of Chancellor Herman B. Wells for Indiana University, Bloomington.

A Mellon medallion design was chosen by the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) for the Official 2009 Presidential Inaugural Medal commemorating the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Mellon medallions have previously served to honor President Jimmy Carter and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.