William Ordway Partridge

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Template:Short description Template:Other peopleTemplate:Use American English Template:Use mdy datesTemplate:Infobox artist

William Ordway Partridge (April 11, 1861 – May 22, 1930) was an American sculptor, teacher and author. Among his best-known works are the Shakespeare Monument in Chicago, the equestrian statue of General Grant in Brooklyn, the Pietà at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan, and the Pocahontas statue in Jamestown, Virginia.

Life and career

He was born in Paris, the younger son of George Sidney Partridge, Jr. and Helen Derby Catlin.<ref name="20th">"William Ordway Partridge," The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Volume 8 (Boston: The Biographical Society, 1904).</ref> His father was the Paris representative for the New York City department store A.T. Stewart.<ref name="20th"/> His mother was a cousin of the painter George Catlin.<ref name="20th"/> His brother, Sidney Catlin Partridge, became a bishop of the Episcopal Church.<ref name="20th"/>

Education

File:W.O. Partridge signature.jpg

Partridge's family returned to New York City in 1868, and enrolled him in Cheshire Academy in Connecticut, followed by Adelphi Academy in Brooklyn.<ref name="20th"/> He entered Columbia University in autumn 1881, but had to withdraw because of poor health.<ref name="PAFA"/> He traveled to Europe in 1882,<ref name="20th"/> and studied in Florence in the studio of Fortunato Galli,<ref name="PAFA"/> where he became friends with the young Bernard Berenson.<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica 1911: 'William Ordway Partridge"; Smithsonian American Art Museum</ref> Although he never formally enrolled at the Ecole de Beaux-Arts, he audited classes there in autumn 1883, and studied briefly in the Paris studio of sculptor Antonin Mercié.<ref name="PAFA"/> He returned to New York City in Spring 1884, and enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.<ref name="PAFA"/> He appeared in a New York City production of David Copperfield,<ref name="20th"/> and moved to Boston, where he supported himself by giving dramatic readings of Shakespeare and the Romantic poets.<ref name="PAFA"/> He continued to sculpt, and received encouragement in this from his cousin, the sculptor John Rogers.<ref name="PAFA"/>

In 1887, he married Augusta Merriam, a wealthy widow from Milton, Massachusetts, who was 15 years older.<ref name="PAFA"/> They traveled to Europe that year, where he studied briefly in the Paris studio of painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau. There he formed a close friendship with the neo-Gothic architect Ralph Adams Cram.<ref>Douglass Shand-Tucci, Boston Bohemia, 1881–1900: Ralph Adams Cram: Life and Architecture (University of Massachusetts Press) 1996:59.</ref> The couple moved to Rome, where he studied in the studio of Polish sculptor Pio Welonski.<ref name="PAFA"/> They returned to Milton, Massachusetts in 1889, where he established his own studio.<ref name="PAFA"/>

Sculptures

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File:LincolnParkWilliamShakespeare.jpg
Shakespeare Monument (1894), Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois
File:Grant in Grant Square jeh.jpg
General Ulysses S. Grant (1896), Grant Square, Brooklyn, New York City
File:Tomb of James Smithson in Italy B.jpg
Partridge's bronze memorial tablet (1896), at James Smithson's gravesite in Genoa, Italy, 1897.
File:NYC - St. Patrick's Cathedral - Pieta.jpg
Pietà (1905), St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City

Partridge created two larger-than-life bronze statues of Alexander Hamilton, executed 15 years apart. The first was commissioned by the Hamilton Club of Brooklyn, installed in front of the club's headquarters in Brooklyn Heights, and dedicated on October 4, 1893.<ref name="Hamilton 1892">Alexander Hamilton (1892) from SIRIS.</ref> For months before and after that dedication, Partridge's full-size plaster model of Hamilton was on exhibition at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.<ref name="Hamilton 1892"/> The bronze statue stood in Brooklyn until 1936, when it was relocated to The Grange, Hamilton's country house in northern Manhattan.<ref name="Hamilton 1892"/> The second Hamilton statue was commissioned by the Alumni Association of Columbia College [now University].<ref name="Hamilton 1908"/> It was installed on campus in front of Hamilton Hall, and dedicated on May 27, 1908.<ref name="Hamilton 1908">Alexander Hamilton (1908) from SIRIS.</ref> Both Hamilton statues stand in northern Manhattan, less than Template:Cvt apart.

In 1890, Partridge won a national competition to create a statue of William Shakespeare for Chicago, Illinois.<ref name="PAFA"/> He returned to Paris, where he set up a studio to work on the project.<ref name="PAFA"/> He exhibited his full-size plaster model of Shakespeare at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago,<ref name="PAFA"/> along with nine other works.Template:Efn His bronze Shakespeare was installed in Lincoln Park the following spring, and dedicated on April 23, 1894, the Bard's 330th birthday.<ref name="Shakespeare"/> Partridge wrote a sonnet for its dedication.Template:Efn

The Equestrian Statue of General Ulysses S. Grant (1895–1896) was Partridge's most colossal work. Commissioned by the Union League Club of Brooklyn, it was installed in the center of Bedford Avenue, in front of the Club's headquarters, and dedicated on April 27, 1896.<ref name="Grant">Grant Monument from SIRIS.</ref> The bronze horse and rider are approximately Template:Cvt in height, and stand upon a granite pedestal approximately Template:Cvt in height.<ref name="Grant"/>

A bequest from Englishman James Smithson (Template:Circa–1829) funded the creation of the Smithsonian Institution. Partridge was commissioned in 1896 to create a bronze memorial tablet commemorating that bequest for Smithson's gravesite in Genoa, Italy.Template:Efn He based his relief portrait of Smithson on an 1817 relief portrait taken from life by Pierre-Joseph Tiolier (formerly attributed to Antonio Canova).<ref>James Smithson Medallion from Smithsonian Institution.</ref> Partridge initially made two casts of the bronze tablet, one for the gravesite and the other for the nearby Protestant Chapel of the Holy Spirit.<ref name="Tomb">Tomb of James Smithson in Italy from Smithsonian Institution.</ref> He made a third bronze cast in 1898 for Smithson's alma mater, Pembrook College, University of Oxford. The gravesite's bronze tablet was stolen, and the chapel's bronze tablet was used as a model for a marble copy, that was installed at the gravesite in 1900.<ref name="Tomb"/> Upon learning that the Genoa cemetery was to be destroyed for the expansion of an adjacent quarry, Alexander Graham Bell, a member of the Smithsonian's Board of Regents, proposed that Smithson's remains be brought to the United States.<ref name=grave>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1904, Smithson's remains and grave monument were relocated to the Crypt of the Smithsonian's Castle Building in Washington, D.C.<ref name=grave/> The 1900 marble copy of Partridge's tablet was part of that move.<ref name="Tomb"/> The Chapel of the Holy Spirit was destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II. A marble copy of Partridge's tablet was carved in 1963, and stands today at the site of the chapel.<ref name="Tomb"/>

Partridge's most famous religious work is the larger-than-life Pietà he created for St. Patrick's Cathedral, Manhattan. The dead Christ is collapsed before a seated Mary, who cradles his face with her hand. Critic Robert Burns Wilson wrote a sensitive appreciation of the work.Template:Efn Carved from white Carrara marble, Pietà is located in the Ambulatory behind the High Altar.<ref name="Pieta"/>

The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities commissioned Partridge to create a larger-than-life bronze statue of Pocahontas, the Native American princess, for the 1907 Jamestown Exposition in Norfolk, Virginia.<ref name="Pocahontas"/> The exposition commemorated the 300th anniversary of the founding of the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Pocahontus stood in front of the Administration Building for the exposition, and APVA later loaned the statue to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.<ref name="Pocahontas"/> APVA donated the statue to Jamestown, where it was re-dedicated on June 3, 1922.<ref name="Pocahontas"/> Queen Elizabeth II visited Jamestown in 1957 for the 350th anniversary, and was charmed by the statue. Her reaction inspired a posthumous replica to be cast, which was presented by the Governor of Virginia as a gift to the British people. Dedicated on October 5, 1958, the bronze replica was installed outside St. George's, Gravesend, the English church in which Pocahontas had been interred in 1617.<ref>Pocahontas from St. George's, Gravesend.</ref>

Teacher

Partridge lectured at the National Social Science Association, the Concord School of Philosophy, and the Brooklyn Institute.<ref name="20th"/> From 1897 to 1903, he lectured at what is now George Washington University, in Washington, D.C.,<ref name="20th"/> and went on to lecture at Stanford University in California.

He wrote a manual on sculpting: Technique of Sculpture (1895).

Partridge's studio was at 15 West 38th Street, Manhattan. Lee Lawrie was among his studio assistants.

Personal

Partridge and Augusta Merriam had a daughter together, also named Augusta (d. 1916). The couple divorced in 1904.<ref name="PAFA"/>

On June 14, 1905 he married the poet Margaret Ridgely Schott.<ref name="Works"/>Template:Rp They had a daughter together, also named Margaret.Template:Efn

Partridge died in Manhattan, New York City, on May 22, 1930.

Selected works

Major commissions

File:Pocahontas at jamestown.jpg
Pocahontas (ca.1906), Jamestown, Virginia
  • Bust of Charles H. Hackley (1890). Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, Michigan.
  • Alexander Hamilton (1892),<ref>Inscribed 1892 on base.</ref> Hamilton Grange, Manhattan, New York City. Commissioned by the Hamilton Club of Brooklyn, the plaster of this was exhibited at Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition,<ref name="WCE" /> and the bronze stood in front of the Club's Brooklyn Heights building from 1893 to 1936. It was then relocated to the grounds of The Grange, Hamilton's country house in Manhattan.<ref>Dianne Durante, "Alexander Hamilton"</ref>
  • William Shakespeare Monument (1893), Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois<ref name="Shakespeare">William Shakespeare from SIRIS.</ref>
  • Equestrian statue of General Ulysses S. Grant (bronze, 1896), Grant Square, Bedford Avenue & Dean Street, Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York City. Commissioned by the Union Club of Brooklyn, and unveiled April 27, 1896.
  • John Reece Monument (bronze, 1896), Forest Hills Cemetery, Boston, Massachusetts<ref>John Reece Monument from SIRIS.</ref>
  • Adin Ballou Memorial (bronze, 1900), Hopewell, Massachusetts<ref>Adin Ballou Memorial from SIRIS.</ref>
  • Christalan (marble, 1900), Spencer Trask Memorial, Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, New York.<ref name="Christalan">Christalan from SIRIS.</ref> "Christalan" was the tile character of Katrina Trask's epic poem about a teenage boy apprenticed to a knight.<ref name="Christalan"/> The author and her husband commissioned the sculpture as a memorial to their four children, who all died young.<ref name="Christalan"/>
  • Jordan Font (marble, Template:Circa1904), Baptistery, National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.Template:Efn
  • Pietà (white marble, 1905), Ambulatory, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Manhattan, New York City.<ref name="Pieta">Federal Writers' Project, New York City Guide, Volume 1 (U.S. History Publishers, 1939), p. 345.</ref>
  • Pocahontas (bronze, Template:Circa1906), Jamestown, Virginia<ref name="Pocahontas">Pocahontas from SIRIS.</ref>
    • A posthumous 1958 cast of Pocahontas stands near her gravesite at St. George's Church, Gravesend, England.
  • Nathan Hale (bronze, 1907), Nathan Hale Park, Summit & Portland Avenues, St. Paul, Minnesota<ref>Nathan Hale from SIRIS.</ref>Template:Efn
    • The commission for a Nathan Hale statue at Yale University went to sculptor Bela Pratt.
  • Alexander Hamilton (bronze, 1908), Hamilton Hall, Columbia University, Manhattan, New York City<ref>Template:Cite morningside</ref>
  • Joseph Pulitzer Memorial (1913). Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York City<ref>Public Art in The Bronx Template:Webarchive/</ref>
  • Thomas Jefferson (bronze, 1914), Pulitzer Hall, Columbia University, Manhattan, New York City
  • Horace Greeley Memorial (bronze, 1914), Sawmill Parkway, Chappaqua, New York<ref>Horace Greeley Memorial from SIRIS.</ref>
  • Memory (marble, 1914), Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York.<ref>Memory from Memorial Art Gallery.</ref><ref>Seeing America: Painting and Sculpture from the Memorial Art Gallery 44</ref> The sculpture's base features a bas relief bust of James G. Avrell,<ref>Relief bust of James G. Averell from Memorial Art Gallery.</ref> in whose memory the art gallery was founded.<ref>Memory from SIRIS.</ref>
  • Samuel H. Kauffman Memorial (marble & bronze, Template:Circa1921), Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D.C. A bronze figure seated on a granite exedra, with 7 bronze bas-relief panels depicting Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Samuel J. Tilden (bronze, 1926), Riverside Drive at 112th Street, Manhattan, New York City
  • Paris Gibson (bronze, Template:Circa1928), Gibson Park, Great Falls, Montana<ref>Paris Gibson from SIRIS.</ref>
  • Lion Gardiner (bronze, 1930), Fort Saybrook Monument Park, Old Saybrook, Connecticut.<ref name="Gardiner">Lion Gardiner from SIRIS.</ref> Inscription: "In Memory of Lion Gardiner, Builder and Commander of Saybrook Fort, 1635 — 1639."<ref name="Gardiner"/> This sculpture was Partridge's last major work.<ref name="Gardiner"/>

Portrait busts

  • Nearing Home (plaster, 1887), original unlocated.<ref name="Works"/>Template:Rp This bust of a 101-year-old woman was Partridge's first popular success.Template:Efn
    • Nearing Home (marble, 1892), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.<ref>Nearing Home from SIRIS.</ref><ref>Nearing Home from SAAM.</ref> Exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.<ref name="WCE"/>
  • Bust of Benjamin Franklin (bronze, Template:Circa1891), The Franklin Trust Company, Brooklyn, New York City<ref name="Works"/>Template:Rp
  • Bust of Reverend Edward Everett Hale (bronze, 1891), Union League Club of Chicago, Illinois<ref>Bust of Edward Everett Hale from SIRIS.</ref> Exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.<ref name="WCE"/>
    • Replicas at Brooklyn Museum, Cosmos Club (Washington, D.C.), and elsewhere.<ref name="Works"/>Template:Rp
  • Madonna in Her Maturity (marble, 1892), Dayton Arts Institute, Dayton, Ohio. Exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.<ref name="WCE"/>
    • A marble replica is at Brooklyn Museum<ref>A Madonna from Brooklyn Museum.</ref>
  • Bust of William Wood (bronze, 1895), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania<ref>William Wood from SIRIS.</ref>
  • Head of Peace (marble, Template:Circa1898), Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan, New York City
  • Bust of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (bronze, by 1899), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.<ref>Alfred, Lord Tennyson from SAAM.</ref>
  • Bust of Percy Bysshe Shelly (plaster, 1899), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.<ref>Bust of Shelly from SAAM.</ref>
  • Bust of Admiral Robert E. Peary (bronze, Template:Circa1899), Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine<ref>Admiral Peary from SIRIS.</ref>
  • Bust of George Washington (bronze, Template:Circa1900), Metropolitan Republican Club, Manhattan, New York City<ref name="Works"/>Template:Rp
  • Bust of Captain William Clark (bronze, 1903-1904), William Clark Memorial, Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri<ref>William Clark Memorial from SIRIS.</ref>
  • Bust of William Colford Schermerhorn (bronze, 1904), Schermerhorn Hall, Columbia University, Manhattan, New York City<ref name="Works"/>Template:Rp
  • Bust of Sarah Baker Hester (marble, 1905), Brooklyn Museum, New York City<ref>Sarah Baker Hester from Brooklyn Museum.</ref>
  • Bust of Abraham Lincoln (bronze, 1906), Lincoln Club of New York City<ref name="Works"/>Template:Rp
  • Bust of Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell (marble, 1910), College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania<ref name="Works"/>Template:Rp
  • Bust of Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary (bronze, 1912), Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine<ref>Robert E. Peary from SIRIS.</ref>
  • Bust of Chief-Justice Melville W. Fuller (marble, 1914), United States Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C.<ref>Melville W. Fuller from SIRIS.</ref>
  • Bust of John Howard Van Amringe (bronze, 1917-1918), Van Amringe Memorial, Columbia University, Manhattan, New York City
  • Bust of Theodore Roosevelt (bronze, 1919), Metropolitan Republican Club, Manhattan, New York City<ref name="Works"/>Template:Rp<ref>Theodore Roosevelt bust from AskArt.</ref>

Bas reliefs

  • Midsummer Night's Dream (marble, 1892), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.<ref name="WCE"/>
  • Head of Garrick Mallery (bronze, 1898), Mallery Monument, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia<ref>Garrick Mallery from SIRIS.</ref>
  • James Smithson Memorial Tablet (bronze, 1896), Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.<ref name="Works">Partridge, William Ordway, The Works in Sculpture of William Ordway Partridge, M.A., John Lane Company, New York, 1914.</ref>Template:Rp Created for Smithson's gravesite in Genoa, Italy, the bronze original was stolen, and replaced in 1900 with a marble copy.
    • An 1896 bronze replica was given to the Chapel of the Holy Spirit, Genoa, Italy. This was destroyed during World War II, and replaced in 1963 with a marble copy.
    • An 1898 bronze replica was given Smithson's alma mater, Pembroke College, University of Oxford, England.<ref>James Smithson memorial plaque from Art UK.</ref>
  • 8 panels from the life of Christ (marble, 1902-1904), Jordan Font, National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.<ref>Bishop of Washington, "The Font for the Washington Cathedral," The Churchman vol. 89, no. 3 (July 18, 1903), pp. 79-82.[1]</ref>
  • Elias Boudinot Memorial Tablet (bronze, 1903), Nassau Hall, Princeton University, New Jersey<ref name="Works"/>Template:Rp
  • The Last Supper (marble, 1907), Church of the Epiphany (over altar), Washington, D.C.<ref name="Works"/>Template:Rp
  • Head of Abraham Lincoln (bronze, 1909), Lincoln Memorial, Nay Org Park, Scranton, Pennsylvania<ref>Lincoln Memorial from SIRIS.</ref>
  • 24 "Hours of the Day" panels (bronze, 1914), Class of 1885 Sundial, College Walk, Columbia University, Manhattan, New York City. The sundial was designed by Charles Follen McKim, of McKim, Mead & White, and featured a 16-ton green granite sphere that cast a shadow on a circular dial. The sphere cracked and was removed in the 1940s. Only the dial's base, encircled by Partridge's decorative panels, survives.<ref>David Xia, "Where Is the Sundial?" Columbia Spectator, October 18, 2006.[2]</ref>
  • Mother and Children (bronze, 1915), Charles T. How Memorial, Woodbury Park, Bar Harbor, Maine<ref>Charles T. How Memorial from SIRIS.</ref>
  • Anne's Tablet (bronze, 1916), Constance Fenimore Woolson Memorial, Mackinac Island State Park, Mackinac Island, Michigan

Other works

Writings

Partridge's published writings include articles on aesthetics, books on art history, and a manual on sculpting. He published two volumes of poetry, and three verse novels:<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

  • Poetry:
    • The Song-Life of a Sculptor (1894)
    • Sonnets and Lyrics (1902)
  • Fiction:
    • The Angel of Clay (1900)
    • Nathan Hale: The Ideal Patriot (1902)
    • The Czar's Gift (1906)
  • Non-Fiction:
    • Art for America (1894)
    • Technique of Sculpture (1895)
    • The Works in Sculpture of William Ordway Partridge (1914)
  • Articles and lectures:
    • "Goethe as a Playwright," in F. B. Sanborn, ed., The Life and Genius of Goethe (Boston: Ticknor and Company, 1886)[3]
    • "The True Education and the False," The Arena (magazine), vol. 9, no. 50 (January, 1894), Boston, MA[4]
    • "Thomas Ball," The New England Magazine, vol. 12, no. 3 (May 1895)
    • "John Rogers, The People's Sculptor," The New England Magazine, vol. 13, no. 6 (February 1896)
    • "The Relation of Art to Religion," The Arena (magazine), vol. 17, no. 85 (December 1896), Boston, MA[5]
    • "Sculpture in Its Relation to Architecture," lecture given at the 33rd Annual Convention, American Institute of Architects, Philadelphia, November 1900
    • "Greek versus Modern Sculpture," Brush and Pencil (magazine), vol. 16, November 1905, [6]

Affiliations

Notes

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References

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