The creative work of George Aarons, produced over some fifty years, can not be defined by a single style or movement. A quick look at even a small selection of his sculpture demonstrates the wide-range of his artistic expression. Taken as a whole, the oeuvre of George Aarons reveals remarkable variety and breadth, in technique as well as concept. Unlike most of his contemporaries from Cape Ann who adhered to the classically-inspired, figurative tradition throughout their careers, Aaron's sculpture chronicles the major developments in modern art. Aarons freely adapted and sometimes closely adopted the prevailing trends of the moment, aligning them deftly with the content and message of each work. And although the form functions beautifully with his intent, it is clear that for Aarons, the immediacy of the emotion conveyed is paramount, the form secondary.

George Aarons was among the foreign-born American sculptors of the early 20th century who started their careers as academicians and evolved into modernists and, increasingly, abstract artists. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Aarons attended the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. He studied under Bela Lyon Pratt in Boston, and briefly in New York with Jo Davidson, and John Gregory, as well as with Edward McCarten at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design. Apprenticeships with Richard Brooks in Boston and Solon Borglum and Robert Baker in New York City afforded Aarons some of the experience and knowledge he missed by not studying sculpture abroad. During his New York period, Aarons was engaged on many architectural and decorative projects, such as figures for fountains. Sustaining oneself as an artist can be a struggle, especially during the Great Depression, and Aarons was not immune to these troubles. However, by 1930, he had emerged as an established Boston artist and was frequently praised by the local press for his choice commissions and submissions to public exhibitions.

Aarons was sensitively aware of the social problems of his time and employed his sculpture to record the dignity of the common man. Most of Aarons work from the 1940s speaks to the social wrongs and emotional turmoil he witnessed at that time, yet it also suggests his enduring hope for humanity as evidenced by the titles of some of the sculpture from this period: Rebound, Adolescence, and Striving. Aarons was greatly affected by World War II and produced numerous pieces that demonstrate his profound identification with all of the oppressed peoples of Europe. The war also inspired a new direction in his work as he began to develop sculpture that dealt with the Jewish tradition. By the 1950s, Aarons was celebrated and sought-after as one of the important Jewish artists of his era, leading to numerous commissions from Jewish organizations and individuals throughout the country and abroad.

Much of Aarons' late, increasingly abstract work possesses a renewed sense of joy and love of life. Even in these decidedly modern works, his sculpture always derived from nature and the human form. So, despite his propensity toward abstraction, Aarons remained a figurative artist of the humanist tradition. A long-time socialist, Aarons believed that art should be available to everyone, offering his work on installment and in the less-expensive medium of plaster.

Background image: Jeremiah by George Aarons, 1946, bronze