Bryant Baker | |
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![]() portrait by Sidney Edward Dickinson | |
Born | Percy Bryant Baker July 8, 1881 |
Died | March 29, 1970 | (aged 88)
Nationality | British American |
Education | City and Guild Technical Institute Royal Academy of Arts |
Known for | Sculpture |
Notable work | Pioneer Woman; L'Apres-Midi d'un Faune; George Washington, Mason |
Percy Bryant Baker (July 8, 1881 – March 29, 1970) better known as Bryant Baker, was a British-born American sculptor. He sculpted a number of busts of famous Americans (including five presidents). In 1910, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom commissioned him to create a bust of King Edward VII.
Life and career
[edit]Baker was born on July 8, 1881, in London, United Kingdom, to John Baker, a sculptor.[1] His father and his sculptor grandfather both worked on wood and stone carvings at Westminster Abbey.[2] His brother was Robert P. Baker, also a sculptor of note.[3] He became an apprentice sculptor under his father, and carved Gothic statues for Beverley Minster and decorative elements for the Victoria and Albert Museum.[1] He studied art and sculpting at the City and Guild Technical Institute and later at the Royal Academy of Arts.[4] He graduated from the latter in 1910.[5]
In 1910, Queen Alexandra commissioned him to sculpt a bust of Edward VII.[6] She was so impressed with his work, that she then commissioned him to design a life-size statue of Edward VII, and later a bust in marble of the nine-year-old Prince Olaf of Norway.[4]
In 1916, Baker emigrated to the United States, where he enlisted in the United States Army. He served during World War I in Army hospitals, crafting artificial limbs and face masks for wounded soldiers.[4] He created a bust of John J. Pershing in 1921 and a bust of Arthur Weimar Thompson, both for the Nebraska Hall of Fame. He became a U.S. citizen in 1923.[2]
In 1928, millionaire Oklahoma oilman E. W. Marland sponsored a $100,000 competition to create a statue honoring pioneering women of the American Old West. Baker won the design competition, and in 1930 his 27-foot (8.2 m) high, 12,000 pounds (5,400 kg) statue, Pioneer Woman, was unveiled in Ponca City, Oklahoma. It became his best-known work.[4] In 1957, Baker was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full member in 1959.[citation needed]
Baker never married. In his final years, Baker lived in The Gainsborough high-rise apartment building at 222 West 59th Street in New York City. He died of unspecified causes at St. Barnabas Hospital in The Bronx on March 29, 1970.[4] He was cremated, and his ashes interred at St. Peter's Church in Fordcombe, Kent, England.[7]
Shortly after his death, the contents of his New York studio were purchased and moved to the E. W. Marland Mansion in Ponca City.[citation needed] The mansion is now known as the Ponca City Cultural Center, and Baker's studio and copies of many of his works are on display there.[citation needed]
Baker was a Freemason, and belonged to the Constitutional Lodge No. 294 at Beverley, Yorkshire, England.[5]
Notable works
[edit]- Pioneer Woman, 1930, Ponca City, Oklahoma, 27 feet (8.2 m) tall
- Portrait plaque of Stephen Tyng Mather, 1930, with castings in dozens of U.S. National Park Service areas
- Grover Cleveland, 1932, Buffalo, New York, monumental sized
- Millard Fillmore, 1932, Buffalo, New York, monumental sized
- L'Apres-Midi d'un Faune, 1934, Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina
- John M. Clayton, 1934, National Statuary Hall Collection, Washington D.C. (for Delaware)
- Caesar Rodney, 1934, National Statuary Hall Collection, Washington D.C. (for Delaware)
- Abraham Lincoln Statue, 1935, Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York[8]
- Bust of Cordell Hull, 1943, OAS Aztec Garden, Washington, D.C. (see also: List of public art in Ward 2)
- William Borah, 1947, National Statuary Hall Collection, Washington D.C. (for Idaho)
- George Washington, 1950, George Washington Masonic National Memorial, Alexandria, Virginia
- William C. Gorgas, 1954, Mobile County Health Department, Mobile, AL
- Charles Penrose, 1956, formerly in the Newcomen Society of the United States
- Bust of Sir Winston Churchill, 1958, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution[9]
- Bust of Herbert Hoover - Université libre de Bruxelles - Archives, patrimoine, réserve précieuse
According to the Smithsonian Institution, several copies of Baker's works can be found at the Ponca City Cultural Center in Ponca City, Oklahoma.[10]
Gallery
[edit]-
Millard Fillmore, Buffalo City Hall, Buffalo, New York, 1930
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Abraham Lincoln, Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York, 1935
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William Borah, Washington, D.C., 1947
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Artist's Signature, 1954
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Charles Penrose, 1956
References
[edit]- ^ a b Proske 1968, p. 236.
- ^ a b Gay & Evert 1983, p. 390.
- ^ National Sculpture Society 1929, p. 20.
- ^ a b c d e "Bryant Baker, Sculptor, Dies". The New York Times. March 31, 1970. p. A41.
- ^ a b Denslow 1957, p. 47.
- ^ Brown 1980, p. 74.
- ^ Sworder, John (October 2011). "St Peters Church". FordcombeVillage.co.uk. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
- ^ "Abraham Lincoln Statue". Buffalo as an Architectural Museum. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
- ^ "Bust of Sir Winston Churchill Unveiled." The Milwaukee Journal. May 31, 1958.
- ^ "Baker, Bryant, 1881-1970, sculptor." Smithsonian Institution Research Information System. Smithsonian American Art Museum. 2011. Accessed 2012-04-01.
Bibliography
[edit]- Brown, William Adrian (1980). History of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, 1922-1974: Half Century of Construction. Washington, D.C.: George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association.
- Denslow, William R. (1957). 10,000 Famous Freemasons. Trenton, Mo.: Missouri Lodge of Research.
- Gay, Vernon; Evert, Marilyn (1983). Discovering Pittsburgh's Sculpture. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 9780822934677.
- National Sculpture Society (1929). Contemporary American Sculpture: The California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Lincoln Park, San Francisco. New York: Press of the Kalkhoff Company.
- Proske, Beatrice Gilman (1968). Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture. Murrells Inlet, S.C.: Brookgreen Gardens.