Adolph Alexander Weinman

Adolph Alexander Weinman
Adolph Weinman, circa 1917.
Born	December 11, 1870(1870-12-11) Karlsruhe, Germany
Died	August 8, 1952(1952-08-08) (aged 81) Port Chester, New York
Nationality	German/American
Field	Sculpture
Training	Cooper Union Art Students League of New York

Adolph Alexander Weinman (December 11, 1870 – August 8, 1952) was an American sculptor and architectural sculptor, born in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Biography

Bas-relief portrait of Weinman (1915) by Anthony de Francisci.

Weinman arrived in the United States at the age of 10. At the age of 15, he attended evening classes at Cooper Union and later studied at the Art Students League of New York with sculptors Augustus St. Gaudens and Philip Martiny. He later served as an assistant to Charles Niehaus, Olin Warner, and Daniel Chester French. Weinman opened his own studio in 1904.^[1] Although Weinman is now best known as a medalist, when he once was introduced as such he vehemently denied being one and said that he was an architectural sculptor.^[2] His steadiest income was derived from, the sale of small bronze reductions of his larger works, such as Descending Night, originally commissioned for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, 1915 ^[3]

Weinman was a member of the National Sculpture Society, of which he was president from 1927 to 1930. He was also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Academy of Design, and the New York City Art Commission, among other organizations.^[1] He died in Port Chester, New York, on August 8, 1952.

Work

Despite his objections, Weinman is still best remembered as the designer of the Walking Liberty Half Dollar (a design now used for the obverse of the American Silver Eagle one-ounce bullion coin) and the "Mercury" dime along with various medals for the Armed Services of the United States. Among these are the identical reverses of the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and the American Campaign Medal. Weinman was one of many sculptors and artists who employed Audrey Munson as a model.

As an architectural sculptor, Weinman's work can be found on the Wisconsin, Missouri, and Louisiana state capitol buildings. He became the sculptor of choice for the architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White and designed sculpture for their Manhattan Municipal Building, Madison Square Presbyterian Church (demolished), Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument, and Pennsylvania Railway Station (demolished), all in New York City. A photograph of one of his angels in a landfill in New Jersey is one of the saddest reminders of the destruction of Penn Station in 1966, but two of his eagles were retained as trophies outside the entrance to the new subterranean Penn Station.^[4] Elsewhere he created the dramatic frieze on the Elks National Veterans Memorial in Chicago and executed sculpture for the Post Office Department Building, the Jefferson Memorial, and the interior of the U.S. Supreme Court, all in Washington, D.C.

Weinman's non-architectural works include the Macomb and the Maybury monuments in Detroit.^[5] Another example of his non-architectural work is his Abraham Lincoln Statue (Kentucky) located in the center of Hodgenville, Kentucky.

Weinman was one of 250 sculptors who exhibited in the 3rd Sculpture International held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the summer of 1949.

Weinman's works are mostly in a sort of lyrical neoclassical style. His figures typically are found wearing Greco-Roman clothing, but there is a fluidity found in his work that is a harbinger of the Art Deco style that was to follow him. His bronze statuette The Nude Golfer epitomizes this style. This work evokes the Greco-Roman style in its attention to anatomy and movement and the nude status of the athlete while the subject, a modern golfer, provides a modern twist in that it is a unique subject for the style at hand.^[6]

Selected works

Mercury Dime (1916). More than 2 billion Mercury dimes were minted before it was replaced by the Roosevelt dime in1946.^[7]

• Architectural sculpture (1903-04), Pennsylvania Station (New York City), McKim, Mead and White, architects, (demolished 1964). Salvaged pieces of statuary survive in multiple locations.
• The Four Continents: Europe, Africa, Asia, America (1903-07), four sculpture groups, Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, New York City, Cass Gilbert, architect.
• Architectural sculpture (1904-06), Madison Square Presbyterian Church, New York City, McKim, Mead and White, architects, (demolished 1919).
• General Alexander Macomb (1906-08), Detroit, Michigan.^[8][5][9]
• Architectural sculpture (1908), Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument, Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, New York City, McKim, Mead and White, architects.
• Union Soldiers and Sailors Monument (1909), Wyman Park, Baltimore, Maryland.
• Abraham Lincoln (1909), Hodgenville, Kentucky. A replica of this is at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• Samuel Rea (1910), Pennsylvania Station, New York City.
• Abraham Lincoln (1911), Kentucky State Capitol, Lexington, Kentucky.
• Masonic Sphinxes: Power and Wisdom (1911-15), House of the Temple, Washington, D.C., John Russell Pope, architect.
• William Cotter Maybury Memorial (1912), Grand Circus Park, Detroit, Michigan.
• Architectural sculpture (1913-15), Manhattan Municipal Building, New York City, McKim, Mead and White, architects.
• Descending Night (1914-15), Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California.
• Walking Liberty Half Dollar (1916). Replaced by the Franklin Half Dollar (1948). Weinman's carving is now used as the obverse of the American Silver Eagle coin.
• Mercury Dime (1916). Replaced by the Roosevelt Dime (1946).
• Architectural sculpture (1924-26), Elks National Veterans Memorial, Chicago, Illinois.
• Architectural sculpture: South Pediment (ca. 1926), Missouri State Capitol, Jefferson City, Missouri.
• Fountain of the Centaurs (ca. 1926), Missouri State Capitol, Jefferson City, Missouri.
• Pair of Lions (1929-30), Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland.
• Architectural sculpture: Destiny Pediment (1935), National Archives Building, Washington, D.C.
• Drafting the Declaration of Independence (1939-43), pedimental sculpture, Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C.
• Dewitt Clinton (1941) and Alexander Hamilton (1941), Museum of the City of New York, New York City.
• Riders of the Dawn (ca. 1942), Brookgreen Gardens, Murrell's Inlet, South Carolina.

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  Pennsylvania Station (1903-04), New York City in 1964.

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  Eagle Scout Memorial Fountain (1968), Kansas City, Missouri. Salvaged pieces from Pennsylvania Station (New York City).

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  Eagle, National Zoo, Washington, D.C. Salvaged from Pennsylvania Station (New York City).

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  America (1903-07), Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, New York City.

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  General Alexander Macomb (1906-08), Detroit, Michigan.

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  Eagle (1908), one of four that decorated the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument, Brooklyn, New York City.

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  Union Soldiers and Sailors Monument (1909), Wyman Park, Baltimore, Maryland.

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  Abraham Lincoln (1909), Hodgenville, Kentucky.

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  Samuel Rea (1910), Pennsylvania Station, New York City.

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  Wisdom Sphinx (1911-15), House of the Temple, Washington, D.C.

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  William Cotter Maybury Memorial (1912), Grand Circus Park, Detroit, Michigan.

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  Civic Fame (1913), atop Manhattan Municipal Building, New York City.

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  Descending Night (1914-15), Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California.

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  Walking Liberty Half Dollar (1916). Now used as the obverse of the American Silver Eagle coin.

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  Spandrel figure (1923), First National Bank Building, Davenport, Iowa.

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  The Glory of Peace Frieze (1924-26), Elks National Veterans Memorial, Chicago, Illinois.

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  Fountain of the Centaurs (ca. 1926), Missouri State Capitol, Jefferson City, Missouri.

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  Destiny Pediment (1935), National Archives Building, Washington, D.C.

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  Drafting the Declaration of Independence Pediment (1939-43), Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C.

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  Riders of the Dawn (ca. 1942), Brookgreen Gardens, Murrell's Inlet, South Carolina.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} "About the Adolph A. Weinman Papers". Smithsonian Archives of American Art. http://www.aaa.si.edu/collectionsonline/weinadol/overview.htm. Retrieved March 27, 2010. 
2. ^ Reiter, Ed (January 31, 2000). "The Weinman Legacy–Part 1". PCGS Library. http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article_view.chtml?artid=1932&universeid=313&type=1. Retrieved March 27, 2010. 
3. ^ Descending Night The Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc. no. 1994.501.
4. ^ One is illustrated in Kevin Walsh, Forgotten New York: The Ultimate Urban Explorer's Guide to All Five Boroughs, 2006:169: "Others can be found in Kings Point and Hicksville and as far away as Philadelphia".
5. ^ ^{a b} Zacharias, Pat (September 5, 1999). "The Monuments of Detroit". The Detroit News. http://info.detnews.com/redesign/history/story/historytemplate.cfm?id=165&CFID=11907902&CFTOKEN=64295350. Retrieved March 27, 2010. 
6. ^ "Adolph Alexander Weinman". Fine Art, May 2007. Rago Arts and Auction Center. http://ragoarts.com/lot/40379. 
7. ^ David W. Lange, A Complete Guide Book to Mercury Dimes (Virginia Beach, Va.: DLRC Press, 1993). ISBN 978-1-880731-17-8.
8. ^ "Statue of General Alexander Macomb". January 4, 2009. http://detroit1701.org/MacombStatue.htm. Retrieved March 27, 2010. 
9. ^ Lloyd, Marshall Davies (August 20, 2006). Navarre Arms "Navarre Arms: The Navarres of Meaux and New France". http://www.mlloyd.org/gen/navarre/text/arms.htm Navarre Arms. Retrieved June 17, 2008. 

References

• A Guide to the Architectural Sculpture of America, Kvaran and Lockley, unpublished manuscript

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Adolph Alexander Weinman

• Adolph A. Weinman Papers at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art
• Artist page at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Adolph Weinman - Master Engraver
• A.A. Weinman (1870-1952) at the R. W. Norton Art Gallery