Katharine Lane Weems

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Katharine Lane Weems (around 1915)

Katharine Lane Weems , née Katharine Ward Lane, (born February 22, 1899 in Boston , Massachusetts , † 1989 ) was an American sculptor who was known for her realistic depictions of animals.

Career

Katharine Lane Weems, the only child of Emma Louise Gildersleeve and Gardiner Martin Lane, was born in Boston in 1899. She received extensive training typical of rich women in her class. Her father was President of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and her grandfather was the classical philologist Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve . Weems was named after her aunt Katharine Ward Lane († 1893), who was a watercolor painter. She also decided to embark on a career as an artist. She studied art at the Boston Museum School under Charles Grafly and George Demetrios , and in the summer studios ofAnna Hyatt Huntington . Like many female artists of the time, Weems was often exposed to hostility because of her gender. However, she received support from two prominent artists of the time: Huntington and Brenda Putnam , who both worked in New York.

In 1925 she was elected to the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors . She won two medals in 1926: a bronze medal at the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exposition and the George D. Widener Memorial Gold Medal from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts . Weems sat on the Massachusetts Arts Commission between 1941 and 1947 . She married Carrington Weems in 1947. In the following period she continued to exhibit her works under Katharine Ward Lane and Katharine Lane Weems. She was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1952. Her works include the Lotta Fountain on Boston Esplanade Plaza (1939) and the six dolphins outside the New England Aquarium ( Dolphins of the Sea, 1977). Several of her sculptures can be found at the Boston Athenæum . Her records are archived at Harvard University .

Works at Harvard University

Weems' works are found in many public places in the Boston area today. Her biggest project was making sculptures for Harvard University's Biological Laboratories in the early 1930s. With a $ 12 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation , the laboratories were state-of-the-art. It was therefore decided that such a lavish facility should also be furnished with art of the same value. In this context, Weems was selected to carry out a number of projects.

First she made the bronze doors decorated with reliefs at the entrance to the laboratories, today the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB).

Next, she made a range of Frisians with over 30 species of wildlife. Reliefs of animals were carved into the brick on top of the buildings with pneumatic drills. She combined the realistic and the Art Deco styles and relied on a large group of construction workers to carry out the project. The Great Depression made it possible to carry out this project on a larger scale than would otherwise have been the case. Wages were low, workers were plentiful, and raw materials were cheaper. In preparation for this project, she studied animals at the Bronx Zoo in New York City as well as Japanese and Chinese treatments of animals, especially those from the graves of the Han Dynasty . She has also studied ancient Egyptian and Indian artistic representations of animals.

The third part of the project at Biological Laboratories turned out to be the most popular: Bessie and Victoria, two rhinoceros sculptures made of bronze and weighing three tons each. You are in the yard of the MCB. Weems worked on them for five years and finally revealed them on May 12, 1937.

From 2003 to 2005, they were removed from the farm to protect them from possible damage from work on Harvard's new mouse research facility.

On May 11, 2007, the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology held a birthday party for Bessie and Victoria. Speakers included Edward O. Wilson , John Woodland Hastings and Deborah Dluhy . The two rhinos were adorned with make-up, jewelry and skirts for the festival.

Awards and honors

  • 1926: Bronze Medal at the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exposition
  • 1926: Widener Medal at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
  • 1965: Creation of a permanent gallery at the Boston Museum of Science showing their small bronze animals
  • 1987: Creation of the Katharine Lane Weems Chair in Decorative Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
  • Boston Athenæum's Katharine Lane Weems Print Fund

Collections

  • Museum of Fine Arts in Boston,
  • Brook Green Gardens in South Carolina,
  • The Pennsylvania Academy,
  • The Baltimore Museum,
  • Museum of Science, Boston
  • Boston Athenæum

gallery

  • Circus Horse, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

  • Lotta Fountain, Boston

  • A chiseled brick frieze on the Harvard University campus

  • Rhino sculptures Bessie and Victoria at the Biological Sciences Building at Harvard University - first sculpture

  • Bessie and Victoria rhinoceros sculptures at Harvard University's Biological Sciences Building - second sculpture

literature

  • Weems, Katharine Lane: Odds were against me: A Memoir , Edward Weeks, New York: Vantage Press, 1985
  • Ambler, Louise Todd: Katharine Lane Weems: Sculpture and Drawings , Boston: Bostan Athenaeum, 1987
  • From Clay to Bronze, Harvard Film Service, 1930
  • Ingham, Travis: Makes Her Way to Top as Sculptress, reproduction from Boston Sunday Herald in The Breeze, Manchester, New Hampshire, February, 1932
  • Schmidt, Carl: The Return of the Rhinos, MCB News
  • Uekermann, Kristen: Rhinos Bessie and Victoria Celebrate 70 Years, MCB News

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Katharine Lane Weems on the askART website
  2. ↑ Katharine Lane Weems on the Archives of American Art website
  3. ↑ Members: Katharine Lane Weems. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed May 2, 2019 .
  4. ^ A b c d Schmidt, Charlie: The Return of the Rhinos , Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, March 19, 2005
  5. ↑ Ambler, 1987, pp. 31-33
  6. ↑ a b Uekermann, Kristen: Rhinos Bessie and Victoria Celebrate 70 Years , Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, May 4, 2007
  7. ^ Katharine Lane Weems Print Fund , Boston Athenæum
personal data
SURNAME Weems, Katharine Lane
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lane, Katharine Ward (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sculptress
DATE OF BIRTH February 22, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH 1989