Bronx County Courthouse
Joe created this sculptured group in limestone. It is on the Bronx County Courthouse, also known as the Mario Merola Building, in New York City. Joe’s note on the back of a photo by DeWitt Ward reads: ‘Bronx County Court House’ and ‘located on Walton Ave side of street Concourse Village’.
Another photo of the grouping is labeled “Justice” by Joe with this description: “Limestone panel 12’ x 18’ on the city and Municipal Court House Lafayette St. N.Y.C. William Laxx and Matthew Delxxx, architects.” The architects names are not legible. The building was constructed between 1931 and 1934.
Some descriptions credit Joe entirely for this work but a history of the Mario Merola Bronx County Building has this paragraph; “The tall rectangular block sculptures by Adolph A. Weinman are largely allegorical, paying homage to the history of government by law through the ages, beginning with Egypt, Greece, and Rome. They were created with the assistance of collaborators and sculpted by Weinman and his associates, Edward F. Sanford, George Snowden and Joseph Kiselewski.”
With further study we’ll discover Joe’s relationship with Weinman who was older than Joe and a renowned architectural sculptor.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
This bust of Supreme Court Justice Holmes was installed at Hall of Fame for Great Americans at New York University in New York City in 1970.
Joseph Veach Noble
Joe carved a bust of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. for the Hall of Fame for Great Americans at the Bronx Community College in 1970. That same year, at the request of a committee of prominent artists, he was commissioned to create this medal depicting Justice Holmes. It is one of a series of Hall of Fame Americans. Below is Joe’s description of the project:
“My portrait of Justice Holmes is derived from a composite of photographs taken over many years. I wanted to show him as a forceful person, at the prime of his long career. On the reverse, is an allegorical figure with book and quill, symbolizing writing of the law. The Supreme Court where he served for years, is shown in the back ground.; the scales represent justice. The quotation, an idea he strongly advocated . . . “justice and liberty for all mankind.”
Joseph Veach Noble was trained as a cinematographer but became a museum administrator. He had a long career at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He trained himself in antiquities and archaeology and he was instrumental in identifying three Etruscan terra-cotta warriors in the museum’s collection as fakes. Joe created this medallion in 1970 and it can be found in the American Heritage Bank in Browerville.
This 76.2 mm in diameter bronze medal was created by Joe and struck by The Medallic Art Company to mark the 20th anniversary of MD magazine’s publication. The magazine’s founder, Dr. Marti Ibañez, was a psychiatrist who wanted to create a publication that melded the three facets of a physicians life — the professional, the human being, and the member of society.
In 1970, Joe was awarded the Saltus Medal by the American Numismatic Society for his contributions to the medalic arts. This is what the award looks like. The medallion was done by Adolph A Weinman.
Dawn
Joe’s label for this is "Dawn 32 inches tall Bronze". We don’t know much about this sculpture. It is photographed in the Winter 1979 - 80 of the National Sulpture Review magazine with the caption “Watrous Gold Medal of National Academy of Design”. The medal Joe received is just below his prize-winning design.
David W. Peck
This bronze plaque of Presiding Justice of New York State’s Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, First Department, David W. Peck, was created by Joe in 1977, a few years before he returned to Browerville. It was rescued from the floor of a New York antique dealer by antique dealers Stewart Lewis and Christopher Poppe in 2020. It appears to have been presented to Peck’s first wife Elizabeth. She died in 1980 and he died in 1990.
Elizabeth’s friends from Wabash College presented the likeness of her husband to her. David Peck, who was a trustee at Wabash College, enrolled in the College at the age of sixteen, graduated from there at nineteen, and completed Harvard Law School in 1922. Wabash College presents a David W. Peck award to a prominent lawyer and promising student every year.
Morris Dees, founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and famed human rights lawyer, received the annual David W. Peck award from Wabash College in 2009.
One of the fascinating aspects of Peck’s career is that in Germany, in the early 1950s, he led the Advisory Board on Clemency on recommendations for the pardon of convicted war and Nazi criminals. The panel was referred to as the Peck Panel.
Peck was appointed to the New York Court of Appeals by his fellow Republican and presidential candidate Governor Thomas Dewey.
Christopher Poppe of Greenlawn, NY wrote to us on November 21st, 2020 and sent these photos he took. Prior to Christppher writing to us, we were unaware of the existence of this piece.
Christopher tells us, “I purchased this plaque along with a friend and business partner, Stewart Lewis. We are collectors and resellers. Stewart has been an avid collector of bronzes over the years.
Stewart and I were browsing at a local Antiques Mall when we came upon the plaque. It was sitting, unceremoniously, on the floor of one dealer's booth. It piqued our interest. At the time, neither one of us were aware of the scope and importance of Joseph Kiselewski's work. After leaving the Mall we did our research on Joseph.Kiselewski and David Warner Peck. Shortly afterwards we returned to the Mall and purchased it.
The medallion is 12 1/4" in diameter and mounted on a 15" X 15" plaque.”