Artist

Moissaye Marans

born Kishinev, Romania 1902-died New York City 1977

Biography: Born in Russia, moved to the United States, lived in New York City. He worked as a WPA artist and won several prizes for his paintings but did not become widely known.
Charles Sullivan, ed American Beauties: Women in Art and Literature (New York: Henry N. Abrams, Inc., in association with National Museum of American Art, 1993)
: Luce Artist Biography
Moissaye Marans grew up in Kishinev, Romania. As a child, he traveled around Europe with his father, a railroad worker, and learned several languages. He started carving in scrap pieces of slate at the age of eleven, making his own tools from the steel parts of old mechanical instruments. Following his father’s advice, he studied chemical engineering at the University of Jassy and the Technological Institute of Bucharest. He was more interested in sculpture, however, and in 1924 immigrated to America to study art. Marans created many sculptures that celebrated peace and brotherhood, including the statue Swords into Plowshares of Isaiah breaking the sword of war, which was adopted as an emblem by the Atomic Energy Commission.