Bessie Callender

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Bessie Callender

Bessie Stough Callender (born July 31, 1889 in Wichita (Kansas) , United States of America , † June 26, 1951 in New York , United States of America) was an American sculptor who mainly made animal figures, but also statuettes in the style of Art déco created.

Life

The artist was the daughter of John Stough and his wife Caroline Louise, née Eckert. She spent most of her childhood on a farm, where she developed an early interest in animals. After marrying Harold Callender, a journalist employed by the New York Times , they both moved to New York in the early 1920s , where they studied drawing with George Bridgman at the Art Students League of New York and the Cooper Union .

She accompanied her husband when he was transferred to Paris in 1926 , where she studied with the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière . Later Callender was a student of the animal sculptor Georges Hilbert for three years , under whose care she began sculpting animal motifs. At least one of her works in the Art Deco style, the semi -nude Anita , was handcrafted by the Parisian foundry Edmond Etling in chryselephantine processing. In 1930 the couple moved to London, where they lived for about a decade.

Callender often modeled from living animals. She studied animals in the Paris Jardin des Plantes and the London Zoo . She made sketches and studies out of plasticine until she believed she had grasped the “spirit of the creature”. She then began designing in stone, and it could take up to a year to refine a single piece. Her works with highly polished surfaces are influenced by Egyptian sculpture. The quality of her exhibits was quickly recognized when she repeated her works at the salons of the Société des Artistes Indépendants and the Salon of the Société du Salon d'Automne in Paris, the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool as well exhibited at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts .

Cancer later prevented Callender from continuing her job. After her death in 1951 at the age of 62, her husband donated seven of her sculptures to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC

Works (selection)

  • Guinea Hen , ca.1929
  • Antelope , 1929
  • Baboon , ca.1930
  • Ram , ca.1930
  • Torso , ca.1930
  • Falcon , 1937
  • Anita , before 1940

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b James Terry White: The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography White 1967, p. 13.
  2. ^ Falcon (unfinished). In: Smithsonian American Art Museum
  3. ↑ a b c d Charlotte Streifer Rubinstein: American women sculptors. A history of women working in three dimensions. GK Hall, Boston 1990. ISBN 0-81618-732-0 , pp. 291, 292.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Alberto Shayo : Statuettes art deco period. Antique Collectors Club Art Books, 2016. ISBN 1-85149-824-9 . P. 63.
  5. ↑ a b c d Bessie Stough Callender. In: Smithsonian American Art Museum
  6. ^ Emmanuel Bénézit : Dictionary of Artists , Volume 2, entry Callender, Bessie Stough . ISBN 978-0-19977-378-7 , 1976, p. 462.
  7. ↑ Bessie Callender, Wildlife Sculptor. In: New York Times, June 27, 1951, p. 29.
  8. ↑ a b c d e f Search Collections: Bessie Callender .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Smithsonian American Art Museum.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / americanart.si.edu  
personal data
SURNAME Callender, Bessie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Callender, Bessie Stough; Stough, Bessie (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sculptress
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Wichita (Kansas) , United States of America
DATE OF DEATH June 26, 1951
Place of death New York , United States of America