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Samuel Adolph Cashwan (1900–1988) was an American sculpture.
In 1918, Cashwan served in the US Army. He was discharged following the end of World War I and returned to New York City, where he continued with his art training at the Architectural League of New York. Cashwan then moved to Paris from 1923 to 1926 where he attended the École des Beaux-Arts under the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle. He returned to Detroit in 1927 and became an art instructor at the University of Michigan. Cashwan also served as the head of the sculpture department of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts until 1942. Cashwan was also employed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) from 1936 until 1942 as the supervisor of its sculpture and ceramics program. He was to credit the income from these teaching positions to allow art to his own tastes rather than that of the art market.
During his time at the WPA, Cashwan created several sculptures for outside display at Michigan State University. At the Olin Health Center, he created of the Greek gods Panacea and Hygeia. At one of the university entrances, he created a sculpture of a man, a woman, a horse and several sheafs of wheat. These figures symbolized the university's beginnings as a school of agriculture.
In January, 1942, Cashwan exhibited sculptural work at an opening of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Following the end of World War II, Cashwan was hired as a designer for General Motors, a position that he held until his retirement in 1965. He moved to North Carolina shortly thereafter, where he lived until his death in 1988.
Cashwan created two prominent sculptures at the 1966 Oldsmobile in Lansing, Michigan: Prometheus in the building's lobby and Open Cage at an important entrance. The Prometheus sculpture signified the spirit of research necessary to industrial progress, and Open Cage signified people working in groups.
While Cashwan suggested that his work had been influenced by both Romanesque art and Hindu sculpture, as his career progress his work developed along more and more abstract lines. By the late 1930s, his figural work had become very angular, stressing sharp lines and large volumes. His pieces created following World War II were even more abstract, his later ones having altogether abandoned figural reference.
Like many of the sculptors of his day Cashwan was endowed with both the skills and the opportunity to work with architects and create architectural sculpture. Buildings adorned by his hand can be found in both Lansing, Michigan and Detroit.
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