John Quincy Adams Ward

John Quincy Adams Ward

(c.1900)
Born June 29, 1830 (1830-06-29)
Urbana, Ohio
Died May 1, 1910 (1910-05-02) (aged 79)
New York City
Nationality American
Known for Sculpture
Not to be confused with John Quincy Adams.

John Quincy Adams Ward (June 29, 1830 – May 1, 1910) was an American sculptor, who is most familiar for his over-lifesize standing statue of George Washington on the steps of Federal Hall on Wall Street.

Early years

He was born in Urbana, Ohio, a city that had been founded by his grandfather Col. William Ward. He went to live with his sister in Brooklyn, New York, where he trained under the well-established sculptor Henry Kirke Brown, who carved "J.Q.A. Ward, asst." on his equestrian monument of George Washington in Union Square. His younger brother was the artist, Edgar Melville Ward. Ward went to Washington in 1857, where he made a name for himself with portrait busts of men in public life. In 1861 he worked for the Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts, providing models for decorative objects including gilt-bronze sword hilts for the Union Army.[1] Ames also was one of the largest brass, bronze and iron foundries in the US.[2]

Ward set up a studio in New York City in 1861 and was elected to the National Academy of Design the following year; he was their president till 1874. In 1882 a new New York studio on 52nd Street was designed for him by his friend, Richard Morris Hunt who was to collaborate with him on many projects over the years.

Ward was married three times.

Career

Nineteenth-century American commissions for sculpture were largely confined to portrait busts and monuments, where Ward was preeminent in his generation. Sculptors also made a living selling bronze reductions of their public works; Ward made use of new galvanoplastic duplicating techniques; many of Ward's reductions and galvanoplastic and die-stamped relief panels survive.

In 1903, with the collaboration of Paul Wayland Bartlett, he made the models for the marble pediment sculptures for the New York Stock Exchange. The pediment was carved by the Piccirilli Brothers.

Ward was a founder and president of the National Sculpture Society (1893–1904) and president of the National Academy of Design (1874). He was one of the first trustees in 1897 for the American Academy in Rome.[3]

He died at his home in New York City in 1910.[4] A copy of his Indian Hunter stands at his gravesite in Urbana,[5] and his Urbana home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[6] His sketchbooks are conserved at the Albany Institute of History & Art.

Public sculpture

Gallery


Integrity Protecting the Works of Man on the pediment of the New York Stock Exchange Building, Integrity, in the center, wears the winged cap of Mercury, the god of commerce. The figures on her left represent mining and agriculture, and on her right, industry. The original pediment, carved from Georgia marble, weighed 90 tons, but time and pollution wore away at it, and in 1936 it was replaced by a copper and lead replica which weighs 10 tons.[9]

References

Notes

  1. Sharp, Lewis I., John Quincy Adams Ward: Dean of American Sculpture, University of Delaware Press, Newark, NJ, 1985 p. 40
  2. Ames Sword Company history
  3. "Finding Aid". American Academy in Rome records, 1855-[ca.1981], (bulk dates 1894-1946). Archives of American Art. 2011. Retrieved 17 Jun 2011.
  4. American Art Annual, Volume 8. MacMillan Company. 1911. p. 402.
  5. Ohio Outdoor Sculpture Inventory.
  6. Staff (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  7. The bronze is signed J.Q.A. WARD 1869
  8. "William Shakespeare statue". New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. 2007-02-12. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  9. Nevius, Michelle and Nevius, James. Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City. New York: Free Press, 2009. ISBN 141658997X pp.187-188

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Quincy Adams Ward.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Ward, John Quincy Adams.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, April 10, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.