Nancy Cox-McCormack, later Cushman (August 15, 1885 – February 17, 1967), was an American sculptor, writer and socialite. Between 1910 and 1953 she sculpted bronze and
terra cotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
busts and
bas relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
s of more than seventy sitters, including such notables as social reformer
Jane Addams
Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...
, lawyer
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. He was a leading member of t ...
, poet
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
, Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
, Spanish dictator
Miguel Primo de Rivera
Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquess of Estella (8 January 1870 – 16 March 1930), was a dictator, aristocrat, and military officer who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 1923 to 1930 during Spain's Restoration era. He deepl ...
and Indian politician
Mohandas K. Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
.
Of the works she is known to have created, the location of only half is currently known.
[
]
Early life
Nancy "Nannie" Mal[ (or Mai)] Cox was born in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
, on August 15, 1885, the second of three children of Herschel McCullough Cox and Nancy Morgan Cox, a well-off Virginia couple. Nancy and her siblings contracted polio when Nancy was about three, and her sister and brother died of the disease in May 1888. Nancy's mother died of tuberculosis on December 13, 1888.[
Herschel McCullough Cox remarried and had a son, Henry Herschel Cox, with his second wife, Lena Lillian Warren. Herschel died in an accident when Cox-McCormack was a teenager on December 31, 1899.][
Cox-McCormack lived at a boarding school in Arkansas, then briefly with her stepmother in Nashville, Tennessee where she attended Ward Seminary. There she studied with artist Willie Betty Newman, working in pastels and watercolors.]
In 1909, Cox-McCormack enrolled briefly in the St. Louis School of Fine Arts
The St. Louis School of Fine Arts was founded as the Saint Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts in 1879 as part of Washington University in St. Louis, and has continuously offered visual arts and sculpture education since then. Its purpose-buil ...
at Washington University
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...
in St. Louis. where she worked with Victor Holm.
Career
Chicago
In 1910, Cox-McCormack moved to Chicago, and enrolled 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 ...
, where she studied sculpture with Charles Mulligan
Charles J. Mulligan (September 28, 1866 – March 25, 1916) was an American sculptor. Born in Riverdale, Ireland, Riverdale, County Tyrone, Ireland, Mulligan immigrated to America at the age of 17 and found work as a stone cutter in Pullma ...
. She opened a studio in the Tree Studio Building in Chicago. She lived and worked primarily in Chicago until 1920 during which time she sculpted over twenty-five pieces and wrote ''Peeps, The Really Truly Sunshine Fairy'', a children's book published in 1918. It was during this time in Chicago that her life intersected with many well known people such as Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. He was a leading member of t ...
, Grace Hegger Lewis, Alice Gerstenberg
Alice Erya Gerstenberg (2 August 1885 – 28 July 1972) was an American playwright, actress, and activist best known for her experimental, feminist drama and her involvement with the Little Theatre Movement in Chicago.
Background
Gerstenberg wa ...
, Eunice Tietjens
Eunice Tietjens (July 29, 1884 – September 6, 1944) was an American poet, novelist, journalist, children's author, lecturer, and editor.
Early years and education
Eunice Strong Hammond was born in Chicago on July 29, 1884. She was educated in ...
, and Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
.
The first sculpture that she sold, entitled "Harmony", was shown at the January 1913 Chicago Artists Exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. She also entered and won the Edward Ward Carmack Memorial Competition, Nashville. She was chosen to create panels on the themes "Woman in the Home" and "Woman in Civics" for the Rockford Women's Club in Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...
. She also created altar panels of "The Annunciation" and "The Birth of Christ" for Trinity Episcopal Church in Chicago. She created a number of portrait sculptures during this period, including George and Frederick Woodruff of the First National Bank, and at least one death mask.
Her entry in the ''Chicago social and club register'' of 1921 reads:
McCORMACK, Nancy Mai (Cox). Educated Ward Seminary, Nashville, Tenn.; Clubs Member of Art Institute; Activities Sculptor, principal works "Harmony", McCormack Memorial on capitol grounds, Nashville, Tenn., bust of W. H. Mitchell, also various statues, portraits of children, etc. Residence 19
E. Pearson St.
Europe
During the 1920s, Cox-McCormack traveled extensively in Europe. She visited France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and England, and established studios at Via Margutta
Via Margutta is a narrow street in the centre of Rome, near Piazza del Popolo, accessible from Via del Babuino in the ancient Campo Marzio neighborhood also known as ''"the foreigner's quarter"''. Mount Pincio is nearby. Via Margutta original ...
48 in Rome, Italy
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (Romulus and Remus, legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
...
(1922–1924). She sculpted figures of a number of important people including Benito Mussolini, U. S. Ambassador Henry P. Fletcher
Henry Prather Fletcher (April 10, 1873 – July 10, 1959) was an American diplomat who served under six presidents.
Early life
Fletcher was born in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, in 1873 to Louis Henry Fletcher (1839–1927) and Martha Ellen ( n ...
, archaeologist Giacomo Boni, and political saloniste Lydia Rismondo.[
In Paris in July 1921, Cox-McCormack met ]Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
. In December 1921, she cast a life-mask of him, and modeled a small portrait-bust. In 1922 and 1923 she met Ezra Pound and his wife Dorothy
Dorothy may refer to:
*Dorothy (given name), a list of people with that name.
Arts and entertainment
Characters
*Dorothy Gale, protagonist of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum
* Ace (''Doctor Who'') or Dorothy, a character playe ...
again in Siena and in Rome.[
Through a chain of friendships, Cox-McCormack was able to meet and model Benito Mussolini, who had just risen to power in Italy, evoking widespread excitement among Cox-McCormack and her friends. Cox-McCormack had been in Rome during Mussolini's ]March on Rome
The March on Rome ( it, Marcia su Roma) was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, Fa ...
, and had seen what was happening at first hand. "Every artist I knew... was enthusiastic about the 'stellone' (great star) who had appeared in the sky 'to save Italy from utter ruin.'" She considered him "a creative force" and "the inspiration of the new epoch in Europe". She completed his bust in ten sittings during May and June 1923. It was the first bust made of the new ruler. (Years later, she became disenchanted with Mussolini's regime).[
During the 1920s, Cox-McCormack exhibited in Rome, Paris, New York, and Chicago.][ Pieces produced during this time were exhibited in Paris at the Galleries Jacques Seligman, the Salon of 1923, and at the 1923-24 Exposition Biennale Internationale des Beaux Arts in Rome.]
Her one-woman shows then included:
* the Jacques Seligman Galleries in both Paris and New York
* the National Gallery in Washington
* the Art Institute of Chicago
* the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.[
In 1931, she traveled to England to model Mahatma Gandhi, who was then attending the Indian Conference in London.][
]
Writing and later career
Cushman returned to the United States in 1924 settling in New York and Pennsylvania where she wrote her memoirs and a book, Pleasant Days in Spain, which includes an account of modeling the Spanish dictator, Miguel Primo de Rivera.
During the next eight years she sculpted a number of portrait busts and a bas-relief memorial medallion of Jane Addams
Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...
. She continued to work on her memoirs and traveled throughout the United States speaking of her experiences.
She appeared on the NBC ''Woman's Radio Review'' in 1936.
Legacy
Her work received little critical attention during her lifetime or since, but local newspapers covered her work and travels extensively.
Personal life
Unhappy in her home life, Cox-McCormack married Mark McCormack in 1903, but separated from him in 1909 and divorced as of 1911.
Cox-McCormack married Charles Thomas Cushman of Brooklyn Heights
Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south, an ...
, New York City on December 21, 1939. The couple settled at 62 Montague Street, Brooklyn Heights
Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south, an ...
, New York City. In the 1950s, they returned to Europe together, visiting Sicily, Rome and Florence. In December 1955, they moved to Ithaca, New York
Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...
. The pair traveled extensively until his death in 1962. Her last work was her husband's tombstone.
Death
Nancy Cox-McCormack died in Ithaca, New York
Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...
on February 17, 1967.
Gallery
File:Nancy Cox-McCormack 1925 Benito Mussolini.jpg , Benito Mussolini
File:Nancy Cox-McCormack General Primo de Rivera Spain.tif , General Primo de Rivera
File:Edward Ward Carmack statue Tennessee Capitol.jpg , Statue of Edward W. Carmack, Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
File:Tennessee Capital and Edward Carmack.jpg , Statue of Edward W. Carmack, Nashville, Tennessee
References
External links
Nancy Cox-McCormack Cushman papers
at the Sophia Smith Collection
The Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College is an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history.
General
One of the largest recognized repositories of manuscripts, ar ...
, Smith College Special Collections
Nancy Cox-McCormack papers
at the Tennessee State Library and Archives
The Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA), established in 1854, currently operates as a unit of the Tennessee Department of State. According to the Tennessee Blue Book, the Library and Archives "collects and preserves books and records of hi ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cox-McCormack, Nancy
1885 births
1967 deaths
American women sculptors
American socialites
20th-century American sculptors
Artists from Nashville, Tennessee
20th-century American women artists
Sculptors from Tennessee