Chaim Gross  (1904   -   1991)  Works

Chaim Gross (1904 – 1991)

An American sculptor, originally from Austria, Chaim Gross is infamous for his naturalistic and often interlocking figurative forms.

Born in 1904 to a Jewish family in Austria, Chaim Gross would experience first-hand the turmoil World War I inflicted upon Austria-Hungary from Russian forces. After the War, Gross would move to Budapest to study at the city’s art academy, but soon thereafter the government of Hungary was overthrown and Gross was deported to Vienna, where he continued his studies.

In 1921, Gross, along with his brother, emigrated to New York. During his first few years in New York, Gross attended night classes at the Educational Alliance Art School and sculpture and drawing classes at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design. It is during this time that Gross began to work almost exclusively in wood carving. It was not until the late 1950s that he would switch to bronze as his central medium. In 1959, some of these bronzes were included in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s retrospective, “Four American Expressionists”. In 1977, Gross had several retrospective shows: at the Lowe Art Museum, the Montclair Art Museum, and the Jewish Museum in New York City respectively.  

Photo Source: Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation