Alex Ettl: Commitment and Compassion
by D. Dominick Lombardi
Alex J. Ettl once said of his father, John Ettl, that he was a “busted nobleman” who squandered his inherited fortune on “fast women and slow horses.” Alex Ettl was the opposite. Thrifty, forceful, and charismatic, he saw his place in the growing New York art world as a proponent of everything sculptural.
Born in 1899, Ettl left school at fifteen to work with his father in his studio, where they performed a number of services. In those early days, the clay they made was delivered by a horse-drawn cart, traveling New York City’s cobblestone streets lit by gas lamps. |
