Charles Adrian Pillars (1870–1937) was an American sculptor. He chiefly worked in Florida from his studio in
St. Augustine.
Pillars was born in
Rantoul, Illinois
Rantoul is a village in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 12,371 at the 2020 census.
History
The community was named after Robert Rantoul, Jr., a U.S. representative from Massachusetts, and a director of the Illino ...
. He studied with
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 ...
,
Edward Potter and
Lorado Taft
Lorado Zadok Taft (April 29, 1860, in Elmwood, Illinois – October 30, 1936, in Chicago) was an American sculptor, writer and educator. His 1903 book, ''The History of American Sculpture,'' was the first survey of the subject and stood for decad ...
at the
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
. He subsequently relocated to St. Augustine, Florida and became a prominent artist in the state. He created the bronze statue of the "winged figure of youth" in
Jacksonville
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
's
Memorial Park in 1924. He is best known for having two statues, of
John Gorrie
John B. Gorrie (October 3, 1803 – June 29, 1855) was a Nevisian-born American physician and scientist, credited as the inventor of mechanical refrigeration.
Early life
Born on the Island of Nevis in the Leeward Islands of the West Indies t ...
(1914) and
Edmund Kirby Smith
General Edmund Kirby Smith (May 16, 1824March 28, 1893) was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army who commanded the Trans-Mississippi Department (comprising Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, western Louisiana, Arizona Territory and the Indi ...
(1922), representing Florida in the
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 ...
in Washington D.C.
[Opitz, Glenn B., ''Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers'', Apollo Books, Poughkeepsie, NY, 1988]
References
1870 births
1937 deaths
Sculptors from Florida
Sculptors from Illinois
People from Rantoul, Illinois
School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni
20th-century American sculptors
20th-century American male artists
American male sculptors
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