William Couper (sculptor)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

William L Couper (September 20, 1853 – June 23, 1942) was an American
sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
.


Life and career

Born in
Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
, Couper studied in
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
and
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, and remained in the latter city for 22 years before returning to the United States and establishing himself in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
in 1897 as a portraitist and sculptor of busts in the modern Italian manner. He and Thomas Ball purchased a three-story brick building on 17th Street in Manhattan to serve as shared studio space. He married Eliza Chickering Ball, daughter of sculptor Thomas Ball (1819–1911), in Florence in 1878. He was also a colleague of
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 ...
. He sculpted the figure of the Roman goddess ''Flora'' for the exhibit of the Apollinaris Company at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. At the
Pan-American Exposition The Pan-American Exposition was a World's Fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied of land on the western edge of what is now Delaware Park, extending from Delaware Avenue to Elmwood A ...
in Buffalo in 1901 his work won a bronze medal. Couper retired from sculpting in 1913. Couper is well known for his winged figures, such as the ''Recording Angel'' at the Couper family plot in Elmwood Cemetery in Norfolk and allegorical figures, such as ''Psyche'' and ''A Crown for the Victor'', in the collection of the Montclair Art Museum. Couper lived much of his life in Montclair, New Jersey, where he built a large neoclassical villa he named ''Poggioridente'' or "laughing knoll". He had a home in Cortland, New York, as well. His wife died in 1939. They had several sons, one of whom, Thomas Ball Couper, lived in Montclair. His son Richard Hamilton Couper, a landscape painter, died in 1918 at the age of 33. He spent his last year at his other son William's farm in
Bozman, Maryland Bozman is an unincorporated community in Talbot County, Maryland, United States. Bozman is located along Maryland Route 579 Maryland Route 579 (MD 579) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Bozman Neavitt Road, the state h ...
, and died in an
Easton, Maryland Easton is an incorporated town in and the county seat of Talbot County, Maryland, United States. The population was 15,945 at the 2010 census, with an estimated population in 2019 of 16,671. The primary ZIP Code is 21601, and the secondary ...
hospital after a brief illness on June 23, 1942.


Works

* Confederate Monument in downtown Norfolk, Virginia (1906) * Statue of John Witherspoon, Washington, D.C. (1909) * Bronze statue of
Hunter Holmes McGuire Hunter Holmes McGuire (October 11, 1835 – September 19, 1900) was a soldier, physician, teacher, and orator. McGuire was a surgeon in the Confederate Army attached to Stonewall Jackson's command, and he continued serving with the Army of North ...
at the Virginia State Capitol,
Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...
* Statue of Captain John Smith overlooking the
James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...
at Jamestown, Virginia * Statue of
John A. Roebling John Augustus Roebling (born Johann August Röbling; June 12, 1806 – July 22, 1869) was a German-born American civil engineer. He designed and built wire rope suspension bridges, in particular the Brooklyn Bridge, which has been designated as ...
in City Park, Trenton, New Jersey * Statue of
Abram Hewitt Abram Stevens Hewitt (July 31, 1822January 18, 1903) was an American politician, educator, ironmaking industrialist, and lawyer who was mayor of New York City for two years from 1887–1888. He also twice served as a U.S. Congressman from and ...
, New York City mayor * Statue of
Morris K. Jessup Morris Ketchum Jessup (March 2, 1900 – April 20, 1959) was an American ufology, ufologist. He had a Master of Science Degree in astronomy and, though employed for most of his life as an automobile-parts salesman and a photographer, is probably ...
, head of the New York Museum of Natural History (1910) * Bronze bust of
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
, created in New York in 1909 and presented to the
American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...
. A replica of this work was also presented to
Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...
where Darwin had been an undergraduate. *
Statue of Joseph Bryan A statue of Joseph Bryan was installed in Richmond, Virginia's Monroe Park, in the United States. The memorial was removed in July 2020. See also * List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests During the civi ...
, Monroe Park, Richmond, Virginia (1910) * Marble sphinxes at the Stanford Family Mausoleum at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
,
Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...
(1908) * Statue of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 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, ...
(1909) * Bust of
John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...
* Statue of Morris Ketchum Jesup File:Couper in VA (cropped).jpg,
Joseph Bryan Joseph Bryan (August 18, 1773 – September 12, 1812) was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's at-large congressional district from 1803 to 1806. Early life Bryan was born Sav ...
File:20-13-211-hickenlooper.jpg, Statue of
Andrew Hickenlooper Andrew Hickenlooper (August 10, 1837 – May 12, 1904) was an Ohioan civil engineer, politician, industrialist, and a Union Army lieutenant colonel of artillery and engineers. In recognition of his service, in 1866, he was nominated and confirm ...
, Vicksburg National Military Park (1912) File:18-14-145-vicksburg.jpg, Bust of Isaac F. Quniby, Vicksburg National Military Park (1911)


References


Sources

* Couper, Greta Elena, ''An American Sculptor on the Grand Tour: The Life and Works of William Couper (1853–1942), TreCavalli Press, 1988,


External links


An American Sculptor on the Grand Tour
– a complete illustrated biography
Guide to Sculpture, Stanford University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Couper, William 1853 births 1942 deaths Artists from Norfolk, Virginia People from Montclair, New Jersey Sculptors from New Jersey 20th-century American sculptors 19th-century American sculptors 19th-century American male artists American male sculptors 20th-century American male artists