Charles Sumner - Anne Whitney

We just learned about the Abraham Lincoln by Vinnie Ream.

Another famous American sculpture is the statue of Charles Sumner made in 1875 by Anne Whitney.

Anne was born in 1821, and through her life worked hard to be a sculptor.
Through her life she worked hard to fight for women's equal rights, to help save the environment, and to help people see that slavery was bad.

Because she was a woman, people would not let her go to some schools because they thought it was inappropriate for women to make sculptures of men's bodies.

She moved to Rome for a while and learned from some of the master sculptors there, and when she came back she made a statue of Charles Sumner who was famous for being against slavery.

There was a contest in Boston for who could make the best statue, so she sent in her statue of Charles Sumner.

She won the competition, but then when they found out the statue had been made by a woman they turned her away and picked someone else.

Anne Whitney went on to make a lot more sculptures of men and women, using her sculptures to help try and show people that women should be equals, and that slavery is bad.


(from: wikipedia - anne whitney)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rajagopuram

Abraham Lincoln - Vinnie Ream

We just learned about the Angel of the Waters by Emma Stebbins.

Another famous sculpture made by a woman from American history is the statue of Abraham Lincoln made by Lavinia "Vinnie" Ream in 1871.

Vinnie was born in Madison Wisconsin in 1847.

When she was 14 her family moved to Washington D.C. where she got a job at the post office, and as a singer at church.
When she was 16 she got a job as an apprentice for a sculptor, and then when she was 18 President Abraham Lincoln asked her to make a sculpture of him to be used in Washington D.C.

Shew as the youngest artist and first woman to get hired by the US government to make a statue.

She sat with Lincoln every day for a month to try and look at him and make the sculpture as real looking as possible.

Vinnie once said "I think that history is particularly correct in writing Lincoln down as the man of sorrow. The one great, lasting, all-dominating impression that I have always carried of Lincoln has been that of unfathomable sorrow, and it was this that I tried to put into my statue."


(from: wikipedia - vinnie ream)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Elephanta Caves

Angel of the Waters - Emma Stebbins

We just learned about the Forever Free - Edmonia Lewis.

Another famous American sculpture is Angel of the Waters by Emma Stebbins in 1873.

Emma was born in New York in 1815, where her parents helped get her into schools that would teach her to be an artist
When she was 41 years old, she moved to Italy to learn from famous sculptors.

She was the first woman who was paid to do art for New York City, when she made the Angel of the Waters statue, sometimes also called Bethesda Fountain.
This statue is in New York's famous Central Park, and has a big fountain around it, and a big area for people to walk around.

It is an 8 foot tall bronze satue of an angel that is touching the top of the fountain where water is spouting up and around.

There are four small cherubs called Temperance, Purity, Health, and Peace.

This fountain is supposed to be about the story where Jesus healed a man who could not walk who was sitting by a fountain of healing.


(from: wikipedia - bethesda fountain)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Ellora - Jain Caves

Forever Free - Edmonia Lewis

We just learned about the The Woman of Samaria (Rebecca at the Well) - William Henry Rinehart.

Another famous American sculpture is Forever Free by Edmonia Lewis in 1867.

Edmonia was born in New York in 1844, while there was still slavery in America.
Her father was part African and Haitian, and her mother was part African and Native American.

When she grew up in America it was very difficult for her because life was not fair for women, African Americans or Native Americans.
She was not allowed to go to school or get jobs that men or white people were allowed to have.
When she was nine years old, her parents died so she went to Niagara Falls to live for a while with her two aunts that were Native American, and she changed her name to "Wildfire".

When she was 15 she was sent to a school in Ohio where they allowed women and African American people. She was still not treated very nice and at one point some people tried to put her in jail saying that she poisoned some other students. They did not even let her graduate school.

In 1864 when she was 20 years old she moved to Boston and started making sculptures.
The Civil War was going on, so she started making sculptures of Civil War heroes like Robert Gould Shaw.
Later on she saved up enough money to move to Rome where she could work with other famous sculptors.

Her statue called "Forever Free" was made in 1867, just after the Civil War was over.
It shows a man standing up who was in chains but is now free.
A woman is kneeling next to him praying, and she is dressed in nice clothes.
She had the woman in clothes because a lot of sculptures of women at the time had women not wearing much, and she thought that made people only think about what women looked like.

Her sculptures became so famous that President Ulysses S. Grant asked for her to come and make a sculpture of him.


(from: wikipedia - edmonia lewis)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Ellora - Hindu Caves

The Woman of Samaria (Rebecca at the Well) - William Henry Rinehart

We just learned about the sculpture Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument by Randolph Rogers.

Another famous American sculpture is The Woman of Samaria (Rebecca at the Well) made by William Henry Rinehart in 1861 in Washington, D.C.

Rinehart was born in Maryland, and gre up as a farmer working for his father.
He got a job as a stone cutter, and then started learning how to be a sculptor.

When he was 30 years old he moved to Italy to learn from some of the best sculptors in the world.
He made many marble statues and sent them back to America, mostly to Washington D.C. to be put around the nation's capital.


(from: wikipedia - william henry rinehart)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Ellora - Buddhist Caves

Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument - Randolph Rogers

We just learned about the sculpture The Willing Captive - Chauncey Ives.

Another famous work of American sculpture is the Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument by Randolph Rogers in Detroit Michigan, 1867.

Rogers was born in New York, but grew up in Ann Arbor Michigan.
He started off doing most of his sculpture in wood, and then later worked with marble.

When he was about 40 years old he moved to New York City and then Florence Italy to study sculpture.
He didn't really like working with marble, so he would always make his statues out of something else like wood, and then have other marble sculptors make a copy of it in marble for him.

His civil war monument in Detroit is octagon shaped.
On top is a sculpture of a heroic woman called Michigania, or Victory holding a sword and shield.
There are four male sculptures for the Navy, Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery of the Civil War.
Four female sculptures are for Victory, History, Emancipation and Union.
By the bottom are eagles with raised wings, and four plaques with Union generals Lincoln, Grant, Sherman and Farragut.


(from: wikipedia - michigan soldiers' and sailors' monument)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Sanchi Capital of Ashoka

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