Busacca Gallery

Mother and Child Bronze Sculpture by Bruce Wolfe Bronze Sculpture, 28 x 12 x 10 inches Honoring Nationally Renowned Bronze Artist Bruce Wolfe (1941–2023) Artist Bruce Wolfe (1941 – 2022) Bruce Wolfe's career as a sculptor spans over forty years, during which he received numerous commissions to create busts and figurative portraits of many prominent figures. Skilled in both oils and clay, Wolfe also taught figure painting and sculpture at several art schools in his native Northern California. The San Francisco Chronicle has hailed him as "the top sculptor in the Bay Area, and maybe the nation." Wolfe’s approach involved working from life, creating initial clay models before casting them in bronze and applying patinas. His expertise includes life-sized bronze sculptures, bronze busts, figurative art, painting, illustration, and drawing. Wolfe studied at San Jose State University and the Art Institute of San Francisco, as well as with artists Bettina Steinke and Bruno Lucchesi. He was a fellow of the National Sculpture Society and recently received an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Over his career, Wolfe was commissioned to create portraits of notable individuals, including: Chong-Moon Lee, donor to the New Asian Art Museum in San Francisco Dr. Norman Shumway, heart transplant pioneer at Stanford University George Shultz, former Secretary of State, with busts for Stanford University and the Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus in Israel Kurt Herbert Adler, director of the San Francisco Opera Dr. Jim Potchen, for the new Radiology Building at Michigan State University Phil Frank, cartoonist for The San Francisco Chronicle Lotfi Mansouri, director of the San Francisco Opera Martha Ingram, for the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tennessee / And so many more. Wolfe also painted portraits of figures such as astronaut Bruce McCandless (displayed at the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum), Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, George Will, Muhammad Ali, John Muir, Jack London, and donors of St. Mary’s College, as well as two presidents of the Bohemian Club. In October 2013, a statue of golf legend Arnold Palmer, standing nine feet tall with an overall height of 12’9” including the golf club, was unveiled at the Wake Forest University golf center in North Carolina.

Bruce Wolfe began creating life-sized bronze portraits in 1967. His forty-year career as a sculptor included numerous commissions for commemorative busts and figurative portraits of notable personalities. In addition to these works, Wolfe frequently created public monuments and liturgical pieces. A master of the arts, Wolfe specialized in life-sized bronze sculptures, bronze busts, figurative art, painting, illustration, and drawing. Bruce Wolfe (1941 – December 27, 2023) was an American sculptor, artist, illustrator, and designer renowned for his sculptures of many prominent figures. The San Francisco Chronicle described him as "the top sculptor for hire in the Bay Area, and maybe the nation." Over his distinguished career, he sculpted figures such as Barbara Jordan, Margaret Thatcher, former Kansas City Mayor Ilus W. Davis, former Secretary of State George Shultz, heart transplant pioneer Norman Shumway, and former Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Wolfe spent most of his life in Northern California. He studied art at San Jose State University and the San Francisco Art Institute, and he later taught painting and sculpture at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California. Additionally, Wolfe was credited with creating a theatrical poster for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. His work has been exhibited in New York, California, Paris, and the Smithsonian. Wolfe’s numerous awards include a CLIO, the National Endowment for the Arts Federal Achievement Award, First Place at the Art of the Portrait Conference (2001), the Joseph Henninger Award, and Zellerbach and Foster & Kleiser Awards.