Peter Ganine

Peter Ganine (October 11, 1900 – August 11, 1974) was a Russian-American sculptor best known for his work in ceramics and his chess sets.

Ganine began his art studies in Russia. He spent five years as a trader in the Belgian Congo before coming to the US in 1931, on a scholarship to Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. He settled in Hollywood in 1932, where he lived until his death. His work was championed by longtime Los Angeles Times art editor and critic Arthur Millier.

He served as an aircraft patternmaker during World War II.

The subjects of Ganine's sculptures were largely people or animals. He patented many of his animal sculptures, which were then reproduced in plastic and sold inexpensively. His most popular designs were a whale, which won a prize from the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, and an "upcapsizeable duck", of which over 50,000,000 were sold. When Ganine gave human faces to chess pieces, he introduced "first major change of design for chess sets in more than a century."

Personal life

Ganine married actress Marguerite Churchill on June 5, 1954. He later married a woman named Karin.

Works

• Superba Gothic chess set (c.1930s)
• Colt sculpture (c.1939)
• Baby Centaur sculpture (c.1940)
• Beer Mug sculpture (c.1941)
• Rudolph sculpture of a dachshund (c.1941)
• Bull sculpture (c.1941)
• Dog sculpture (c.1944)
• Why sculpture (c.1944)
• Life Mask of Nicholai Fechin sculpture (1945)
• Happy Womanhood sculpture (c.1947) – model: Maureen O'Hara
• Hosanna sculpture of choir boys (c.1948)
• Classic chess set (1961) – used in Star Trek as the tri-dimensional chess set
• Rearing Colt sculpture
• Portrait of Marguerite Churchill sculpture

Exhibitions

• 1938 – Group show at the California Art Club
• 1939 – Golden Gate International Exposition
• 1939 – The Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego
• 1940 – National Ceramic Exhibition at Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, where won first prize in ceramic sculpture for Baby Centaur
• 1942 – "Artist of the Month" for January, solo show at the Los Angeles County Museum
• 1944 – Society for Sanity in Art's group show at Los Angeles County Museum
• 1960 – Group show at W. & J. Sloane Petite Galerie in Beverly Hills