Donald De Lue

The Boy Scout Memorial, Washington D.C., 1963

Donald Harcourt De Lue (October 5, 1897, Boston, Massachusetts – August 26, 1988, Leonardo, New Jersey) was an American sculptor known for several prominent public monuments.^[1]

Biography

De Lue studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and later served as an assistant to sculptors Richard Recchia and Robert P.Baker. This was followed by five years in Paris where he continued his study, while working as an assistant to various French artists. He returned to the United States where he was engaged by Bryant Baker.

In 1941, De Lue won a competition to create sculpture for the Philadelphia Post Office and from then on he stopped being an assistant for other artists and only worked on his own commissions and creations.

De Lue's works can be found in many museums across America. Like many other sculptors of his generation, De Lue executed several architectural works. He was also a prolific designer of medals and medallions.

De Lue taught at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York City during the early 1940s. In 1960 he won two Henry Hering Awards, given by the National Sculpture Society for outstanding collaboration between a sculptor and an architect for his Omaha Beach Memorial in Normandy, France and for the Stations of the Cross at the Loyola Jesuit Seminary in Shrub Oak, New York.

In 1967, De Lue won the American Numismatic Society J. Sanford Saltus Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Art of the Medal known as the Saltus Award.

In his later years Donald and his wife Naomi (who served as a model for many De Lue statues) lived in Leonardo, New Jersey, a small shore town with a bayside beach and long-distance view of lower Manhattan. De Lue cited the 23rd Psalm and the words "He leadeth me beside the still waters..." as the inspiration by which he arrived in Leonardo from New York City. Although he continued to maintain his NYC apartment, it was in his Leonardo studio that many of his largest statues were made. One of the last was a commission by a private individual intended for the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. The bigger-than-life statue of Bowie, Travis and Crockett was considered "too violent" by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas for placement in a sacred chapel. A compromise was sought, that the statue be installed outside the building in the large courtyard rather than inside. DeLue and his patron, a wealthy Texan, preferred the statue be installed in the interior space for which it was made. Unfortunately, the impasse was never resolved in De Lue's lifetime.

Donald and Naomi De Lue are buried in Old Bridge, New Jersey.

Public monuments

• Triton Fountain,^[2] Federal Reserve Bank Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1941
• Harvey Firestone Memorial, Akron, Ohio, 1950
• Spirit of American Youth,^[3] figures of France and America and urns, U.S. Battle Monument, St. Laurent, Normandy, France, 1953-1956
• George Washington as a Mason,^[4] New Orleans, Louisiana 1960, Wallingford, Connecticut 1965, Detroit, Michigan 1966, Alexandria, Virginia 1966, Lansing, Michigan 1982, Indianapolis, Indiana 1987, Flushing, New York
• Boy Scout Memorial,^{[5] [6]} Washington, DC, 1963
• Rocket Thrower,^[7] Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, New York City, 1964
• Special Warfare Memorial Statue ("Bronze Bruce") at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 1968
• The Mountaineer,^[8] West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, 1971
• Louisiana State Monument,^[9] Gettysburg Battlefield, 1971
• Mississippi State Monument,^[10] Gettysburg Battlefield, 1973
• Thomas Jefferson,^[11] Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas, 1975
• Quest Eternal,^[12] Boston Prudential Center, 1967

Comprehensive List of Public Monuments by Donald De Lue at www.sculptor.org ^[13]

Architectural sculpture

• Alchemist, University of Pennsylvania, Chemistry Building, 1940
• Eagles, United States Court House, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1941
• Law and Justice, Post Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1941

Images

• 

  Louisiana Memorial

• 

  detail, Louisiana Memorial

• 

  Mississippi Memorial

Further reading

• Goode, James M. The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. 1974
• Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, Architectural Sculpture in America, unpublished manuscript
• Nishiura, Elizabeth, editor, American Battle Monuments: A Guide to Military Cemeteries and Monuments Maintained By the American Battle Monuments Commission, Omnigraphics Inc., Detroit, Michigan 1989
• Proske, Beatrice Gilman, Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture, Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina, 1968

External links

References

1. ^ Howlett, D. Roger, The Sculpture of Donald De Lue: Gods, Prophets and Heroes, David R. Godine, Publisher, Boston, 1990
2. ^ Statue of Triton by Donald De Lue, 1941, Federal Reserve Bank Building, Philadelphia
3. ^ Spirit of American Youth by Donald De Lue, 1953-1956, at the U.S. Battle Monument, St. Laurent, Normandy, France
4. ^ View of George Washington as a Mason by Donald De Lue, 1960, installed in Detroit 1966
5. ^ Statue / Monument of Boy Scout Memorial in Washington DC by Sculptor Donald DeLue, 1963
6. ^ Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog, item IAS 76009553
7. ^ Rocket Thrower by Donald De Lue, 1964, at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, New York City
8. ^ The Mountaineer by Donald De Lue, 1971, on the campus of West Virginia University, Morgantown
9. ^ Louisiana State Monument at Gettysburg National Military Park by Donald De Lue, 1971
10. ^ Mississippi State Monument at Gettysburg National Military Park by Donald De Lue, 1973
11. ^ Thomas Jefferson by Donald De Lue, 1975, at Wichita State University, Kansas
12. ^ Quest Eternal
13. ^ Comprehensive List of Public Monuments by Donald De Lue

Persondata
Name	De Lue, Donald
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 5, 1897
Place of birth
Date of death	August 26, 1988
Place of death