Although Tony Trezza was not a ‘Cybis artist’ in the sense of having created porcelain sculptures for the studio, he was definitely an artist in his own right and contributed in large part to the studio’s success. He also created a work of art that every employee of, and visitor to, the studio saw until the ultimate final days of Cybis at Norman Avenue. I am indebted to his daughter June for the details of his story!
Anthony Trezza was born in 1922 and lived on Fulton Street, in south Philadelphia, with his parents Amalia and Vincent, four brothers, and two sisters. Later in life, he related that
I remember the teacher stretched out this brown paper fish wrapper across the side of the room. She wanted all of us to draw on it. It was [to be] a picture of The Crusades. She asked me to draw the horse in the center of the mural. I remember being excited to be asked to draw the centerpiece of the painting.
Upon graduation from high school, Tony went to the Philadelphia Museum School of Art on a scholarship, followed by stint in the US Air Force for two and a half years. He then attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for four years, showing particular excellence in oil and watercolor painting but was also drawn to sculpture; this photo shows him working on his first marble sculpture, in 1947.
In 1948 he obtained his first full-time job, at a small advertising agency called Lamden & Associates, and married his high-school sweetheart, Janet Morell. They would eventually have a son and a daughter.
Lamden was only the first step in an impressive advertising career in Philadephia. At subsequent firms he served as art director, creative director, television producer, and set designer. This film strip is from a commercial he created during the 1960s.
Tony designed the corporate logo and brand identity for what was then the Philadelphia National Bank, known locally as PNB; it is now part of the CoreStates Financial Group. He also designed the iconic logo for the Sheraton hotel chain and ran ad campaigns for large pharma companies such as Merck and Wyeth. Tony once described his belief that
The heart of an agency is the creative department….The ad services department is the salesmen. They are the contact between agency and client. Traditionally, these two groups have always had conflict… Usually, in that case, I won.
Tony was in advertising for 40 years, often working all day and painting at night. In 1967 the family moved from Delaware County (Springfield, PA) to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania where Janet became an elementary school teacher. In this new location Tony had more time to focus on sculpting. He said in a newspaper interview that he had worked with clay and bronze sculptures almost all his life but then began seriously working in stone. He began to spend each summer in Pietrasana, Italy, to study marble carving under the tutelage of a master. But it was in his advertising capacity that he first began working with the Cybis studio.
Tony Trezza and Cybis
The first published association of Tony Trezza with Cybis appears on their 1978 catalog (the one with the embossed Pegasus on the cover). At the bottom of the Table of Contents page is the credit Designer/Art Director – Tony Trezza. This catalog was the first Cybis publication to include an historical listing of Cybis sculptures; the 1971 Cybis in Retrospect was an exhibit catalog only. It was also the largest to date, at 91 pages and was dedicated to Marylin Chorlton who had died of cancer the year before. It was also published in a very limited hardbound version.
The 1979 catalog was even larger (120 pages) and featured a new Cybis logo. Both were published by Tony’s employer, Spiro & Associates; he had become their account manager during the mid 1970s. The 1979 catalog contains this beautiful sketch of Marylin, done by Tony. In both of these catalogs the text and captions were written by Hazel Herman.
The next published Cybis catalog came in 1981. Tony is again listed as the catalog’s designer but Anne Dorlon replaced Hazel Herman as the writer of the captions and text. This is a much smaller catalog than the two prior ones and was the final catalog that Tony created for Cybis. The next/final publication (1986) is little more than a collection of photos from their recent brochures.
Tony’s association with the early-1980s catalogs was a result of his being hired directly by the studio as their Advertising Director after he left Spiro. During this time, George Ivers served as the Art Director in charge of physical production. Two years ago I wrote the Cybis Goes to Italy post, which allows Archive readers to see the photo shoot that resulted in the studio’s Spring 1981 advertising campaign – complete with candid photos taken by Tony and others during the trip.
The 1981 short film Porcelains That Fire the Imagination (viewable within the Cybis Short Films post) was also created under Tony’s watch.
It’s unclear at exactly what point during the 1980s that Tony Trezza resigned his position at Cybis, although there is some evidence that it occurred in 1983. The studio’s financial situation was deteriorating due to administrative mismanagement, and the cobbled-together simplistic nature of the next (1986) catalog supports this theory. However, although Tony was no longer connected with the studio, he left a very dramatic legacy right there in the main lobby (although the studio never gave him public credit for it)!
Tony Trezza retired from the advertising industry entirely in 1998 and devoted himself to sculpting full-time. Let’s take a look at some of his work over the years, but first….
Phoenix Rising by Tony Trezza for Cybis
This large and visually arresting wood sculpture of a phoenix rising from flames was a can’t-miss feature of the entrance lobby at Norman Avenue. I recall seeing it when I visited the studio during the early 1990s, but had no idea who created it; I simply assumed that it had been made by Boleslaw Cybis at some point. It is seven feet (88”) tall, 34” wide, and 24” deep.
It was consigned to Kamelot Auctions as part of the 2020 tranche of liquidation sales but with no mention of any connection to the Cybis studio – which was why I completely missed it while following the results of the other lots! Tony carved it from heartwood maple, and injured his shoulder either during or very shortly after creating it.
Tony Trezza and His Art
Two circa-1940s illustrations, each signed Trezza in a lower corner.
Watercolor, dated August 1946.
Male study in oils, circa 1950s.
In 1976 there was a competition for the design of the Great Flag Monument within the Independence Mall in Philadelphia; these are the concept drawings for Tony’s entry.
A photograph taken during a local television news interview regarding the competition and his entry.
A Portugese village at night, acrylics.
Street scene in France, acrylics.
Tony inside his home studio in Pennsylvania.
Tony’s daughter has a wonderful retrospective of his work on her Facebook and other sites, so I will supply those links below. Here are only a few!
Carousel Horse in wood.
Plaster bust of the artist’s sister, circa 1950s.
This lightness of this sculpture defies the nature of the medium it was created in. Titled either Paper In Motion or Big Paper, it was created in 1983 for the Garrett-Buchanan Paper Company in Philadelphia.
Part of Tony’s one-man show in West Chester, PA, in February 2006.
Part of the sculpture garden in 2009. His home studio included more than 20 marble sculptures either inside the studio itself or on the grounds.
Tony in Italy during the summer of 2011, inside the Palla Studio.
Tony at his 90th birthday party. He passed away at the age of 98 on September 1, 2021. His memory and art will be a forever legacy to his children and grandchildren.
There is far more of Tony’s art than I have space to share here. Visit his pages on Facebook, Instagram, and Sculptureitalia to see more. My sincere thanks to his daughter June for all the insight into Tony’s life and also for sharing that ‘unicorn’ of a short film from 1981!
Name Index of Cybis Sculptures
Visual Index (for human figures/busts only)
About the Cybis Reference Archive
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