Margaret French Cresson (1889–1973) was an American sculptor, and daughter of sculptor

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 ...

(1850–1931). She studied under

Abastenia St. Leger Eberle Abastenia St. Leger Eberle (April 6, 1878 – February 26, 1942) was an American sculptor known for her energetic, small bronze sculptures depicting poor immigrants on New York's City's Lower East Side. As an artist, Eberle had strong beliefs an ...

and George Demetrius, focusing her art on marble busts and portrait heads. Her works were exhibited in Paris, the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

in Washington, D.C., and other museums and galleries. Margaret French was painted by many artists who were friendly with her father, and many of these portraits may be found today at

Chesterwood Chesterwood is a hamlet in Northumberland, in England. It is situated a short distance to the north-west of Haydon Bridge on the South Tyne, west of Hexham. It includes a number of "Bastle Houses" from the 17th Century, originally built to prot ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, a property of the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...

. One important portrait, documented as in the house in 1970, is missing, but is known from a photograph. In December 1912, the Swiss-born American portrait painter

Adolfo Müller-Ury Adolfo Müller-Ury, KSG (March 29, 1862 – July 6, 1947) was a Swiss-born American portrait painter and impressionistic painter of roses and still life. Heritage and early life in Switzerland He was born Felice Adolfo Müller on 29 March ...

painted a bust length portrait of Margaret, which was exhibited by him in New York in March and April 1913 after having been donated to the French family that January. In 1942, she was elected into 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 fin ...

as an Associate Academician, and became a full Academician in 1959. She married William Penn Cresson, an American author, diplomat, and architect in 1921. She is buried in Saint Paul's Episcopal Church Cemetery in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, along with her husband.

References

1889 births 1973 deaths 20th-century American sculptors American women sculptors 20th-century American women artists National Academy of Design members People from Concord, Massachusetts Sculptors from Massachusetts {{US-sculptor-stub