John Into Bronze: A Personal Creative Journey

Bronze Bust of John Steinbeck by Ron Machin.

It was back in 1983 I had the idea that I would like to sculpt a bust of John Steinbeck. Why? I think it was because I sympathized with his views and philosophy. He is also one of my favorite authors. Where to start was my first problem. I had no photographs, only a collection of his books at that time. I had no biographies or works by any other authors or Steinbeck scholars.

First, I wrote to the English publisher of his works who informed me that the Jackson J. Benson biography was coming out soon. This would hopefully have lots of photographs. Then I wrote to Elaine Steinbeck through the American publishers. She was very kind and helpful. She sent me an excellent photograph taken by Life Magazine plus some various portraits. With these I started modeling the head. Halfway on, the Jackson J Benson biography was published and to my horror the photograph on the dust cover was of a young John Steinbeck, and I was following the photograph of an older man who had a beard.

I stopped working on the head, photographed it at the stage it was, and sent this to Jackson J. Benson. He put my mind at rest with his reply by stating most people think of Steinbeck as older and with his beard. The photograph Viking had chosen for their dust cover was from their own files. So I carried on modeling. Nearer to the end I sent a photograph to Elaine Steinbeck for her comments. She, being a forthright woman, was honest in her comments and said I had taken on a difficult assignment and still had a way to go. Bearing her comments in mind, I continued with the head until I was reasonably satisfied, and I then took it to the Morris Singer foundry, where I made some minor adjustments in the wax stage. I intended to have two bronze casts made and sell one to finance my next project, but in the end I had just one cast made, which I still possess.

I sent photographs of the finished head to Elaine Steinbeck for her comments, and this time I was pleased to find she approved. To quote her: "You have been successful in portraying my husband, John Steinbeck." This made me very satisfied with my project, which I am delighted to share with the readers of The Steinbeck Review.