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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 | |
|---|---|
| Born | Pierre Ganine October 11, 1900[1][2] |
| Died | August 11, 1974 (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]
Ganine married actress Marguerite Churchill on June 5, 1954.[18][19] He later married a woman named Karin.[3]
- Superba Gothic chess set (c.1930s)[20]
- Colt sculpture (c.1939)[21]
- Baby Centaur sculpture (c.1940)[6][22][23]
- Beer Mug sculpture (c.1941)[7]
- Rudolph sculpture of a dachshund (c.1941)[7]
- Bull sculpture (c.1941)[7]
- Dog sculpture (c.1944)[24]
- Why sculpture (c.1944)[8]
- Life Mask of Nicholai Fechin sculpture (1945)[25]
- Happy Womanhood sculpture (c.1947) – model: Maureen O'Hara[26]
- Hosanna sculpture of choir boys (c.1948)[9]
- Classic chess set (1961) – the chess pieces from the Classic chess set were used in Star Trek as part of the tri-dimensional chess set[27]
- Rearing Colt sculpture[28]
- Portrait of Marguerite Churchill sculpture[29]
- 1938 – Group show at the California Art Club[10]
- 1939 – Golden Gate International Exposition[21]
- 1939 – The Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego[11][30]
- 1940 – National Ceramic Exhibition at Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, where he won first prize in ceramic sculpture for Baby Centaur[6][23]
- 1942 – "Artist of the Month" for January, solo show at the Los Angeles County Museum[12]
- 1944 – Society for Sanity in Art's group show at Los Angeles County Museum[8]
- 1960 – Group show at W. & J. Sloane Petite Galerie in Beverly Hills[31][32]
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