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Joseph Maniscalco was born in Tampa, Florida, the son of Michaelangelo Maniscalco. At the age of nine he moved to New York City. When he was fifteen he found a one dollar bill on the floor at Macy's art material department which enabled him to purchase his first set of oil paints. He went on to received his training in art as a scholarship student at the famous Art Students League in New York City. His abilities as a portrait artist were recognized by Twentieth Century Fox Studios where he painted portraits of movie stars for their posters. In 1953 he moved to Detroit, Michigan where he worked as a free lance artist for many of the largest art studios. Since 1968 he has maintained a studio at the Scarab Club of Detroit and has devoted himself exclusively to fine arts and portraiture. He has twice served as President of the Scarab Club with many years on its Board of Directors.

In the early 1980s Maniscalco organized artists nationwide to demonstrate against estate tax treatment of all creative people – painters, composers, writers etc. The law stipulates that all unsold works of art, musical compositions, novels, etc, remaining in an estate would be evaluated at "fair market value" for estate tax purposes in contrast to those same works being evaluated at "cost of materials" when donated by the artist to non-profit organizations. This double standard arose when in 1973 the tax laws were changed – in response to Nixon's donating his papers to his own library and taking an exceptionally high deduction. Presently, congress is considering changing these unfair tax laws.

Maniscalco has had a number of one-man shows in which he has exhibited portraits and paintings from private and public collections. His subjects have included figures from families, universities, corporate and banking institutions, hospitals, government and sports.

Among his commissioned portraits are Chief-Justices of the Michigan Supreme Court Mary Coleman, Dorothy Comstock Riley and Thomas Brennan. Other Justices include United States Court of Appeals Judge James Ryan and former United States Senator from Michigan, Robert Griffin. Hanging in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. are Congressmen William Ford from Michigan, Augustus Hawkins from California and William Clay from Missouri. Other subjects are Dr. Fred Cummings, former Director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Dr. Robert Warner, Director of the National Archives in Washington D.C., Gordie Howe, legendary hockey player and Dr. Michael Smurfit, Chairman of Jefferson Smurfit Corporation, Dublin, Ireland.

Recent commissions include portraits of Dr. Diether Haenicke, retired president fo Western Michigan University, Congressman John D. Dingell, which hangs in the Veterans Memorial Hospital in the Detroit Medical Center and Steve Yzerman, captain of the Red Wings hockey team.

Among his many awards are three Gold Medals at the annual Scarab Club Gold Medal exhibition and first prize at its annual Silver Medal Show, the Fitch award from the annual exhibition of the Michigan Academy of Letters, Arts and Science. He is frequently called upon to judge art exhibitions, conduct seminars, lecture and demonstrate the art of portrait painting.

In addition to enjoying his reputation as a leading portrait painter, he is also known for his paintings of a wide variety of subject matter, including still life, landscape and non-commissioned character portrait studies.

Gallery Artists