David Ascalon's Winning Entry, International Design Competition for Holocaust Memorial for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
In 1939, at the young age of 26, Hungarian-born Sculptor Maurice Ascalon created the massive hammered copper relief sculpture "The Scholar, the Laborer & the Toiler of the Soin" which adorned the grounds of the 1939 World's Fair in New York. By that time, Ascalon had already been schooled in the art of sculpture and metalwork by some of the world's finest masters at the Academy Beaux de Arts in Brussels, as well as in the studios of Milan, Italy, where he resided for a time. He went on to collaborate with some of the greats of Jerusalem's Bezalel School throughout the 1940s and early 1950s. Upon emigrating to the United States in 1956, he taught sculpture in Los Angeles, and continued to pursue his ambition to adorn houses of worship and public spaces through the formation of Ascalon Studios. He mentored his two sons in the art of sculpture. Adir, the elder son, later emigrated to Cuernavaca, Mexico, where he set up shop among the artisans of that flourishing artistic community, collaborating with such greats as the muralist Siqueros. David, the younger son, relocated to the East Coast, and building upon the artistic tradition he derived from his father, he studied architecture and design at New York's prestigious Pratt Institute.
Today, the works of the Ascalon's can be seen in houses of worship & public spaces throughout North America. This legacy continues in the present manifestation of Ascalon Studios: under the artistic direction of David Ascalon, and the management of his son - Maurice's grandson - Eric Ascalon.
Ascalon Studios can undertake sculpture in a wide variety of :
Applications: both interior and exterior, whether strictly artistic or also functional in nature (such as in the incorporation of doors, gates, signage, lecterns, alters & fountains);
Forms: from monumental to miniature, both relief and freestanding;
Styles: from every variation of traditional, to modern, from realistic to abstract, and from ecumenical-themed to secular; and
Media (from welded bronze, brass, copper and steel, to cast bronze, ceramics, stone and wood).
"Totem" by David Ascalon. Fabricated Bronze. Cherry Hill Public Library, Cherry Hill, NJ
If there are any projects which you or your organization are considering, please call us on our toll-free number to discuss, 1.888.280.5656, or fill out the Contact Ascalon Studios online form.
