Bessie Callender (ca. 1889 – June 26, 1951) was an American sculptor most well known for her sculptures of wildlife in the style of the French ''

animalier An animalier (, ) is an artist, mainly from the 19th century, who specializes in, or is known for, skill in the realistic portrayal of animals. "Animal painter" is the more general term for earlier artists. Although the work may be in any genre ...

s''.

Biography

Bessie Stough was born near

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

around 1889 and spent most of her childhood on a farm, where her interest in animals originated. She moved to New York in the early 1920s after marrying ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' journalist Harold Callender. Here, she studied drawing under

George Bridgman George Brant Bridgman (November 5, 1864 – December 16, 1943) was a Canadian-American painter, writer, and teacher in the fields of anatomy and figure drawing. Bridgman taught anatomy for artists at the Art Students League of New York for some ...

, at the

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

, and the Cooper Union. She also modeled from life. When she and her husband were transferred to Paris in 1926, she studied under Antoine Bourdelle, and later under the important

, Georges Hilbert. It was under Hilbert's supervision that she began the stone carvings of animals she received the most acclaim for. Callender's process began with observing animals in either the Jardin des Plantes or the London Zoo. Then, she would produce sketches and

plasticine Plasticine is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. Though originally a brand name for the British version of the product, it is now applied generically in English as a product category ...

studies of an animal, until the "spirit" of the creature was captured. After that, she began to carve, and could take up to a year refining a single piece. The condensed forms and highly polished surfaces of her works show the influence of Egyptian sculpture, specifically

block statue The block statue is a type of memorial statue that first emerged in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. The block statue grew in popularity in the New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period, and by the Late Period, this type of statue was the most ...

s, which she considered to be the finest in the world. Her sculpture was immediately recognized for its quality and was frequently exhibited at the

Salon des Independants Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (Pa ...

in Paris and the Royal Academy in London. She continued to work until a cancer operation prevented her from sculpting later in life. After her death at the age of 62, in 1951, her husband donated seven of her sculptures to the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

References

*Callender, Harold. ''Fun Tomorrow: The Story of an Artist and of a Way of Life.'' New York, Spiral Press. 1953. {{DEFAULTSORT:Callender, Bessie 1880s births 1951 deaths Artists from Wichita, Kansas Animal artists 20th-century American sculptors Art Students League of New York alumni Cooper Union alumni American expatriates in France 20th-century American women artists 20th-century American painters Sculptors from New York (state) 20th-century American women sculptors