Cornelia Van Auken Chapin (August 7, 1893 – December 4, 1972)
American sculptor and
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 ...
born in
Waterford, Connecticut
Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The population was 19,571 at the 2020 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place (CDP) and had a population of 3,07 ...
. She was known for her stone models of birds and animals, which she largely carved directly from life and without preliminary models or sketches.
Early life
Cornelia Chapin was born in
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
and raised in New York City as part of a prominent socialite family.
[Sculptors’ Guild Travelling Exhibition, 1940-1941’’, Sculptors’ Guild, New York, New York, 1940 p. 6] Daughter of Lindley Hoffman Chapin (1854-1896), a Manhattan lawyer and Cornelia Garrison (Van Auken) Chapin (1865-1925), an actress, Cornelia Chapin was also a descendant of Supreme Court Justice George P. Andrews (who presided in the trials of former slave traders) and
Cornelius K. Garrison
Cornelius Kingsland Garrison (March 1, 1809 – May 1, 1885) was an American steamboat captain, shipping agent, shipbuilder, capitalist, and politician. He served as the 4th Mayor of San Francisco from 1853 until 1854.
Biography
He was born o ...
(a merchant involved with the building of railroads). Chapin was also sister to poet
Katherine Garrison Chapin Biddle, whose husband
Francis Biddle
Francis Beverley Biddle (May 9, 1886 – October 4, 1968) was an American lawyer and judge who was the United States Attorney General during World War II. He also served as the primary American judge during the postwar Nuremberg Trials as well a ...
was the 58th
United States Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
.
Chapin's nephew was
Schuyler Chapin
Schuyler Garrison Chapin (February 13, 1923 – March 7, 2009) was a General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera, and later Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for New York City during the administration of Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He also served as the de ...
, General Manager of the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...
and Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for New York City under Mayor
Rudy Giuliani.
Her older paternal half-sister was the publisher
Marguerite Caetani.
Sculpture
![Bear by Cornelia Chapin (1952)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Bear_by_Cornelia_Chapin_-_National_Zoo%2C_Washington%2C_D.C._-_Sarah_Stierch.jpg)
Cornelia Chapin developed an interest in art as a young child - dabbling in pencil sketches and watercolors - but by the early 1920s, she settled on sculpture as her main interest. Chapin studied under Gail Sherman Corbett and later shared studios with both
Genevieve Karr Hamlin and
Marion Sanford.
She early became interested in creating somewhat abstracted animal forms and in the early 1934 moved to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
to study
direct carving
This page describe terms and jargon related to sculpture and sculpting.
__NOTOC__
A
armature
:An armature is an internal frame or skeleton which supports a modelled sculpture. A typical armature for a small sculpture is made of heavy gauge ...
with Mateo Hernandez (1884-1949), from whom she learned the art of direct carving. She would go to the zoo and carve sculptures of animals,
an unusual technique for direct carvers.
In 1936, following the success of her carving ''Tortoise'' she was elected a member of the ''Salon d'Automne'', the only foreigner and the only woman thus honored that year.
She returned to the United States following the start of World War II and shared a studio, that had formerly belonged the
Gutzon Borglum
John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an American sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Mountain in Geo ...
, with Sanford. In the summer of 1949 she was one of 250 sculptors who exhibited in the
3rd Sculpture International held at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art. From 1951 to 1953 Chapin served on the New York City Art Commission.
Chapin was most famous for her sculptures of birds and animals, though she also sculpted human figures. Between 1930 and the early 1960s, Chapin exhibited in galleries in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, California, Washington, DC, New Jersey, Maine, and Paris,
["American Women," 1939-1940. Volume III.] and won numerous awards and prizes for her work during the 1930s and 1940s. These included the 2nd Grand Prize at the 1937 Paris International Exposition for her sculptures
Pelican in Repose and
Tortoise in Volcanic Rock" the Sculpture Prize from the Asbury Park Fine Arts Society in 1939, and an Honorable Mention from th
Allied Artists of Americain 1941 for her sculpture "Paquita the Bear." She also lectured on the art of direct carving in museums and schools. Chapin was a member of the
National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...
, the
National Sculpture Society
Founded in 1893, the National Sculpture Society (NSS) was the first organization of professional sculptors formed in the United States. The purpose of the organization was to promote the welfare of American sculptors, although its founding members ...
, and the only foreign and only woman sculptor elected to the Societaire Salon d'Automne, in 1936.
Chapin was a founding member of the
Sculptors Guild and also a member in the
National Sculpture Society
Founded in 1893, the National Sculpture Society (NSS) was the first organization of professional sculptors formed in the United States. The purpose of the organization was to promote the welfare of American sculptors, although its founding members ...
and the
National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...
.
Cornelia Chapin sculptures are represented in the
National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. and in
Rittenhouse Square
Rittenhouse Square is a neighborhood, including a public park, in Center City Philadelphia. The park is one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn and his surveyor Thomas Holme during the late 17th century.
The neighborho ...
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, among other locations.
Personal life
In her later years, Chapin lived and worked with Marion Sanford in Lakeville, Connecticut. Cornelia Chapin died in Connecticut in 1972.
Selected works
* ''Reigning Christ, Triumphant'', The Great Cross, above the High Altar,
Cathedral of St. John the Divine,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
[Hall, Edward Hagaman, L.H.D., “A Guide to the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine on the City of New York’’ The Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church, Seventeenth Edition, 1965 pp. 130-132]
References
External links
Papers of Cornelia Chapin, 1822-1959: A Finding Aid.Schlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapin, Cornelia Van Auken
1893 births
1972 deaths
American women sculptors
Modern sculptors
Artists from New York City
20th-century American sculptors
20th-century American women artists
Sculptors Guild members
People from Lakeville, Connecticut
Sculptors from New York (state)