Andrew O'Connor (June 7, 1874 – June 9, 1941) was an American-Irish sculptor whose work is represented in museums in America, Ireland, Britain and France.

Life

O'Connor was born in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

and died in

Dublin, Ireland Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cen ...

. For a time he was in the London studio of the painter,

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

, and later worked for the architects,

McKim, Mead and White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), Wil ...

in America and with the sculptor

Daniel Chester French Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his 1874 sculpture ''The Minute Man'' in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monume ...

. Settling in Paris in the early years of the 20th century, he exhibited annually at the Paris Salon. In 1906 he was the first foreign sculptor to win the Second Class medal for his statue of General

Henry Ware Lawton Henry Ware Lawton (March 17, 1843 – December 19, 1899) was a U.S. Army officer who served with distinction in the Civil War, the Apache Wars, and the Spanish–American War. He was the only U.S. general officer to be killed during the Philippi ...

, now in Garfield Park in Indianapolis. In 1928 he achieved a similar distinction by being awarded the Gold Medal for his ''Tristan and Iseult'', a marble group now in the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

. His work was also part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

. A number of his plaster casts are in the

Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery The Hugh Lane Gallery, officially Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane and originally the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, is an art museum operated by Dublin City Council and its subsidiary, the Hugh Lane Gallery Trust. It is in Charlemont House ...

, Dublin and there are works in

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

, the

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

, Baltimore, the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

, the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

and the Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris. O'Connor was involved in a minor controversy in 1909 when he was commissioned to design a statue for Commodore John Barry, of the American Revolutionary-era navy. O'Connor's first design was heatedly attacked by Irish-American groups. He submitted a second version, but it too was ultimately rejected, and the sculptor John J. Boyle received the commission.

Selected works

*''Vanderbilt Memorial Doors'', St Bartholomew's Church, Manhattan, New York City, 1901–03 *''General

'', Garfield Park, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1906 * Statue of Lew Wallace,

National Statuary Hall Collection The National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol is composed of statues donated by individual states to honor persons notable in their history. Limited to two statues per state, the collection was originally set up in the old ...

, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., 1910 *''Governor

John Albert Johnson John Albert Johnson (July 28, 1861September 21, 1909) was an American politician. He served in the Minnesota State Senate from January 1897 to January 1901. He was the 16th governor of Minnesota from January 4, 1905, until his death on September ...

'',

Minnesota State Capitol The Minnesota State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Minnesota, in its capital city of Saint Paul. It houses the Minnesota Senate, Minnesota House of Representatives, the office of the Attorney General and the office o ...

, St. Paul, 1912 *''1898 Soldier'', Spanish–American War Memorial, Wheaton Square,

, 1917. The model for O'Connor's statue was his student,

Vincent Schofield Wickham Vincent Schofield Wickham (1894-1968) was a New York graphic illustrator, painter, sculptor, teacher, and inventor, whose career coincided with the Golden Age of American Illustration. Wickham worked as an editorial artist for the ''New York Tim ...

. *''Abraham Lincoln'',

Illinois State Capitol The Illinois State Capitol, located in Springfield, Illinois, houses the Illinois General Assembly, legislative and Governor of Illinois, executive branches of the government of the U.S. state of Illinois. The current building is the sixth to serv ...

, Springfield, 1918 *''The Victims'',

Merrion Square Merrion Square () is a Georgian garden square on the southside of Dublin city centre. History The square was laid out in 1752 by the estate of Viscount FitzWilliam and was largely complete by the beginning of the 19th century. The demand for ...

, Dublin, Ireland, 1923, (dedicated 1947). Intended for a World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C. (abandoned), it depicts a kneeling wife and a standing mother mourning a dead soldier. **A copy of ''Kneeling Wife'' ( 1923) is at the

. *''

Lafayette Monument The Lafayette Monument is a bronze equestrian statue of Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, by Andrew O'Connor, Jr. It is located on the northern edge of the South Park, at Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, directly across a cobblestone circle ...

'', Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, Maryland, 1924 *''Christ the King'',

Dún Laoghaire Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built following the 1816 legislation that allowed the building of a major port to serve Dubli ...

, Ireland, 1926 *''Tristan and Iseult'',

, Brooklyn, New York City, 1928 *''Bust of Abraham Lincoln'',

Royal Exchange, London The Royal Exchange in London was founded in the 16th century by the merchant Sir Thomas Gresham on the suggestion of his factor Richard Clough to act as a centre of commerce for the City of London. The site was provided by the City of London Cor ...

, United Kingdom, 1930 *''Seated Abraham Lincoln'', Fort Lincoln Cemetery,

Brentwood, Maryland Brentwood is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 3,828. Brentwood is located within of Washington. The municipality of Brentwood is located just outside the northeast boundary of ...

, 1931 (dedicated 1947). The statue was commissioned for the Rhode Island Statehouse, but the project was abandoned during the Depression."The Statue at Fort Lincoln Cemetery," ''Lincoln Lore'', no. 946 (May 26, 1947), Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, Fort Wayne, Indian

/ref> File:St. Bartholomew's Church 07.jpg, Vanderbilt Doors (1903), St. Bartholomew's Church, New York City File:Henry W. Lawton statue Indy.JPG, ''Gen. Henry Ware Lawton'' (1906), Indianapolis, Indiana File:Wallace NSHC.jpg, ''Gen.

Lew Wallace Lewis Wallace (April 10, 1827February 15, 1905) was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, governor of the New Mexico Territory, politician, diplomat, and author from Indiana. Among his novels and biographies, Wallace is ...

'' (1910), U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. File:MNJohnJohnson.jpg, ''Gov.

'' (1912), St. Paul, Minnesota File:1898 by Andrew O'Connor, Jr. - Worcester, MA - DSC05790.jpg, ''1898 Soldier'' (1917), Worcester, Massachusetts File:Gfp-illinois-springfield-lincoln-statue.jpg, ''Abraham Lincoln'' (1918), Springfield, Illinois File:O'Connor - The Victims - Merrion Square.png, ''The Victims'' ( 1923), Dublin, Ireland File:Lafayette Monument.JPG, ''Equestrian statue of the Marquis de LaFayette'' (1924), Baltimore, Maryland File:Christ the king o'connor.jpg, ''Christ the King'' (1926), Dún Laoghaire, Ireland File:Fort Lincoln Cemetery, Brentwood, Maryland 018.JPG, ''Seated Abraham Lincoln'' (1931), Brentwood, Maryland

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Andrew Irish sculptors 20th-century Irish sculptors 20th-century American male artists 19th-century Irish sculptors Male sculptors 1874 births 1941 deaths Artists from Worcester, Massachusetts 20th-century American sculptors 19th-century American sculptors American male sculptors Sculptors from Massachusetts 19th-century American male artists Olympic competitors in art competitions