Capturing The Visceral Moment: Fantastic Detailed & Monumental Sculptures By Seward Johnson

Seward Johnson, the internationally-acclaimed sculptor of realistic bronzes depicting everyday people, originally began his artistic pursuits as a painter. When his wife encouraged him to take a class in sculpture, his life and and art world would be forever changed.

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Having no formal training beyond a series of classes, Johnson entered an international sculpture contest in 1968, and won among 7,000 entries, kickstarting a sculpting career that has endured for nearly five decades.

As his love of bronze grew, Johnson started the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture in 1974 as a non-profit art casting and fabrication facility. Designed to encourage and instruct sculptors in artistic and technical aspects of their craft, it offered numerous services in casting, conservation, installation, enlarging, mold/pattern making and finishing with both paint and patina.

Known for his detailed life size bronze sculptures depicting ordinary people in everyday activities, Johnson achieves a realism that is absolutely uncanny. He speaks with and studies subjects in the field he is depicting. He watches policemen and gardeners at work, businessmen reading newspapers, children eating ice cream, park benches with people on them. Details are so realistic that viewers want to actually touch the sculptures.