American Sculpture, 19th Century
American sculpture of the 19th century is often broken down into three chronological phases.
Early nineteenth century American sculptors looked to Italy for inspiration. In the second quarter of the 19thcentury, beginning in the late 1820s, sculptors traveled to Florence and Rome. Making use of the abundance of quarries and natural resources, and referencing noble collections, works of the Renaissance and Antiquity and contemporary pieces, they carved pieces in marble in the Neoclassical style. Students looked
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American Sculpture, 19th Century
American sculpture of the 19th century is often broken down into three chronological phases.
Early nineteenth century American sculptors looked to Italy for inspiration. In the second quarter of the 19thcentury, beginning in the late 1820s, sculptors traveled to Florence and Rome. Making use of the abundance of quarries and natural resources, and referencing noble collections, works of the Renaissance and Antiquity and contemporary pieces, they carved pieces in marble in the Neoclassical style. Students looked in particular to the Neoclassical works of Antonio Canova and the tradition of romantic classicism or the infusion of naturalism into the classical vein. Although some of the more prominent artists of the movement, such as Horatio Greenough or Hiram Powers, remained abroad, they maintained professional and familial ties with the states and their sculptural pieces were often copied and sent to the US where they gained popularity in public and private collections. During this Italian Period, American women also became active sculptors and established or trained in studios and ex-patriate colonies in Rome and Florence. Notable female sculptors included Harriet Hosmer, Edmonia Lewis and Emma Stebbins.
During the second half of the 19th century, American sculptors began to travel to Paris for study. The ideal forms of Neoclassicism were increasingly super-ceded by the more naturalistic and expressive realism of the Paris-based Beaux Arts aesthetic. Sculptors such as August Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French and John Quincy Adams Ward were influenced by the tutelage of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux and Antoine-Louis Barye.
Whether in the Neoclassical Italianite style, or later Parisian expressive dramatic style, American sculpture of the 19th century depicted a broad range of subject matter. Subjects included: romantic literature, monumental portraiture, Classical mythology, Western imagery and Victorian morality tales. Towards the last quarter of the 19th century, with the increasing bent for dramatic narrative and numerous expeditions out west, depictions of frontier life became particularly popular. This was the beginning of the style of “Western Art” as typified by Frederick Remington and Alexander Phimister Proctor, which continued through the 20th century.
Notable 19th century American sculptors include: Horatio Greenough, Hiram Powers, Thomas Crawford, William Rush, William Henry Rinehart, Chancey Bradley Ives, Randolph Rogers, Harriet Hosmer, Edmonia Lewis, Emma Stebbins, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, John Quincy Adams Ward, Frederick Remington and Alexander Phimister Proctor. (hide)
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