Sculptor

Inspired as a child by the soaring cathedrals and palaces of Europe, she later let her imagination take flight, summoning ancient civilizations, Indian mysticism and interstellar musings in exuberant work that was often rendered on a grand scale. 

FAMILY BACKGROUND

EDC was born in Paris, one of two children. Her father was an organizer and financier of ballet productions. Her mother was a homemaker. 

CHILDHOOD

As a child, EDC was struck by the magnificent architecture of Europe, including her family’s Paris apartment, where they entertained notable artists such as the painter Salvatore Dali and the opera singer Maria Callas. 

“In our apartment there was a grand ballroom, with loges like an opera house way above my head,” wrote EDC as an adult. “The room itself may have been 30 feet high. Imagine the feeling when you were 5. I believe that this has given me my sense of scale.”

With the start of World War II, the family moved to New York. 

EDC recalls a visit to a fortuneteller when she was 6. “The fortuneteller looked at my palm and said, ‘You will be an artist.’ I didn’t believe it but thought – if only it could be true – how wonderful!” 

Such a destiny took a while to develop.

EDUCATION

After two years at a highly respected American university, EDC left to marry a businessman. She eventually earned her Bachelor’s degree from a different college before enrolling in the Art Students League of New York to study sculpture. 

EARLY CHALLENGE

While a career in sculpture proved her destiny, it did not come easily. Early in her art school days, MDC felt intimidated by working in stone.  She recalled trying to chisel an Indian deity from an 18-inch block of marble under the goading of her mentor and instructor, who pounded a table, ordering her, “You carve that face!” Eventually, she managed to do it. 

“Although I broke the nose slightly,” she wrote, “it was a feat that I managed. I lost my fears.”

SCULPTING WITH A VISION

“I like to be awed, as at the pyramids in Egypt,” recalled EDC. “It gives me joy and peace. And I like things to be magical, mythological. If something is your size, then it’s just another human being.” 

“What inspires me, what are my themes?” wrote EDC. “I like thinking about physics, spiritual ideas, yoga. In my double profiles, I am trying to show the underlying unity of minds. In my negative spaces, I am showing spirit beyond matter, idea before material form.”

That underlying unity was not limited to the planet Earth, in her view. She often hinted at worlds beyond this one in her work. In several notable pieces, her trademark faces had a protruding cone for an eye, a figurative telescope scanning the stars. I am amused by the idea of U.F.O.s and aliens,” she once said. “My themes are cosmic reality, like galaxies, but also cosmic in the spirit, like universal consciousness. 

CAREER SATISFACTION

EDC became best known for sculptures involving large human profiles and heads – some totemic (resembling a totem pole), others highly abstract, still others refracted through the lens of Cubism, showing faces from multiple angles. 

Her work earned many awards and professional praise. But its permanence, contours and meaning brought personal satisfaction to EDC long after she was no longer able to carve stone or even design on paper. 

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This career story has several sources: principally an obituary abut Elizabeth de Cuevas written by Alex Williams, published in The New York Times on 4/7/23 plus online research.