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 the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

and died in

Dublin, Ireland Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

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

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 15, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era, Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil ...

, and later worked for the architects,

McKim, Mead and White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm based in New York City. The firm came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in ''fin de siècle'' New York. The firm's founding partners, Cha ...

in America and with the sculptor

Daniel Chester French Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculpture, sculptor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His works include ''The Minute Man'', an 1874 statue in Concord, Massachusetts, and his Statue of Abr ...

. 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, 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 in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

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

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

. A number of his plaster casts are in the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, 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 En ...

, the

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum is a public art museum located in the Mount Vernon, Baltimore, Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Founded and opened in 1934, it holds collections from the mid-19th century that were amassed substantially ...

, Baltimore, the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art is a former art museum in Washington, D.C., that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Founded in 1869 by philanthropist William Wilson Corco ...

, the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

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 Henry Ware Lawton'', 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 Hal ...

, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., 1910 *''Governor John Albert Johnson'', Nicollet County Courthouse Grounds, St. Peter, Minnesota 1912 *''Governor John Albert Johnson'',

Minnesota State Capitol The Minnesota State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Minnesota, in its capital (political), capital city of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul. It houses the Minnesota Senate, Minnesota House of Representatives, the offic ...

, 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. *''Abraham Lincoln'',

Illinois State Capitol The Illinois State Capitol, located in Springfield, Illinois, houses the legislative and executive branches of the government of the U.S. state of Illinois. Becoming the seat of the legislature in 1876, the current building is the sixth to serve ...

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

Merrion Square Merrion Square () is a Georgian architecture, Georgian garden square on the Southside Dublin, southside of Dublin city centre. History The square was laid out in 1762 to a plan by John Smyth and Jonathan Barker for the estate of Richard Fitz ...

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

Dún Laoghaire Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in County Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built up alongside a small existing settlement following 1816 legislation th ...

, 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 (agent), factor Richard Clough to act as a centre of commerce for the City of London. The site was provided by the Ci ...

, United Kingdom, 1930 *''Seated Abraham Lincoln'', Fort Lincoln Cemetery, Brentwood, Maryland, 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 New Mexico Territory, politician, diplomat, artist, and author from Indiana. Among his novels and biographies, Walla ...

'' (1910), U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. File:MNJohnJohnson.jpg, ''Gov. John Albert Johnson'' (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 20th-century Irish sculptors 20th-century American male artists 19th-century Irish sculptors Irish 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 Art competitors at the 1928 Summer Olympics American expatriates in France American emigrants to Ireland