Guide to the Sibyl Barsky Grucci Papers, 1921-2005
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Sibyl Barsky Grucci Papers
- Creator
- Grucci, Sibyl Barsky, 1905-2007
- Collection Number
- mss423
- Extent
- .5 linear feet (1 box)
- Date
- 1921-2005
- Abstract
- Sibyl Barsky Grucci had a long career as a sculptor based first in Pittsburgh and later in State College, Pa. These papers include: correspondence; newsclippings; exhibition catalogues; transcripts of oral histories done in 2004 and 2005, shortly before and shortly after Sibyl Grucci's one hundredth birthday; and sketches and drawings by Grucci and by other artists.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
History
Sibyl Barsky Grucci had a long career as a sculptor based first in Pittsburgh and later in State College, Pa. She was born in Russia on March 20, 1905, and came to Pittsburgh with her family at the age of eight. Her father was a cabinetmaker and woodcarver. By the age of twelve, Sibyl had experienced the deaths of a sister close to her in age and of both of her parents. She and her older sister Belle supported and cared for their four younger brothers. Sibyl studied painting briefly at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) but was self-taught as a sculptor.
Sibyl Barsky began to show her work in the Pittsburgh area in the early 1930s, and her portrait bust of Pittsburgh businessman Morris Rom won the New Sculpture Prize at the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh exhibition in 1934. During this period, Sibyl Barsky's sculpture was favorably reviewed by Douglas Naylor, the art editor of the Pittsburgh Press. Among her Pittsburgh artist friends were Samuel Rosenberg, Sam Filner, and William Wolfson. At the suggestion of Samuel Rosenberg, Barsky taught art during one summer term at the Irene Kaufman Settlement.
In the late 1930s Barsky was employed as part of the Pittsburgh group of the Federal Art Project, a program of the Works Progress Administration. Artists were put on salary and provided with materials with which they created works of art for schools, museums, and other civic institutions. The Pittsburgh group of six artists was headed by William McDermott and also included Esther Phillips and Mary Shaw Marohnic.
On September 24, 1940, Sibyl Barsky married Joseph L. Grucci, a Pittsburgh native who became a poet and a translator and editor of poetry. He served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945. He was a professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh and then at Penn State University in State College, Pa., where the Gruccis made their permanent home beginning in 1950. Sibyl's studio there was in a former one-room schoolhouse.
Sibyl Barsky Grucci worked in clay, wood, stone, and bronze. Her sculpture has been exhibited in Pittsburgh and other cities in the northeastern United Sates. Many of her works were commissioned privately and are now in private collections throughout the United States. A notable public installation is a bronze bust of Fred Lewis Pattee, a popular Penn State professor; the bust is in the foyer of the Penn State library named after Pattee. The Grucci Poetry Center at Penn State, endowed by Sibyl after the death of her husband, has become the home of "The Young Dancer," a limestone piece first exhibited at the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh show in 1935. Grucci's bronze bust of Hyman Blum is on display at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center in Pittsburgh.
Scope and Content Notes
The Sibyl Barsky Grucci Papers are housed in one archival box. These papers include: correspondence; newsclippings; exhibition catalogues; transcripts of oral histories done in 2004 and 2005, shortly before and shortly after Sibyl Grucci's one hundredth birthday; and sketches and drawings by Grucci and by other artists. Notable are a signed portrait drawing of Grucci by Samuel Rosenberg and records of Grucci's employment by the Federal Art Project. Passages in the oral history transcripts refer directly to some of the sculptures whose photographic images may be found in MSP#423. One folder contains information about Sibyl's husband Joseph L. Grucci's World War II military service and publication information for two of his poetry books. There is some information, mostly in the form of correspondence or published articles, about the following individuals: Grucci's husband Joseph L. Grucci; Julia Gregg Brill, an English professor at Penn State; George Seibel, Director of the Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny and National President of the American Turners; Pennsylvania sculptor and wood craftsman Wharton Esherick; and Armenian artist Martiros Sarian. Researchers may also wish to consult the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Records (Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania MSS#399), the Joseph L. Grucci Papers at the Penn State University Archives, and the Library of the Western Pennsylvania Historical Society, which has several volumes of Joseph Grucci's poetry.
Conditions Governing Access
No Restrictions.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Sibyl Barsky Grucci in in May, 2005.
Accession #2005.0162
Gift of Mark M. Rubenstein, nephew of Sibyl Barsky Grucci, in January 2010.
Accession #2010.0029
Preferred Citation
Sibyl Barsky Grucci Papers, 1921-2005, MSS#423, Rauh Jewish Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Martha L. Berg in November 29, 2005.
Revisions and additions completed by Martha L. Berg in February 2010.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center.
Related Materials
See also the papers of Sibyl Barsky Grucci's siblings William Barsky MSS#500 and Belle Barsky MFF#4846.
Separated Materials
One box (.5 linear feet) of photographs has been separated and described as MSP#423.
One folder containing drawings, sketches, and watercolors has been separated and described as MSO#423
One audiocassette tape and one DVD of oral history materials have been separated and described as MSC#423.
Subjects
- Associated Artists of Pittsburgh (Pa.)
- Federal Art Project Pittsburgh, PA
- Works Progress Administration Pittsburgh, PA
- Works Progress Administration Pittsburgh, PA
- Grucci, Sibyl Barsky (1905-)
- Grucci, Joseph L. (1911-1982)
- Rosenberg, Samuel (1896-1972)
- Rosenberg, Samuel (1896-1972)
- Artists--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh (Pa.)
- Sculpture--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh (Pa.)
- Jews--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh (Pa.)
- Women, Jewish--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh (Pa.)
- Women, Jewish--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh (Pa.)