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David Yurman’s Early Years

David Yurman was born on Long Island, New York
in 1942. As a high school student, Yurman sold small

sculptures in his school’s cafeteria. But his artistic
ambition was really ignited when he met Ernesto
Gonzales, a Cuban welder and sculptor. The two met
in the artist town of Provincetown, Massachusetts
where Yurman was visiting his sister for the summer.
Gonzales introduced Yurman to welding, teaching
Yurman how to wield a hot torch to heat and fuse
metal. Yurman’s interest in sculpture deepened and
he began experimenting with his own metal sculp-

tures and jewelry designs.

After graduating high school, Yurman was brief-
ly enrolled at New York University. However, after
his freshmen year, in true bohemian spirit, Yurman
dropped out of school and hitch-hiked his way to
California where he joined a beatnik artist colony on
the rugged Big Sur coastline.

In the late 1960s, the Art Movement drew Yurman
back to New York City. Yurman worked with Hans

Van de Bovenkamp who is best known for his large
scale and abstract sculptures. It was in Bovenkamp’s
West Village studio that Yurman met Sybil Kleinrock,
a Bronx native and gifted painter. The two quickly fell
in love.

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