John S. Conway, an artist and sculptor, was born February 21, 1852, in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

. His middle name is listed differently in different sources as Severinus, Severine and Severino. He received his artistic training 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 ...

, the Ecole Julien, and at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

. Conway also lived in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

, Italy, and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. While Conway was in Paris, Robert William Vonnoh, a fellow art student, painted his portrait. While in Italy Conway married Agata Meloni. They had four children: George (1885–1967), Etheldreda (1887–1900), Mario (1889–1962), and Robert (1899–1972). Conway most famous work is the Milwaukee Soldiers Monument. The bronze sculpture titled

The Victorious Charge ''The Victorious Charge'' is a public artwork by American artist John S. Conway located on the Court of Honor on West Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The 1898 bronze sculpture is 9'10" high and sits on a 20' sq ...

was completed in Rome and shipped to Milwaukee. It stands in the median island on Wisconsin Ave between 8th and 10th Sts. Conway returned to the United States in 1902. In 1904, he completed "Oklahoma," another large sculpture, for the St. Louis Exposition. Some of his other works appear in museums, archives and special collections, or occasionally come up for

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

. Conway died December 25, 1925, at the age of 73 in his home in

Tenafly, New Jersey Tenafly () is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 census the borough had a population of 15,409,

."John Severinus Conway; Painter and Sculptor Dies at the Age of 73 in Tenafly, N. J.
''

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 ...

'', December 25, 1925. Retrieved November 20, 2017. "John Severinus Conway, painter and sculptor, who designed the statue of Oklahoma for the St. Louis Exposition and had exhibited his paintings in Rome and this city, died yesterday at his home in Tenafly, N. J."

References

Biographical information can also be found in this newspaper article: "To Wisconsin's Soldier Sons", Evening Wisconsin, June 28, 1989, and "Who Was Who in American Art: Compiled from the Original Thirty-Four Volumes of American Art Annual—Who's Who in Art, Biographies of American Artists Active from 1898 to 1947" by Peter H. Falk (pub. Madison, Conn: Sound View Press, 1985). {{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, John S. 1852 births 1925 deaths Artists from Dayton, Ohio Sculptors from New Jersey American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts 20th-century American sculptors 19th-century American sculptors 19th-century American male artists American male sculptors People from Tenafly, New Jersey Sculptors from Ohio 20th-century American male artists