Charles Cary Rumsey

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Pizarro monument in Trujillo
Arch of the Manhattan Bridge with Rumsey's Buffalo Hunting Frieze

Charles Cary Rumsey (born August 29, 1879 in Buffalo , New York , † September 21, 1922 at Glen Head , Long Island , New York) was an American sculptor .

Life

Rumsey was a son of the railroad magnate Laurenzo (Laurence) Dana Rumsey and Jennie Cary Rumsey, and a nephew of the sculptor Seward Cary . He had four siblings, including the future painter Evelyn Rumsey Lord . An uncle, George Cary , was an architect, Evelyn Rumsey Cary, his aunt, painted The Spirit of Niagara , which served as the template for the poster for the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. At this exhibition Rumsey was represented with the figure of an Indian.

In 1893 Rumsey began a two-year stay in Paris , where Rumsey tested his artistic talents under the guidance of Paul Wayland Bartlett , then he returned to Buffalo and then studied at Harvard University until 1902 . He then completed his artistic training at the Boston Art School with Bela Lyon Pratt and in Paris; Emmanuel Frémiet was one of his teachers .

As a passionate rider, polo player and horse lover, he mainly created three-dimensional horse and rider portraits. While riding, he met his future wife Mary (née Harriman, 1881-1934), a sister of William Averell and E. Roland Harriman, around 1906 after he returned to the USA . Their father EH Harriman commissioned him to design a well for one of his properties in Arden. Rumsey created a pan shape with a leopard for this fountain . He then received further orders from the family, after which a fountain with the Three Graces was built.

Among other things, he should also represent Mary, the eldest daughter of the house, together with her favorite horse. Although the young people grew closer to each other at the sessions over this work of art, a bas-relief , the news of their engagement surprised society. It was widely believed that Mary Harriman would marry the rich Robert Walton Goelet.

Charles Cary Rumsey fought in the First World War . Many of his works were destroyed in the fire at the National Academy of Design in 1919.

In 1921 a heated argument arose over The Pagan , a female figure that Charles Cary Rumsey had submitted to the "American Salon" to be held in the south wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art . The jury initially rejected the work of art as obscene. The Pagan was supposed to represent a Bolshevik woman. In the New York Times , the statue was described as a "study of brawn and fat, bulging muscles, obtuse angles, lumpy curves, with thick outward layers of flesh in rolls and creases".

A year and a half later, the sculptor was killed in a car accident. He had originally wanted to take the train from Roslyn home to Wheatley Hills , but then met his friend Irving Hare and invited him and his fiancée to his home for dinner. It was then decided to drive the rest of the way from Forest Hills in Hare's car. At a railway bridge on Tulip Avenue, a dreaded accident black spot, Hare's car had a flat tire, skid, hit another vehicle and then hit the stone bridge. Rumsey's skull was shattered in the process; he died a few minutes after the accident. In 1987, a scaled-down reproduction of the Three Graces Fountain was placed in Forest Lawn Cemetery, where Rumsey is buried.

Works and aftermath

Rumsey created, among other things, a frieze with Indians, buffalos and horses on the arch of the Manhattan Bridge in New York in 1916 , the equestrian statue of a dying Indian that ended up in the Brooklyn Museum , and the soldiers and sailors memorial in Brooklyn . His equestrian monument, Francisco Pizarros, was erected in Trujillo . He created the figures of the Brownsville Memorial in Brooklyn in 1921 in Art Deco style .

In 1927 an exhibition of his works was organized. The Rumsey Prize for Sculpture named after him is awarded annually. The Burchfield-Penney Art Center in Buffalo houses numerous works by the artist; in front of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery there is one of his Pizarro figures and in front of the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society Museum is his figure of a centaur .

literature

Web links

Commons : Charles Cary Rumsey  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b A Young Sculptor Wins EH Harriman's Daughter. In: The New York Times. May 8, 1910 ( query.nytimes.com ).
  2. ^ A b Charles C. Rumsey Dies in Auto Crash on Jericho Turnpike. In: The New York Times. September 22, 1922 ( query.nytimes.com ).
  3. ↑ a b c d Bio - Charles Cary Rumsey on buffaloah.com
  4. ^ A b Charles Cary Rumsey at burchfieldpenney.org
  5. ↑ Nude Figure Wins after Court Move. In: The New York Times. March 22, 1921 ( query.nytimes.com ).
personal data
SURNAME Rumsey, Charles Cary
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Buffalo , New York
DATE OF DEATH September 21, 1922
Place of death at Glen Head , Long Island , New York