James Salvatore John Novelli (October 18, 1885 - May 31, 1940) was an

Italian American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

sculptor known for his funeral and war memorials.

Biography

Novelli was born in 1885 in

Sulmona Sulmona ( nap, label= Abruzzese, Sulmóne; la, Sulmo; grc, Σουλμῶν, Soulmôn) is a city and ''comune'' of the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo, Italy. It is located in the Valle Peligna, a plain once occupied by a lake that disappeared in ...

, Italy. His family settled in

lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

in New York, and he was raised in a

tenement house A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

on Mulberry Street in the Five Points, which became the heart of

Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are s ...

. In 1903, Novelli returned to Italy to study and graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Rome in 1908. As a student, he earned an honorable mention for his work submitted to the 1906 International Exposition in Paris. He participated in the New York competition about "conceptions of war" in 1915. He later lived in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and received numerous commissions. After marrying, he lived in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, with his wife, Lillian, and son. His career foundering during the Depression, he worked with the city's monument crew. Novelli committed suicide in 1940.

Works

*''America Triumphant'' (1922),

Pershing Field Pershing Field is a city square and park in the Heights of Jersey City, New Jersey in the United States. Approximately it is adjacent to Jersey City Reservoir No. 3, with which it creates a large open recreational and nature area bounded by ...

Jersey City Heights The Heights or Jersey City Heights is a district in the north end of Jersey City, New Jersey, atop the New Jersey Palisades overlooking Hoboken to the east and Croxton in the Meadowlands to the west. The southern border of The Heights is ge ...

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Clason Point, Bronx Clason Point is a peninsula in the East Bronx, New York City. The area includes a collection of neighborhoods including Harding Park, and Soundview. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are: Lafayette Avenue to the north, ...

*Memorial door DeSalvio mausoleum (1938), Calvary Cemetery, Queens *Memorial door LaGioia mausoleum (1923), Calvary Cemetery, Queens *Memorial door Latorraca mausoleum (1938), Calvary Cemetery, Queens *''Rockingham War Memorial'' (1927-1928),

Bellows Falls, Vermont Bellows Falls is an incorporated village located in the town of Rockingham in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,747 at the 2020 census. Bellows Falls is home to the Green Mountain Railroad, a heritage railroad; the ...

*''Saratoga Monument'' (1920)

Saratoga Park Saratoga Park is a public park in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. It is bordered by Halsey Street, Saratoga Avenue, Macon Street, and Howard Avenue. History Prior to becoming a park the land was used to host travelling circuses. In 1896 it was ...

Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Bedford–Stuyvesant (), colloquially known as Bed–Stuy, is a neighborhood in the northern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Bedford–Stuyvesant is bordered by Flushing Avenue to the north (bordering Williamsburg), Classon Av ...

*''The Spirit of Flight'' (1928),

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

*''Victory Memorial Fountain'' (1929), William F. Moore Park,

Corona, Queens Corona is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. It borders Flushing and Flushing Meadows–Corona Park to the east, Jackson Heights to the west, Forest Hills and Rego Park to the south, Elmhurst to the southwest, and East ...

(fountain removed, tablet remains) *''Winfield War Memorial and Victorious America.'' (1926) Winfield Plaza,

Woodside, Queens Woodside is a residential and commercial neighborhood in the western portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is bordered on the south by Maspeth, on the north by Astoria, on the west by Sunnyside, and on the east by Elmhurst, J ...

Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) Woodlawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in New York City and a designated National Historic Landmark. Located south of Woodlawn Heights, Bronx, New York City, it has the character of a rural cemetery. Woodlawn Cemetery opened during t ...

, memorials

References

External links

Testimony by Novelli
{{DEFAULTSORT:Novelli, James 1885 births 1940 deaths People from Sulmona 20th-century American sculptors Sculptors from New York (state) American male sculptors Sculptors who died by suicide 20th-century American male artists American people of Italian descent Italian emigrants to the United States Suicides in New York (state)