- Edward Clark Potter
Edward Clark Potter (
November 26 ,1857 -June 21 ,1923 ) was an American sculptor.Early years
Born in
New London, Connecticut , he grew up inEnfield, Massachusetts where he lived with his mother Mary and sister Clara. There he went to local schools. At 17, due to his mother's wish that he become a minister, he enteredWilliston Seminary inEasthampton, Massachusetts for four years. He enteredAmherst College inAmherst, Massachusetts in the class of 1882. He only attended for three semesters, but later was granted an honoraryMaster's degree . He studied drawing at theSchool of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston withFrederic Crowninshield andOtto Grundmann . There he also did some modelling with the sculptorTruman H. Bartlett .Career
In 1883 he became an assistant to
Daniel Chester French and concentrated on animal studies and working as a manager and salesman in the quarries.From 1887 to 1889 he studied sculpture at the
Académie Julian inParis withAntonin Mercié andEmmanuel Frémiet , becoming an accomplished "animalier " (animal sculptor). During his years there, he exhibited several pieces at the Salon: small groups of rabbits, a bust of a black man, a sketch from an American Indian group, and a sleeping faun with a rabbit.For the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition inChicago he collaborated with his teacher and friendDaniel Chester French on several of the important sculptures of the exposition. Unfortunately these statues, like most of the architecture of the fair, were made of "staff"; a temporary material ofplaster ,cement , andjute fibers, first used in buildings of the Paris exhibition in 1878.He was elected that year to the
National Sculpture Society .In 1894 he joined the
Society of American Artists which later merged with theNational Academy to which he was elected in 1906.From 1902 on, a native of
Greenwich, Connecticut , he sculpted the memorial toRaynal Bolling there. The Cos Cob section of Greenwich is considered one of the birthplaces of American Impressionism. Potter was a founder and first president of the Greenwich Society of Artists, founded in 1912.Potter won the gold medal at the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904.His most famous work is the 1911 pair of pinkTennessee marble lions at theNew York Public Library carved by the Piccirilli brothers. Potter was recommended for this commission byAugustus Saint-Gaudens . [ [http://www.nypl.org/pr/lions.cfm "The Library Lions"] ] The lions were originally nicknamed Leo Astor and Leo Lenox, for the two private libraries the formed the collection's core, but mayorFiorello La Guardia re-named them for, qualities New Yorkers were showing to weather the Great Depression, "Patience" (on the left or south) and "Fortitude" (on the right or north), and those names have stuck.He died at his summer home in New London, Connecticut.
Extant collaborations with Daniel Chester French
*General
Ulysses S. Grant , Fairmont Park,Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , 1899*General
Joseph Hooker ,Boston, Massachusetts , 1903*
George Washington Memorial, Washington Park,Chicago, Illinois , 1904*Progress of the State Quadriga,
Minnesota State Capitol Building,Cass Gilbert , architect, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1905Works
* [http://www.ci.chi.il.us/WarMemorials/George_washington1.html George Washington, Chicago]
* [http://p.vtourist.com/1/722632.jpgGeorge Washington, Paris]
* [http://www.ushistory.org/districts/fairmountpark/grant.htm U. S. Grant, Phila.]
* [http://www.insecula.com/oeuvre/O0009007.html Lions NYC]
* [http://www.morrisville.edu/library/local_history/sites/slocum-gburg.html General Slocum, Gettysburg]
* [http://www.townofbrooklinemass.com/TownInformation/BrooklinePhotos/17.htm Bugler, Brookline, Mass.]
* [http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/view1zoom.asp?dep=2&zoom=0&full=1&mark=2&item=19%2E127 Sleeping Faun, Met, NYC]
* [http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/images/ANC_surroundings/PAGES/image15.html Philip Kearny, Arlington Cem., D.C.]
* [http://www.historicmonroe.org/h008.htm General Custer, Mich.]
* [http://www.shadeofthecottonwood.com/Pages/gl01.html Governor Austin Blair, Mich.]
* [http://www.senate.gov/vtour/wheel.htm William Wheeler, D.C.]
* [http://www.state.ma.us/statehouse/statues/HOOKER_landing.htm Joseph Hooker, Boston]
* [http://www.chesterwood.org/hidden/sites/site19.html Gen. Chas. Devens, Worcester, Mass.]
* [http://www.loc.gov/jefftour/secondfloor.html Robert Fulton, Library of Congress]
* [http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/1893/1893_bull.jpgStatue of Plenty, 1893 Chicago]
* [http://washingtonmo.com/1893/grandcourt.htm Grand Court, 1893 Chicago]
* [http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/dreamcity/00024020.html Statue of the Republic, 1893, Chicago]
* [http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/dreamcity/00034026.html Statue of Industry, 1893, Chicago]
* [http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/bookfair/1500/00084041.jpgQuadriga, Chicago, 1893]
* [http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/artarch/1500/00154006.jpgQuadriga outriders, 1893, Chicago]
*Progress of the State , 1906, Minn.
*Raynal Bolling , Greenwich, Conn.Notes
External links
* [http://dramamama1.homestead.com/Scripts.html Stone Spirit]
* [http://www.geocities.com/greenwichartsociety1912/ Greenwich Art Society]
* [http://www.nationalsculpture.org/ National Sculpture Society]
* [http://www.smfa.edu/ School of the Museum of Fine Arts]
* [http://www.williston.com/content_page_view.asp?item_id=642 Williston Seminary]
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