Charles Grafly
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Charles Grafly (December 3, 1862 - May 5, 1929), American sculptor and educator, was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
[edit] Life and career
Grafly was born of German, Dutch and Quaker heritage and developed an interest in art at an early age. At 17 he was apprenticed to Struthers Stoneyard, at that time one of the largest stone carving ventures in the country. He spent the next four years working on the Philadelphia City Hall, carving decorations and figures under the direction of Alexander Milne Calder. In order to improve his skills at carving figures and to improve his understanding of anatomy he began attending art school, eventually studying under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
In 1888 Grafly moved to Paris where he studied with Henri Chapu and Jean Dampt, and later gained admittance to the École des Beaux Arts, Paris. He received an Honorable Mention in the Paris Salon of 1891 for his "Mauvais Presage," now at the Detroit Institute of Art, a gold medal at the Paris Exposition, in 1900, and medals at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, Atlanta, 1895, and Philadelphia (the gold Medal of Honor, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts), 1899.
In 1892 he became instructor in sculpture at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, also filling the same chair at the Drexel University, Philadelphia. He was a founding member of the National Sculpture Society and was elected a full member of the National Academy of Design in 1905. The Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts houses about twenty of Grafly's bronzes in its collection while the museum at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas possesses over two hundred of his works, mostly plaster casts, from the late Charles and Dorothy Grafly Drummond (the artist's daughter). Among the many students Grafly taught were sculptors George Demetrios, Paul Manship, Louis Milione, Eugene Castello, Charles Harley, Nancy Coonsman, Dudley Pratt, Walker Hancock, Albin Polasek and Albert Laessle. The latter two served as pall-bearers at Grafly's funeral following his tragic death, in which he was struck down and killed by a hit-and-run driver.
His better-known works include:
[edit] Works
- General Reynolds, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
- General Meade, Washington D.C. [1927]
- Fountain of Man (made for the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo)
- From Generation to Generation
- Pioneer Mother, San Francisco [1915]
- Symbol of Life
- Vulture of War,
- attic figures of Great Britain and France for the New York Customs House, Cass Gilbert, architect [1904]
- and many portrait busts.
[edit] Further reading
- Drummond, Dorothy Grafly, The Sculptor's Clay: Charles Grafly (1862 - 1929), Edwin A Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University Wichita, Kansas 1996
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
