With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Paul Wayland Bartlett
Sculpture
1865 – 1925
Bartlett was a renowned sculptor whose work adorns the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford and is installed on the Green in Waterbury.
- Biography/Description of Work
Paul Wayland Bartlett grew up in New Haven and Waterbury. His father, Truman H. Bartlett, was a sculptor, art critic, and teacher who taught for many years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Paul moved to Paris, where, at the age of 14, he exhibited a bust of his grandmother at the Paris Salon, and the next year began attending the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. By 1918, Bartlett was chairman of New York’s committee on war memorials, President of the National Sculpture Society and member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1925 Bartlett died of blood poisoning after he accidentally cut his arm during a fishing trip. Among his noted sculptures are the Marquis de Lafayette statue located at the entrance of the Louvre in Paris, the Blackstone statue in London, statues of puritans found on the Connecticut State Capitol, six statues on the façade of the New York Public Library, and the Marquis de Lafayette statue in Hartford. The Lafayette statue in Hartford was created from the original plaster model that Bartlett had given to the State of Connecticut in the early 1900s.
- Sources view
- City of Waterbury, Famous Waterbury Landmarks accessed 5/30/2014 at http://www.waterburyct.org/content/9586/9599/9602.aspx; Lancaster, Frank H. & Birmingham, Ernest F.; The Fourth Estate: A Weekly Newspaper for Publishers, Advertisers, Advertising Agents, and Allied Interests; Fourth Estate Publishing Company; 1921 accessed 5/30/2014 at http://books.google.com
Franklin to be Honored by a Memorial – April 2, 1921
Ben Franklin’s Statue at Home in Waterbury Unveiled – June 11, 1921; National Museum of Wildlife Art of the United States; Artists, Paul Wayland Bartlett accessed 5/30/2014 at http://www.wildlifeart.org/collection/artists/artist-paul-wayland-bartlett-455/; Silas Bronson Library; Waterbury Hall of Fame; Paul Wayland Bartlett accessed 5/30/2014 at http://www.bronsonlibrary.org/content/1521/1545/default.aspx; Smithsonian Institution; Archives of American Art; Paul Wayland Bartlett Papers accessed 5/30/2014 at http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/paul-wayland-bartlett-papers-646 - Associated Resource(s)