The Willing Captive - Chauncey Ives

We just learned about the Clasped Hands of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning by Harriet Hosmer.

Another The Willing Captive by Chauncey Ives in 1886.

Ives was born in Connecticut, and when he was a teenager he started learning how be a sculptor.
After a few jobs he moved to Italy to learn from other masters there.

In 1886 he made a sculpture of a young woman who was captured by Native Americans. After staying with the Natives for a while, her mother came to take her back, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to stay with the Natives or go back to her mother.

There are true stories like these where Natives would capture young girls and raise them as their own, and sometimes the girls would decide to stay with the Natives instead of going back home.


(from: wikipedia - chauncey ives)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Indus Valley Civilization

Clasped Hands of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning - Hosmer

We just learned about the statue of Doctor John Witherspoon by American sculptor William Couper.

Another American sculpture is Clasped Hands of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning made by Harriet Hosmer in 1853 in Washington D.C.

Harriet Hosmer was known as the first professional female sculptor.
During her time women were not allowed to go to art school, so she had to get private lessons to learn.
After she grew up she moved to Italy where she met a lot of other famous artists.

Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning were both very famous poets back in the 1800s, and they lived in Rome Italy.
Harriet Hosmer met them and saw how they were in love with each other, so she made a sculpture of their hands together.

Harriet had to work very hard to be good at art because many people did not think women could or should be artists.

After she was successful, she told people: "I honor every woman who has strength enough to step outside the beaten path when she feels that her walk lies in another; strength enough to stand up and be laughed at, if necessary.".


(from: wikipedia - )


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: George Washington - Horatio Greenough

Doctor John Witherspoon - Couper

We just learned about the Statue of Charles Sumner by Thomas Ball.

Another famous American sculpture is the statue of Doctor John Witherspoon by William Couper, at Washington DC in 1909 AD.

John Witherspoon was a minister in the Presbyterian church, and one of the people that signed the famous Declaration of Independence.

The sculptor William Couper grew up in Virginia, and then went to Munich Germany and Florence Italy to learn from some of the famous sculptors in Europe for 22 years.

He married Eliza Chickering Ball, who was the daughter of another famous American sculptor named Thomas Ball.


(from: wikipedia - doctor john witherspoon)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Wooden Buddha - Enkū

Statue of Charles Sumner - Thomas Ball

We just learned about the The Rescue - Horatio Greenough.

Another famous American statue is the Statue of Charles Sumner made by Thomas Ball in 1878 in Boston Massachusetts.

Charles Sumner was a politician who fought against slavery in America.

The sculptor Thomas Ball started off in music, singing and playing the violin.
Later he started painting, and then he moved to Florence Italy to study art.
He stayed there for a while and would make sculptures and have them sent back to America.


(from: wikipedia - statue of charles sumner (boston))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Noh Masks

The Rescue - Horatio Greenough

We just learned about the Statue of Freedom by Thomas Crawford.

Another famous American sculpture is The Rescue by Horatio Greenough in 1850, built to be by the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.

In the early years of America, there were many wars between the American settlers and the Native Americans.

This statue shows a scared American pioneer woman holding her child, and a Native American warrior holding a tomahawk.
A large pioneer man is holding on to the Native American to keep him from attacking the woman, but also trying not to hurt the Native American.

In those days people were afraid of Native Americans and thought they were just savages that only wanted to kill Americans and did not know anything about the world like books or science or church.

So this statue was a way to show that the powerful Americans would come in and stop the Natives from killing people, and also help teach them how to be smart and good like Americans.

After the wars with the Native Americans were over, people looked at this statue again and did not like it anymore, because people felt differently about the past.

Many Native Americans were killed in the wars, and all of the land was taken over by Americans.
So when people looked at this statue they saw it as an American being cruel to the Native Americans.

In 1958 the statue was removed from the Capitol and put into storage, and later on in 1976 when it was being moved it was dropped and broken into many pieces.


(from: wikipedia - the rescue (statue))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Great Buddha of Kmakura

Statue of Freedom - Thomas Crawford

We just learned about the Benjamin Franklin by Hiram Powers.

Another famous American sculpture is the Statue of Freedom by Thomas Crawford in 1857 AD.

This is a 20 foot tall bronze statue of a woman holding a sword, a wreath for victory and the shield of the United States.
She has a helmet with stars on it and an eagle's head with feathers.

The statue is on top of the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.


(from: wikipedia - statue of freedom)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Sahasrabhuja-arya-avalokiteśvara - Tankei

Benjamin Franklin - Hiram Powers

We just learned about the Water Nymph and Bitterna.

Another work of American sculpture is the sculpture of Benjamin Franklin by Hiram Powers.

Hiram grew up in Vermont and Ohio, where he learned how to do some sculpture.
When he grew up he moved to Washington D.C. to get better jobs and get noticed for his sculpture, and made sculptures of some of the American heroes like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.

Most of the very famous sculptors of that time were living in Italy, where there were a lot more places to make the art, and it was also a lot easier to get the marble and other things he needed to use.

So Powers moved to Florence, Italy and would make some sculptures there and send them back to America.


(from: wikipedia - hiram powers)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Seated Yuima - Jōkei

Water Nymph and Bitterna - William Rush

We just learned about the Chacmool statue of the person laying down.

Let's learn about some sculpture from America long ago.

In the early 1800s there were not a lot of famous sculptures until William Rush came along.

His first famous sculpture was the Water Nymph and Bittern.

In the city of Philadelphia Pennsylvania, there was a river called the Schuylkill River that brought water into the city.
William Rush was asked to make a fountain for the city, so he made one of a woman and called her the water nymph, to be like a spirit that was living in the river that brought water to the city.
A bittern is a type of bird that lived around the river.


(from: wikipedia - william rush and his model)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Amitabha Triad of Jōdo-ji - Kaikei