He was a sculptor whose sturdy outline figures, larger than life, are prominently installed around Martha’s Vineyard. When I served as curator at the Academy Art Museum (2011-2020), I saw his work and later met him, at a mutual friend’s house in New York City. Jay became a friend. His best-known work is the 17-foot bronze harpooner poised to strike a swordfish above the dunes of Menemsha, on the Vineyard.
Jay Lagemann, Swordfish Harpooner, 17-feet height, Menemsha Beach, Martha’s Vineyard, MA. Commissioned by the town of Chilmark in 1994 for its tricentennial to honor the island’s rich swordfishing history.
Jay drove the sculptures down himself, adding his Princeton tiger mascot, tied to the roof of his van (not part of the exhibition). He was heading to his alma mater’s reunion, following the exhibition’s opening. Jay had attended Princeton University, concentrating in Mathematics and Art before earning his PhD in Mathematical Logic from MIT. It does not get more abstract than that! Jay realized that he did not want to spend his time working motionless inside four walls and thus became a figurative sculptor.
Jay Lagemann worked with many different materials, including wood, steel, copper, clay, plaster, cement, fiberglass and resins. He travelled all over the world and sailed yachts across the north and south Atlantic and played with dolphins and windsurfed in the large waves on Maui. Stories of his involvement with the filming of Jaws II (“not very successful” in his words) on the Vineyard were endless fun. It is no surprise that when his love of art compelled him to make sculpture, he worked to capture the joy and essence of movement in dance, play, and work, as well as in abstract forms. Jay worked with A.R.T. Foundry in Lancaster, PA, and the TMC Foundry in Thailand.
In Easton, museum visitors may remember his circle of animated dancers “performing” in the courtyard. The Dance, Jay’s new life-sized bronze, was inspired by the Matisse painting.
In 2013, Jay installed six large pieces on location in Beverly Hills, CA, including a large cast stainless steel Swinging Jenny. A major commission followed, for a massive Swinging Jenny in 2017 in Manhattan. It was commissioned by the Durst Organization for its VIA57 Complex on West 57th Street in Manhattan. It is 18 feet tall and Jenny cantilevered out 22’. It is cast bronze with an engineered armature of stainless steel tubing to stabilize the interior of the sculpture. I attended the revealing of this immense sculpture, a festive event following quite the installation accomplishment of Jay and his team.
Jay Lagemann, Swinging Jenny, 2017, The Durst Organization at VIA57 Complex, West 57th Street, New York, NY
He will be missed.
Anke Van Wagenberg, PhD, is Senior Curator & Head of International Collaborations
American Federation of Arts in New York, NY, and resides in Talbot County, MD
2 Responses
Well I remember those wonderful installations at the Academy. Kudos to you, that you brought the works to Easton. A grandson asked recently about regrets, and one is that I didn’t spring for the Lagermann I like so much.
DW
What a wondrous memorial retrospective of Maestro Lagemann’s great gifts to our Nation and to Easton. +Joel