Belle Marshall Kinney Scholz (1890–1959) was an American sculptor, born in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

who worked and died in New York state.

Early life

Belle Kinney was one of four children born to Captain D.C. Kenny and Elizabeth Morrison Kenny. She was born in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. Belle Kinney won first prize at the 1897

Tennessee Centennial Exposition The Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition was an exposition held in Nashville from May 1 – October 31, 1897 in what is now Centennial Park. A year late, it celebrated the 100th anniversary of Tennessee's entry into the union in 17 ...

for a bust of her father.

Sculpting career

At age 15, Belle Kinney was awarded a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied with

Lorado Taft Lorado Zadok Taft (April 29, 1860, in Elmwood, Illinois – October 30, 1936, in Chicago) was an American sculptor, writer and educator. His 1903 book, ''The History of American Sculpture,'' was the first survey of the subject and stood for deca ...

. In 1907, at age 17, she received her first commission, to sculpt the statue of Jere Baxter, organizer of the Tennessee Central Railway. Following her work at the Art Institute, Kinney maintained a studio in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

, during which time she met Austrian-born sculptor Leopold F. Scholz (1877–1946). They married in 1921, and completed several other works together, including the Victory statue in the War Memorial Building court at Legislative Plaza, Nashville (1929) and the bronze figure of Victory for the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Memorial in

Pelham Bay Park Pelham Bay Park is a municipal park located in the northeast corner of the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is, at , the largest public park in New York City. The park is more than three times the size of Manhattan's Central Park. The pa ...

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York City (1933). They also created both works representing Tennessee in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the US Capitol 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 ...

By 1948, Kinney was maintaining a studio in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Kinney died on August 27 or 28, 1959 at age 69 in Boiceville,

Ulster County Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History ...

, New York.

Work

* Bust of Richard Owen, Indianapolis 1913 (replica at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mo ...

) *Women of the Confederacy,

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, along with Raymond. The city had a population of 153,701 at t ...

(1917) *Tennessee Monument to the Women of the Confederacy,

(1926) * Jere Baxter statue, Jere Baxter School, Nashville (1907) * Andrew Jackson statue, National Statuary Hall Collection, U.S. Capitol,

(1927) * John Sevier statue, National Statuary Hall Collection, U.S. Capitol (1931) *General

Joseph E. Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston (February 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) was an American career army officer, serving with distinction in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and the Seminole Wars. After Virginia secede ...

statue,

Dalton, Georgia Dalton is a city and the county seat of Whitfield County, Georgia, United States. It is also the principal city of the Dalton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Murray and Whitfield counties. As of the 2010 census, the ci ...

(1912) *Admiral Albert Gleaves bust, Annapolis, Maryland (1938) *

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

bust, Tennessee State Capitol, Nashville * James K. Polk bust, Tennessee State Capitol, Nashville * John Ross bust, Hamilton County Courthouse,

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020 ...

(1958) * Alexander P. Stewart bust, Hamilton County Courthouse, Chattanooga, Tennessee (1911) *

Victory The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes ...

statue, Bronx County World War I Memorial in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, with Leopold Scholz (1933) *Victory statue, War Memorial Auditorium, Legislative Plaza, Nashville, with Leopold Scholz (1929) *Pediment sculptures of the Nashville Parthenon, with Leopold Scholz (1920–30) *Bronze bust of David Crockett, Trenton, Tennessee (1950)

References

External links

Image of John Ross bust
*
War Memorial Statue, Tennessee State Library and ArchivesWar Memorial Statue, Tennessee State Library and ArchivesBelle Kinney (Scholz) in her New York Studio, Tennessee State Library and Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinney, Belle 1890 births 1959 deaths 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American women artists American women sculptors Sculptors from Tennessee People from Nashville, Tennessee School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni