Academy Award of Merit (Oscar)
ClassificationsSculpture
Artist
George Stanley
(American, 1903 - 1970)
Date1929
Made AtLos Angeles, California, United States, North America
MediumBronze
Dimensions11 3/4 × 5 1/4 in. (29.8 × 13.3 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Estate of Paula Nelli
Object number76.30.15
DescriptionEarly Academy Award of Merit "Oscar" statue cast in bronze at the California Art Bronze foundry, Los Angeles, California. The concept for “Oscar,” the colloquial name for the Academy Award of Merit, originated shortly after the creation of the then brand-new Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927. At one of their first banquets, several Hollywood executives were brainstorming ways to encourage the creation of particularly excellent pieces of cinema and settled on an award that would carry prestige. The Art Director of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Cedric Gibbons, first drew the design as an Art Deco rendering of a mostly bare knight. To translate the drawing into three dimensions, the Academy reached out to George Stanley, a Los Angeles area sculptor who had just graduated from the Otis Art Institute the year prior and had a promising career ahead of him. The sculptures were cast by Guido Nelli who operated the California Art Bronze Foundry.On View
Not on view
