James E. Kelly (artist)
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James Edward Kelly (July 30, 1855 – May 25, 1933) was an American sculptor and illustrator who specialized in depicting people and events of American wars, particularly the American Civil War.
Kelly was born in New York City. He was a boy of six years old when the Civil War started. Perhaps because of that he early developed a lifelong interest in American history, particularly in the Civil War and in the generals who fought it. His intense studies into history allowed Kelly to bring to his work a degree of detail that makes his drawings and statues noteworthy.
When he was commissioned to execute the five panels that make up a large part of the Battle of Monmouth monument he had a difficult time finding models who did not have mustaches or beards—they being worn by most men of that era—so he prevailed upon a friend of his from nearby Menlo Park, New Jersey, to pose for him. Because of that, a 30-year-old Thomas Alva Edison's portrait can be found on the monument.
His public memorial sculptures include:
- Soldiers & Sailors Monument, Troy, New York, 1890
- Monmouth Battle Monument, Monmouth, New Jersey, 1884
- Civil War Soldiers & Sailors Monument, Yonkers, New York, 1891
- General John Buford Memorial, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1895
- General Fitz-John Porter, Haven Park, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1904
- Major General James J. Wilson, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, 1909
- Memorial to the Defendants of New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut, 1911
- Caesar Rodney Equestrian Statue, Rodney Square, Wilmington, Delaware, 1922
- Commander Edward M. Hughes, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland,
- General George Washington at Valley Forge, Federal Hall, New York City
- General Horatio G. Wright. Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia
- Bust of General Oliver Otis Howard, Howard University, Washington, D.C.
Kelly was also known for his extremely detailed and accurate engravings on historical subjects, often commissioned by magazines. His work has recently been highlighted by the book Generals in Bronze by William Styple, in which Kelly's sometimes-provocative interviews with generals as he sculpted them were compiled and published for the first time in 2005.
Kelly died in New York City and is buried in an unmarked grave in St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.
On October 1, 2006, a black granite monument with Kelly's image carved into it and the words, "A Sculptor of American History" was placed over the artist's previously unmarked grave. Funds for the monument were raised by William B. Styple, editor of Generals in Bronze (2005), a collection of interviews the artist conducted with generals and other Civil War soldiers.
[edit] References
- Hawthorne, Frederick W., Gettysburg: Stories of Men and Monuments, Association of Licenced Battlefield Guides, Hanover, Pennsylvania, 1988.
- Opitz, Glenn B , Editor, Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Book, Poughkeepsie NY, 1986.
- Styple, William B., Generals in Bronze: Interviewing the Commanders of the Civil War, Belle Grove Publishing, 2005, ISBN 1-883926-18-1.
- Whittemore, Francis Davis. George Washington in Sculpture, Marshall Jones Company, Boston, 1933.
