A Finding Aid to the Joseph J. Greenberg Papers, 1939-1989, in the Archives of American Art.

Scope and Contents

The papers of Joseph J. Greenberg measure 0.5 linear feet and date from 1939-1989. The papers document Greenberg's career through biographical materials, including resumes and award certificates, professional correspondence, and printed material such as news clipping and exhibition catalogs. Also found is a scrapbook which contains clippings and catalogs, press releases, correspondence regarding his sculptures, a poem Greenberg wrote and notes. Photographic material contains photographs of Greenberg, his colleagues, and his artwork.

Arrangement

Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.

Biographical / Historical

Joseph J. Greenberg (1915-1991) was a sculptor and educator from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Greenberg first became interested in sculpture as a child while attending the Oak Lane Country Day School and meeting sculptor Boris Blai, who was working as the school's art teacher. Years later Greenberg discovered Blai had become the director of the Tyler School of Art at Temple University prompting him to transfer there from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he had been studying engineering. Greenberg graduated from the Tyler School of Art in 1939 as a member of the first class of Tyler's complete five-year program. He went on to study in Italy where he had his first solo show in Rome and exhibited in the twenty sixth Venice Biennale. In 1951, Greenberg was the winner of a prize from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's National Sculpture Exhibition. He returned to Philadelphia in 1953 and continued living and working in the city until his death in 1991.

Greenberg was known for his large public sculptures in Pennsylvania include Bear and Cub in the Philadelphia Zoo, the aluminum seal of Pennsylvania on the State Office Building, and Symbol of Progress located in the heart of Bethlehem, PA by the entrance of the Bethlehem Area Public Library. In addition to his studio work, Greenberg taught at the Oak Lane Country Day School, the Tyler School, the New Hope Fine Arts Workshop, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Fleisher Memorial.