Jason Seley
{{Short description|American sculptor, educator (1919–1983)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jason Seley
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1919|5|20}}
| birth_place = Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1983|6|23|1919|5|20}}
| death_place = Ithaca, New York, U.S.
| education = Art Students League of New York, Cornell University (BA)
| occupation = Visual artist, teacher
| notable_works = Colleoni II (1969)
| spouse = Clara Kalnitsky (m. 1942–1983; his death)
| awards = Fulbright Scholarship (1949)
}}
Jason L. Seley (May 20, 1919 – June 23, 1983) was an American sculptor, educator, and academic administrator.{{Cite news |last=Cook |first=Joan |date=1983-06-24 |title=Jason Seley Dies; Taught Sculpture |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/06/24/obituaries/jason-seley-dies-taught-sculpture.html |access-date=2025-02-20 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} He was an early teacher at the Centre d'Art in Haiti in the 1940s, and served as the dean of the Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning in the 1980s. Seley was known for his eccentric figurative sculptures.
Early life and education
Jason Seley was born in Newark, New Jersey, to parents Leah (née Kridel) and Simon M. Seley. In 1942, Seley married Clara Kalnitsky, a former model from Kiev, turned sculptor.{{Cite news |last=Claiborne |first=Craig |date=1965-11-11 |title=When Sculptor Isn't Carving in Wood, She's Dishing Up Stuffed Cabbage |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/11/11/archives/when-sculptor-isnt-carving-in-wood-shes-dishing-up-stuffed-cabbage.html |access-date=2025-02-20 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} He graduated in 1936 from Weequahic High School.[https://weequahicalumni.org/wp-content/uploads/newsletters/08%20-%20WHS%20Newsletter%20-%202003%20-%20Winter-Spring.pdf#page=19 "Jason Seley, 1936 Grad Was Famous Sculptor"], The Weequahic Alumni Calumet, Winter-Spring 2003. Accessed February 22, 2025."When Jason Seley passed away in 1983, he left an international legacy of unique sculpture. Seley's work in chrome sculpture earned him acclaim throughout the world."
He received his BA degree in sculpture at Cornell University in 1940;{{Cite book |last1=Altschuler |first1=Glenn C. |title=Cornell: A History, 1940–2015 |last2=Kramnick |first2=Isaac |date=2014-01-01 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-4425-8 |language=en |oclc=879583389}} and in 1943 for two years he studied at the Art Students League of New York, under Ossip Zadkine.
Career
While in school, Albert Mangonès was his roommate at Cornell, and convinced Seley to teach in Haiti.Smith, Griffith "Haiti Art Showcased". The Miami Herald. May 21, 1972. p.[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-miami-herald-haiti-art-showcased/166298318/ 155], [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-miami-herald-haitian-museum-to-need/166298245/ 156]. Retrieved 2025-02-21 – via Newspapers.com. Seley and his wife moved to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in January 1946,{{Cite book |title=Clara Seley, Jason Seley: Sculpture: [exhibition at the] Everson Museum of Art, January 22 – February 27, 1977. |last3=Everson Museum of Art |date=1977-01-01 |publisher=Everson Museum of Art |location=Syracuse, N.Y. |language=en |oclc=27942795}} where Seley would teach under a United States government grant and have three solo exhibitions at the Centre d'Art (in 1946, 1948, and 1949), along with several commissions. In 1949, Seley was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study art in Paris.
Seley worked as a professor at Hofstra University from 1953 to 1965.; followed by working as a professor at Cornell University starting in 1966, becoming chair of the department of art (1968 to 1973) and dean of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning (1980 to 1983).
His preferred material for his abstract sculptures was chrome-plated steel, usually from automobile bumpers.{{Cite web |title=Seley, Jason |url=https://www.oxfordartonline.com/benezit/display/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.001.0001/acref-9780199773787-e-00167357 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Benezit Dictionary of Artists |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.b00167357}} In 1969, Seley returned to representational work with Colleoni II, a replica of Andrea del Verrocchio's famous equestrian statue, in which he created using nothing but car-bumpers. Colleoni II (1969–1971) is part of the Empire State Plaza Art Collection and is located in the Corning Tower Plaza Level in the Empire State Plaza.{{Cite web |title=Jason Seley |url=https://empirestateplaza.ny.gov/art/jason-seley |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Empire State Plaza & New York State Capitol |language=en}}
He died at age 64 of an illness on June 23, 1983, at Tompkins Community Hospital (now Cayuga Medical Center) in Ithaca.
References
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Category:20th-century American male artists
Category:20th-century American sculptors
Category:Artists from Newark, New Jersey
Category:Artists from New York City
Category:Art Students League of New York alumni
Category:Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning alumni
Category:Cornell University faculty
Category:Hofstra University faculty