Haig Patigian ( hy, Հայկ Բադիկեան; January 22, 1876 – September 19, 1950), was an

Armenian-American Armenian Americans ( hy, ամերիկահայեր, ''amerikahayer'') are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenians, Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community of the Armenian diaspora after A ...

sculptor.

Biography

Patigian was born in the city of Van in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. His parents were teachers at the American Mission School in Armenia. He was largely self-taught as a sculptor. Patigian spent most of his career in San Francisco, California and most of his works are located in California. The Oakland Museum in Oakland, California, includes a large number of his works in its collection, and more can be seen in and around

San Francisco City Hall San Francisco City Hall is the seat of government for the City and County of San Francisco, California. Re-opened in 1915 in its open space area in the city's Civic Center, it is a Beaux-Arts monument to the City Beautiful movement that epitomi ...

. Patigian was an active member of the Bohemian Club, serving two terms as club president. He designed the Owl Shrine, a 40-foot high hollow concrete and steel structure which was built in the 1920s to have the appearance of a natural rock outcropping which happened to resemble an owl. The Owl Shrine became the centerpiece of the '' Cremation of Care'' ceremony at the

Bohemian Grove Bohemian Grove is a restricted 2,700-acre (1,100 ha) campground at 20601 Bohemian Avenue, in Monte Rio, California, United States, belonging to a private San Francisco–based gentlemen's club known as the Bohemian Club. In mid-July each year, ...

in 1929. Patigian married Blanche Hollister of Courtland, California, in 1908.

Selected public works

* McKinley statue in

Arcata, California Arcata (; Wiyot: ''Goudi’ni''; Yurok: ''Oket'oh'') is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, Arcata's population was 18,857. Arcata was first ...

, 1906 (removed February 28, 2019) *''Electricity'', ''Imagination'', ''Invention'' and ''Steam''; four repeated sculptures at the Machinery Palace, Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915) (destroyed) *General

John Pershing General of the Armies John Joseph Pershing (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948), nicknamed "Black Jack", was a senior United States Army officer. He served most famously as the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) on the Wes ...

, San Francisco, California, 1921 * Statue of Abraham Lincoln, San Francisco, California, 1928 *

Thomas Starr King Thomas Starr King (December 17, 1824 – March 4, 1864), often known as Starr King, was an American Universalist and Unitarian minister, influential in California politics during the American Civil War, and Freemason. Starr King spoke z ...

(1931) :This work resided in the Capitol Building in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

as one of California's contributions to 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 ...

until being replaced by a statue of Ronald Reagan in 2009. *''Volunteer Firemen Memorial'', San Francisco, California, 1933

Architectural sculpture

* M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, tympanum, San Francisco, California, circa 1895 (removed) *San Francisco Savings Union Bank building, pediment, San Francisco, California, 1911 *Palace of Fine Art & the Machinery Palace, (now destroyed) Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, California, 1915 *Metropolitan Life Insurance Building, (now the Ritz Carlton Hotel) pediment, San Francisco, California, 1920 *''Navigation, Aviation'', and ''Industry'',

Richfield Tower Richfield Tower, also known as the Richfield Oil Company Building, was an office tower constructed between 1928 and 1929 and served as the headquarters of Richfield Oil in Los Angeles, California. History It was designed by Stiles O. Clements ...

, Los Angeles, California, allegorical figures, 1928 :when the building was demolished in 1968 the figures were moved to the Art Museum of the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

* Department of Commerce Building, pediment, Washington D.C., 1934

References

*Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, Architectural Sculpture in America, unpublished manuscript *National Sculpture Society, Contemporary American Sculpture 1929, National Sculpture Society, New York, NY 1929 *Opitz, Glenn B, Editor, Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Book, Poughkeepsie NY, 1986 *Proske, Beatrice Gilman, Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture, Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina, 1968

External links

Painted portrait of Haig Patigian with Bohemian Owl in background
by Peter Ilyin (1927). Online Archive of California. {{DEFAULTSORT:Patigian, Haig American people of Armenian descent 1876 births 1950 deaths People from Van, Turkey Armenian sculptors Armenians from the Ottoman Empire Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to the United States Artists from San Francisco 20th-century American sculptors American male sculptors National Sculpture Society members Sculptors from California 20th-century American male artists