Peter Ganine
Russian–American sculptor / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Peter Ganine (October 11, 1900 – August 11, 1974) was a Georgian-Russian-American sculptor best known for his work in ceramics and his chess sets.
Peter Ganine | |
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Born | Pierre Ganine (1900-10-11)October 11, 1900[1][2] |
Died | August 11, 1974(1974-08-11) (aged 73) |
Nationality | Russian-American |
Alma mater | Corcoran Gallery of Art |
Spouse(s) | Marguerite Churchill (1954–?) Karin (?–1974)[3] |
Signature | |
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Ganine began his art studies in Russia. He spent five years as a trader in the Belgian Congo[4] before coming to the US in 1931,[5] on a scholarship to Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.[3] He settled in Hollywood in 1932, where he lived until his death.[1][4][6] His work was championed by longtime Los Angeles Times art editor and critic Arthur Millier.[7][8][9][10][11][12]
He served as an aircraft patternmaker during World War II.[4]
The subjects of Ganine's sculptures were largely people or animals.[3][13][14][15][16] He patented many of his animal sculptures, which were then reproduced in plastic and sold inexpensively.[3][4][13] His most popular designs were a whale, which won a prize from the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art,[4][14] and an "uncapsizeable duck", of which over 50,000,000 were sold.[3][15] When Ganine gave human faces to chess pieces, he introduced "first major change of design for chess sets in more than a century."[17]