Showing posts with label American Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Art. Show all posts

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Penguins - Albert Laessle


We just learned about the John Dill - Herbert Haseltine.

Another famous American statue is Penguins by Albert Laessle, made in 1917 in Philadelphia.

Laessle was born in 1877 in Philadelphia, and went to college to learn about art.
When he was 27 he moved to Paris to study art with some other masters.

He was famous for making sculptures of animals, like his bronze Penguins sculpture which is at the Philadelphia zoo.


(from: wikipedia - albert laessle)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Trà Kiệu Pedestal

Saturday, May 9, 2020

John Dill - Herbert Haseltine


We just learned about the Meat for Wild Men by Charles Marion Russell.

Another famous American statue is John Dill by Herbert Haseltine, made in 1950 in Virginia.

Haseltine was born in Italy, then studied art in America, Germany and Paris.

He was very good at sculpting many animals, but he was best at making horse, or "equestrian" sculptures.

John Dill was a famous war hero from Britain, who was very important in helping the United States and Britain work together in World War II.


(from: wikipedia - herbert haseltine)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Borobudur

Saturday, May 2, 2020

Meat for Wild Men - Charles Marion Russell


We just learned about the sculpture Patience and Fortitude - Edward Clark Potter.

Another famous American sculpture is Meat for Wild Men made by Charles Marion Russell in 1920.

Russell was born in Missouri in 1864 Missouri.
Growing up he would see explorers coming through town and really liked everything about the wild west.
He would draw pictures and make sculptures of what he saw.

When he grew up he moved to Montana where he worked on a sheep ranch, then as a hunter and trapper, lived with Native Americans, and even worked as a cowboy.

Because he spent time in the west watching animals, cowboys, and Native Americans he knew them very well and started making very good paintings and sculptures of them.

He made over 2,000 of these types of paintings, and was nicknamed "The Cowboy Artist".

The sculpture he made called Meat for Wild Men is supposed to be a bunch of cowboys hunting a buffalo.


(from: wikipedia - charles marion russell)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Banteay Srei Sculptures

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Patience and Fortitude - Edward Clark Potter


We just learned about the On the Prowl - Edward Kemeys.

Another famous American sculpture is Patience and Fortitude made by Edward Clark Potter in 1910.

Potter was born in Connecticut in 1857, and grew up in Massachusetts.
He started off going to college to be a minister, but then later studied to be an artist.

He worked with famous artist Daniel Chester French where he learned about animal studies, and when he was 53 he made the sculpture of two lions out of pink Tennessee marble that are outside the front of the New York public library.

He named the lions Leo Astor and Leo Lenox for the private libraries that are inside the library.
During the Great Depression, the mayor of New York said that the people there were showing great Patience and Fortitude, so they renamed the lions to Patience and Fortitude to honor the people that lived through the Depression.



(from: wikipedia - edward clark potter)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Taj Mahal

Saturday, April 18, 2020

On the Prowl - Edward Kemeys


We just learned about the Great Spirit - Cyrus Edwin Dallin.

Another famous American sculpture is On the Prowl made by Edward Kemeys in 1893.

Kemeys was born in Georgia, and then later moved to New York.
He served in the civil war when he was 19 years old.

When he was in New York and Paris he learned to be a very good sculptor of animals.

He made two large bronze lions called "On the Prowl", and these sculptures are now in the front of the Art Institute of Chicago.


(from: wikipedia - lions (kemeys))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jama Masjid

Saturday, April 11, 2020

Appeal to the Great Spirit - Cyrus Edwin Dallin


We just learned about the Bucky O'Neill Monument by Solon Borglum.

Another famous American sculpture is the Appeal to the Great Spirit made by Cyrus Edwin Dallin, in 1908 in Boston.

This statue is made out of bronze, and is about 10 feet tall.
Dallin was born in Utah where there were a lot of Native Americans.
He grew up with them and learned a lot about their lives, and that helped him understand a little about the way they lived.

Later when he moved to Boston he learned about sculpture and went on to make a lot of very famous sculptures about Native Americans.

He made a group of 4 statues called "The Epic of the Indian", each with it's own name.

- A signal of Peace - A Native American man showing that he wants peace.
- The Medicine Man - A Native American medicine man.
- Protest of the Sioux - A Sioux warrior shaking his fist in the air, angry that his lands and buffalo are being stolen.
- Appeal to the Great Spirit - a Native American on horseback facing skyward, asking for help from the Great Spirit.





(from: wikipedia - appeal to the great spirit)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Chola Nataraja

Saturday, April 4, 2020

Bucky O'Neill Monument - Solon Borglum


We just learned about the sculpture of Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Riders by Alexander Proctor.

Another famous American sculpture is Bucky O'Neill Monument by Solon Borglum in 1907.

Borglum was born in 1868, and grew up in Western states like Utah and Nevada.
He moved all over the country to study and make art, living in Nebraska, Missouri, California, Ohio, Connecticut, South Dakota, New York and even France.
Bucky O'Neill was one of the Rough Riders that fought in the Spanish American war with president Teddy Roosevelt.
He died in battle and was considered a hero by many people, so they made this statue of him in Prescott Arizona.


(from: wikipedia - bucky o'neill monument)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Ajanta Caves

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Rider - Alexander Phimister Proctor


We just learned about the sculpture of Bronco Buster by Frederic Remington.

Another famous American sculpture is Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Rider made by Alexander Phimister Proctor in Portland Oregon in 1922.

Theodore Roosevelt was President of the US and a member of a group of people called the Rough Riders who were soldiers on horses.
The statue is 12 feet tall and 9 feet long and made of bronze.

The sculptor Proctor grew up in the West traveling around in the wild and learning to paint and study animals.
Because he knew animals so well he was one of the most famous sculptors of animals in America, and sometimes he would get asked to sculpt a horse while someone else sculpted the rider.


(from: wikipedia - theodore roosevelt, rough rider)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Sanchi Stupa

Saturday, March 21, 2020

The Bronco Buster - Frederic Remington


We just learned about the statue of Abraham Lincoln by Daniel Chester French.

Another famous American sculpture is The Bronco Buster by Frederic Remington, made in 1895.

Remington was born in New York in 1861.
He grew up learning to hunt and ride horses, and his father wanted him to be in the military like his family.
Frederic wanted to be an artist instead, so he learned to paint and sculpt at Yale University.

He really liked the cowboys and Native Americans from the south and west, so he traveled out to see a lot of them and then started to make paintings and sculptures of them.
One of his most famous sculptures is called the Bronco Buster.

This was a bronze sculpture of a cowboy fighting to control a wild bronco who is standing up and trying to get him to fly off.

It was so popular that it was given as a gift to president Theodore Roosevelt.


(from: wikipedia - the bronco buster)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Mshatta Facade

Saturday, March 14, 2020

Abraham Lincoln - Daniel Chester French


We just learned about the statue of Nathan Hale by Frederick William MacMonnies.

Another famous American sculpture is the statue of Abraham Lincoln made by Daniel Chester French in 1920.

French was born in New Hampshire, but later moved to Massachussets where he met some famous artists and was training how to sculpt.
He later went to Florence Italy to help learn from other famous sculptors.

Through his life he made a few other sculptures of Abraham Lincoln that people really liked, so he was chosen to make the most famous statue of Lincoln in Washington D.C.

He started the sculpture in 1914, and it took him 6 years to finish.
The statue is 30 feet tall, is made of 28 blocks of marble, and weighs 170 tons.

Lincoln is sitting in a chair, staring straight ahead looking serious.
There is an American flag over the sides and back of the chair.


(from: wikipedia - abraham lincoln (lincoln memorial))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Khajuraho Group of Monuments

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Nathan Hale - Frederick William MacMonnies


We just learned about the sculpture of Standing Lincoln by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Another famous American statue is the sculpture of Nathan Hale by Frederick William MacMonnies in 1893.

MacMonnies was born in New York in 1863, and when he was 17 he started working with the famous artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens and became friends with him.

After a few years he went to Paris to study sculpture, and even opened his own art studio there.
He was one of the few American artists who was famous both in America and Paris.

When he was 30 years old he got a job in New York to make a big statue of Nathan Hale, who was a famous hero from the American Revolution.

It is about eight feet tall and made of Bronze, made in France and then brought over to America.


(from: wikipedia - nathan hale (statue))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Mukteshvara Temple

Saturday, February 29, 2020

Standing Lincoln - Augustus Saint-Gaudens


We just learned about the statue of Charles Sumner by Anne Whitney.

Another famous American statue is Standing Lincoln made by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1887 in Chicago.

Saint-Gaudens was born in Ireland in 1848, but moved to New York when he was a baby.
Growing up he learned about sculpture, and when he was 19 he moved to Paris and Rome to learn more about art.

He came back to American and in his adult life became very famous for making sculptors of Civil War heroes like Abraham Lincoln or Robert Gould Shaw.

His Standing Lincoln statue of Abraham Lincoln in Chicago is one of his most famous.
It is sometimes called "Abraham Lincoln: The Man" and is 12 feet tall made of bronze.

Many people say it is the most important sculpture of Lincoln from this time, and shows him rising from a chair about to give a speech.
Saint-Gaudens was at Lincoln's inauguration when he became president, and also at his funeral.
He really liked Lincoln a lot, and tried his best to make a statue that would stand for a long time honoring Lincoln.

It was such a famous statue in Chicago that famous people like Jane Addams would walk to the statue sometimes to look at it and be inspired by Lincoln's life.


(from: wikipedia - abraham lincoln: the man)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Konark Sun Temple

Saturday, February 22, 2020

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

Saturday, February 15, 2020

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

Saturday, February 8, 2020

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

Saturday, February 1, 2020

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

Saturday, January 25, 2020

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

Saturday, January 18, 2020

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

Saturday, January 11, 2020

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

Saturday, January 4, 2020

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