Talk:Milton Horn

Married to cousin
Concerning Estelle and Milton being cousins- They were cousins 5th removed. According to Dr. Hyman Horn they were unaware of this fact until their wedding day in 1928. Max Horn, Milton's father's brother, recognized the Oxenhorn name. When Pinchos came to America under the name of Oxenhorn the immigration officer asked what his name was and ax stepped in and said Pinchos Horn. Dismayed Pinchos asked why max changed his name. The answer was "In America people don't use names like Oxenhorn". During his life Milton told us the same story. we called Hyman recently and he verified the story. In those days very few women kept their surnames along with their married names. -Paula Garrett Ellis

Milt at B.A.I.D.
Do anyone know if MH attended the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design [about which I am about to post an article] in NYC during his studies there? I think that he did [details upon request] but thought I'd toss it out here first. Carptrash 01:00, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, Milton attended the Beaux Arts Institute of Design, fron 1923-27. According to the biographical data, in winter 1922, he enrolled in the daytime sculpture classes. 1923-27 he attended night classes there and worked odd jobs during the day. He worked in sculpture studios as an assistant until 1926. 1926-27 he worked for art dealers selling and researching medeival and renaissance art for gallery brochures, etc. There should be records at the Beaux Arts Institute, and the Smithsonian Institute of Arts and Letters, etc. Please let us know if you find more details which we can add to Milton's extensive personal archive. Thanks for your interest. -PGE

Some proposed changes and restorations
Regarding the current version, I would like to challenge the following statements:
 * "A renaissance man, Milton Horn was an architect before he became a sculptor (1923-1927)."

What is the evidence for this statement ?
 * What I found was the statement [Proske] that Horn "became associated with a firm of architects" the year that he married Estelle. It does not say that he was an architect. Perhaps this is how we should word it in the article? Carptrash 16:25, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Let's change it to "A renaissance man, Milton studied architecture. His focus was to create sculpture in relation to great architecture". In a biography of Horn's life's work created sometime in the 1960's for the Institute of Arts and letters at the Smithsonian, it states that in 1928 he was on the staff of Vorhees, Gemillen and Walker, architects in NYC. In the transcripts of an audio interview with Milton in the 1980's he states "In the depression, shortly after the first year of the depression, shortly after I finished the ceiling (the Lentheric ceiling at the Savoy Plaza) there was great difficulty getting work. I then got a job in one of the biggest architectural firms in New York, Vorhess, Gemillen and Walker, on the design staff. I found it very difficult to work in the architectural firm because any kind of thing you proposed everybody had their fingers in to it. Finally, one evening, I came home very disgusted, and I told my wife, at that time we had a studio and a small apartment in New York in what was the London Terrace and she said to me 'quit' and so the next morning I went to the office and resigned with no idea of what we were going to do". Sorry for the run on sentence, but that was the way he spoke. When he realizes that they have two rents to pay and only $75 to their name he says "I went out and first knocked on doors of architects' offices. I went to one architect's office one evening, he was just clossing and it was a landscape architect and as I walked in there, his name was George Beaty, he was just closing and he was working on a very interesting problem, a contour drainage problem". The end result of the dialogue is that Milton worked with him to solve the problem and got the job. This job ultimately led to a rooftop garden commission for Albert Fried, Park Avenue, New York City (1929, two fountain groups, bronze children on dolphins). Excerpt from the same script "Then shortly after that I decided that I was going to go into this element of looking for architecture landscape jobs, and there was a very famous women landscape architect by the name of Annette Flanders and she was doing large estates, so I went to talk to her", after this point the conversation talks about her relationship with the Woolworths and the McCanns. It appears that a 1930's commission of four groups and eight single figures, estate of the late Charles E.F. McCann, Oyster bay, Long Island, may have been a result of that connection. A cast stone relief for residents on 69th Street in NYC for the Architect John M. Hatton was made around the same time. You are correct that to date there is no hard evidence that Milton acted exclusively as an architect. A renaissance man, Milton Horn studied architecture. His focus was to Create sculpture in relation to great architecture.


 * "and remained an influential member (of the Sculptor's Guild) until his death in 1995."

On what decision of that organization was he influential ?

Milton Horn was a founding member of the sculptor's Guild. There are extensive records of his involvement from the ground up. Both he and Estelle contributed on a number of levels as officers, artists, exhibitors, collaborators, and so on. They kept in close contact with the other founders, participants, artists, members and staff. Throughout his lifetime, Milton was requested to review and vote on new members. In the future the evidence will speak for itself.


 * " For example, by carving directly into stone Horn broke with the Beaux Arts tradition in which the sculptor molded in clay, but left stone carving to others."

Sculptors had been breaking with that tradition since the war - Horn was following a trend.

I don't recall assigning this exclusively to Milton Horn, thus eliminating other sculptors who may have done the same. -PGE


 * " They decided to move to Chicago to start a studio and to be closer to their new friend, Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright."

Was FLW still their friend in 1949 ? Did they ever meet each other again ?

According to Milton they remained friends until Mr. Wright died. They met eachother again on several occasions at Taliesin, and on occasion when Mr. Wright visited Chicago. Biographers for Horn and Mr. Wright will eventually find this out through the letters, telegrams, documents, interviews and associations with two great American historians, Russell Hitchcock and T.F. Hamlin. The last letter we have found to date is from 1976, a birthday greeting to Milton signed by Mrs. Wright. We will scan it for you along with an original copy of the committee to preserve the Robie House, which Milton has clearly stated in a number of documents and interviews, was formed by he and Estelle. Indira Berndtson, Administrator of Historic Studies for the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives, interviewed Milton in the early 1990's. The interview is filed in our archives at the moment and we do not have time to locate it. We are confident that this intimate relationship will come to light when the necessary scholarship is complete.


 * " They felt that the Midwest was a place where a sculptor could work without involvement in the gallery systems and artistic bias found in other large cities."

Can't we substitute the phrase "modern artworld" for the above ?

By the time Milton resigned from Olivet, both he and Estelle decided to concentrate on finding large scale commissions to create in relation to great architecture, of which hicago had in great abundance, They felt that the Midwest, and the city of Chicago, would provide the best opportunities to work and produce without being subjected to success in the arts, meaning that your work was shown in major galleries and museums only thereby being the measure of one's worth and value, etc. Milton was moved by the work of Larado Taft and hoped to stimulate the city to endorse more monumental large scale works. Recorded statements by the Horns to this effect are well documented, The notion of the modern art world Milton's relationship in it and to it is another kind of broad discussion to be born out by historians and scholars. We also have letters and documents that show that Milton and Estelle wanted to encourage Olivet College to commission Frank Lloyd Wright to design a building for their campus. That would be hard to accomplish outside of the Midwest. Perhaps we could just say simply "Milton and Estelle decided to move to Chicago in order to maintain their friendship with Frank Lloyd Wright and to create sculpture in relation to the great architecture of the city of Chicago. It was familiar territory for the artistic life they envisioned. In a documentary entitled "The Message of Form, Milton Horn, the Sculptor, the Man.", these are Mr. Horn's words on the matter "By moving into the Midwest, I was given an opportunity that I felt I never would have in the East. The opportunity to create sculpture in relation to an architecture being created by a community that depends a great deal upon itself, and not upon a fashion or a dogma".
 * " In 1980 he continued to recieve commissions for private and public projects"

This is misleading because over the next 15 of his life he completed 2 medals and a plaque. Old pieces were re-cast, but new sculpture was  not made for any  public projects.

In the 1980's he did continue to receive commissions for projects. I mentioned 2 potential large scale projects that I knew of and they did not come to fruition, but he did receive some. Receive and complete are two different things. What is misleading is that, to my knowledge, you could not have been aware of what Mr. Horn did on a daily basis. We were consistently in touch with him, including the day he passed away. Amongst his other activities as and artist, he produced three medals, a plaque, and a life size portrait in 1990. No one has the authority to say or to claim that "God and Israel" was his last sculpture. In fact, the life size portrait Milton created of me was begun in the early 1980's and cast in London under his supervisin in 1990 using the lost wax method of casting.


 * " From 1995 until the present the sole trustees Peter and Paula Ellis have created a museum without walls for his work in Chicago."

This could be augmented with: --- by placing  statuary in public places around the  city. His first piece to go on permanent display in a major museum was "Composition" (1944) which debuted in the American wing of the Art Institute of Chicago  in 2005.

In the 20 years that I knew Milton he never refered to his work as statuary, but as sculpture. Over 18 pieces of his work have been placed in public and private spaces,including outdoor sites. Bronze, stone, plasters, wood relief, terra cotta relief and bronze plaques. The most important work, restored and on permanent display, is the 3 1/2 ton bronze "Chicago Rising from the Lake".

I would also like to restore the information included in the following earlier statements which were edited out:


 * " He was active in the Sculptor’s Guild and shared the enthusiasm in that period for direct carving and the control of form by planes"


 * " In 1939 he began his teaching career at Olivet College, a small, ‘great books’, liberal arts school in Michigan. In 1949 he quit teaching, moved to Chicago, and began to develop his Judaic themes – beginning with his ‘Job’ which was exhibited in the 1951 national sculpture exhibit held by the Metropolitan museum."

To use the word quit implies an abrupt action. Perhaps the way to say it, which is recorded by statements in numerous documents, "Mr. Horn resigned form Olivet between 1947-48, he moved to Chicago in 1949", etc.


 * "His career ended in 1975 with the death of Estelle – and he would not complete another project other than the erotic “God and Israel” that was dedicated to her memory."-- -- but we could add that he also finished two medals, a plaque, and re-cast several earlier pieces.Mountshang 14:14, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Mr. Horn did not pass away in 1975 or end his career as an artist, which is what this statement implies. An artist's career is not like a plumber who retires and perhaps never fixes a drain or leaky faucet again. Maybe you could say that in your opinion Mr. Horn did not complete another project in his life and then explain why. Is it in the interest of this figural artist's historical evaluation to have that unqualified opinion on the web unsubstantiated? Does that not devalue your own good intent? We invited you to the Trust to see the scope of the archival materials, sculptures, etc. Many of your questions could have been resolved in a more natural way over time, and in better spirit. -PGE


 * To me a lot of this new material reads like "cut-&-paste" from somewhere else, though I don't know from where. I think asking for verification here is a good place to begin. Meanwhile I think that you have raised some good points and might as well begin removing what is not supported. Carptrash 17:02, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

What you refer to as "cut and paste" are segments of the Milton and Estelle Fine Art Trust Archives gathered for the further understanding of the life and times of Sculptor Milton Horn by scholars in the field. I would appreciate it in the future if you have any further questions, to email me at ellisgpaula@yahoo.com. we are not an institution with a full time staff. Debating issues over the internet in this manner is counter productive and deleterious to both of our good purposes, and to the memory of one of America's greatest sculptors, whom we both admire and support. -PGE


 * The new material was provided by Mrs. Paula Garrett Ellis. She met Milton around 1980, became a close friend and eventually joined her husband in becoming the trustees of the Milton Horn Fine Art Trust. Among Milton's few new works in those final years were a portrait of her and medallions of her children. She currently works out of Milton's old studio, and has done a great job of putting his statues in public places around Chicago -- as well as into a county museum and state university in West Virginia. Historians should consider her to be a valuable primary and secondary source of information. Mountshang 16:12, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

The county museum you refer to is called the Washington County Museum of Fine Art. P.O. Box 423, City Park, Hagerstown,Maryland, 21741- www.washcomuseum.org

Finally Mr. Horn made a medal of my child's head. I did not eventually join my husband as trustee. We were jointly asked and jointly agreed.


 * Milton collaborated with others to write a concise "Abbreviated chronology" that was eventually published in the Spertus Museum booklet published in 1989 -- and this would be the very best entry for Wikipedia --  augmented with a detailed expansion of  the  last entry ("received ongoing commissions for private and public projects") and  with the addition of Horn's  statement taken from his 1948 catalog.


 * Readers can draw their own conclusions concerning all of the issues discussed above.


 * I'll post it to the page when I get the time -- and meanwhile  it would be a good idea for Paula to download  her pictures of the major commissions to Wikipedia  commons -- so the article conclude with  a useful photo gallery.Mountshang 16:22, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Details of the Biography
The problem with being so meticulous about the last 20 years of Horn's life, is that it suggests that equal attention has been paid to the previous 40 , when that is far from the case. There are many completed, original sculptures which are not on this list -- several of them in Horn's distinctive Jewish and mythopoetic genres. If we are not going to list everything he made, we have to distinguish between the more-important from the less-important --- and these items, including "Halacha", "Birth of a Poet", "Binding of Isaac", "Pain", "Recording in the Book of Life", and "On the Brink of the Precipice", "Consecration of Isaiah", and "He walks on the wind"  are arguably far important than the final sketches, medallions, re-castings, and even the portrait of Paula.

Now that Paula has proven her point (at least to her satisfaction) that the man she knew had not yet retired, perhaps she can augment the rest of the list. She has all the relevant pictures, exact titles, and the dates of completion.

Or maybe we should consider limiting the bio to the completed public commissions (with the exception of Job and "God and Israel" which were important enough to Milton to add them, himself, to the list of his   accomplishments)

I think we should also reconsider whether details of Horn's dying moments and the resolution of his estate are appropriate to any kind of an encylopedia.

Mountshang 16:55, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

the current biography
at least up until 1976 or so, seems to be a pretty verbatim version of the chronology to be found in Milton Horn, Sculptor, published by the Spertus Museum of Judaica. I wonder if there are copy right issues here? If nothing else, this reality should be acknowledged somewhere. [everywhere?] Carptrash 21:14, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Maybe it's best just to publish the pre-1980 chronology verbatim -- credit it to the Spertus Museum -- note that Horn approved it -- and let the record stop there. Eventually, Paula will make her own web site, she can write whatever she wants, and the article should link to it. Mountshang 21:32, 8 March 2006 (UTC)


 * well i think that Paula should be encouraged to contribute here. We each have our slant on things and if you get enough slanted things happening you end up with an upright structure.  Sort of like a tee pee.  Only different.  But certainly the folks who wrote the chronology should be credited. Carptrash 21:46, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Needs clean up
I just made a pass at making this look more like a typical Wikipedia biography. I have embedded some comments in the article about work that remains. Editors knowledgable about Horn but not about Wikipedia should take a look at Wikipedia featured articles for examples of good biographies. 69.3.70.35 23:13, 25 March 2006 (UTC).
 * a look back through the history of this article shows [opinion] that it was a more typical bio for a while - and then morphed into what you see now Carptrash 01:05, 26 March 2006 (UTC).

citation needed?
Proske, Beatrice Gilman, Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture, Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina, 1968, one of the books in the References section gives Horn's birthday as being Sept. 1, 1906. That is a citation. For another, Opitz, Glenn B, Editor, Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Book, Poughkeepsie NY, 1986, a standard reference for American artists lists Horn's birthday as Sept 1, 1906. How many references are needed? Carptrash 04:58, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I finally removed this.
 * One account of his birth says 1901 - same day, September 1 - but all others agree on 1906.  The influence of oriental drawing and sculpture is also well documented in the references.  Carptrash 18:02, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
 * One account of his birth says 1901 - same day, September 1 - but all others agree on 1906.  The influence of oriental drawing and sculpture is also well documented in the references.  Carptrash 18:02, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, i get confused.
Milton Horn is just HIGH on my original research projects - which I dare not confuse with wikipedia. Still, being flagged for four different. . . . well, never mind. Carptrash 00:19, 20 May 2007 (UTC)