William Walcutt

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Oliver Hazard Perry (marble, 1860), Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial.

William Walcutt (April 28, 1819, Columbus, Ohio – April 22, 1882, New York City) was an American painter and sculptor, best remembered for the Perry Monument in Cleveland, Ohio.[1]

Biography

He studied in London in 1852, followed by two years in Paris studying painting with Adolphe Yvon and sculpture at the École Impériale et Spéciale des Beaux-Arts. He returned to the United States in 1854, and opened a studio in New York City.[2]

His most famous work is the Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry Monument (1860), that originally stood in the Public Square in Cleveland, Ohio.[3] The monument was relocated several times, and since 1991 has stood in Fort Huntington Park, beside the Cuyahoga County Courthouse.[4] His weathered marble statue of Perry was replaced with a bronze copy in 1928. A second bronze copy stands outside the Rhode Island Statehouse, in Providence, Rhode Island.[5] The original marble is now displayed inside the visitor center at the Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial in Put-in-Bay, Ohio.[6] Walcutt's statue appears on the 2013 "Perry's Victory" quarter.[7]

His 1857 historical painting, Pulling Down the Statue of George III, is in the collection of Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.[8][9] Portraits of Taft family members by him are at the William Howard Taft National Historic Site in Cincinnati, Ohio.[10][11][12]

A Neoclassical statue by him, Musidora (marble, 1868), is in the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. He may have modeled the original statue – possibly copied from a European source – for The Boy with the Boot, a zinc fountain sculpture that was patented in 1875 by J. L. Mott Iron Works of New York City. Mott mass-produced the statue into the 1910s (as The Unfortunate Boot); and other manufacturers continued production into the 1950s.[13] The example in Sandusky, Ohio, moved inside the City Building following vandalism in the 1990s, is credited to Walcutt.[14]

Walcutt's papers are at the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution.[15]

  • Perry Monument (1860), Public Square, Cleveland, Ohio.
    Perry Monument (1860), Public Square, Cleveland, Ohio.
  • Musidora (marble, 1868), High Museum of Art.
    Musidora (marble, 1868), High Museum of Art.
  • The Boy with the Boot (c.1875).
    The Boy with the Boot (c.1875).

References

  1. ^ William Walcutt, from AskArt.
  2. ^ Inauguration, p. 126.
  3. ^ "Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry Historical Marker".
  4. ^ Perry Monument, from The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.
  5. ^ Oliver Hazard Perry, (sculpture), from SIRIS.
  6. ^ Perry's Victory & International Peace Memorial, from Touring Ohio.
  7. ^ Perry's Victory quarter, from United States Mint.
  8. ^ Pulling Down the Statue of George III, from SIRIS.
  9. ^ Pulling Down the Statue of George III, from Lafayette College.
  10. ^ Alphonzo Taft, (painting), from SIRIS.
  11. ^ Louise M. Taft, (painting), from SIRIS.
  12. ^ Peter Rawson Taft, (painting), from SIRIS.
  13. ^ Grissom, Carol (2009). "Boy with Leaky Boot". Zinc Sculpture in America: 1850–1950. Associated University Presses. pp. 330–333. ISBN 9780874130317. Retrieved 12 April 2016. Lists 33 current or former locations of the statue in the United States.
  14. ^ Boy with the Boot (sculpture), from SIRIS.
  15. ^ William Walcutt Papers, from Smithsonian Institution.

Sources

External links