Cornellia Van A. Chapin

Cornellia Van Auken Chapin (August 7, 1893[1] - 1973) American sculptor and animalier born in Waterford, Connecticut. She studied sculpture with Gail Sherman Corbett and later shared studios with both Genevieve Karr Hamlin and Marion Sanford. She early became interested in creating somewhat abstracted animal forms and in the early 1930 moved to Paris to study direct carving with Mateo Hernandez (1884-1949), where she would go to the zoo and carve sculptures of animals,[2] an unusual technique for direct carvers. In 1936, following the success of her carving Tortoise she was elected a member of the Salon d;Automne, the only foreigner and the only woman thus honored that year.[3]

She returned to the United States following the start of World War II and in the summer of 1949, was one of 250 sculptors who exhibited in the 3rd Sculpture International held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. From 1951 to 1953 Chapin served on the New York City Art Commission.[4]

Chapin was a founding member of the Sculptors Guild and also a member in the National Sculpture Society and the National Academy of Design.[5]

Selected works

References

  1. ↑ Sculptors’ Guild Travelling Exhibition, 1940-1941’’, Sculptors’ Guild, New York, New York, 1940 p. 6
  2. ↑ Sculptors’ Guild Travelling Exhibition, 1940-1941’’, Sculptors’ Guild, New York, New York, 1940 p. 6
  3. ↑ Proske, Beatrice Gilman, Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture, Brookgreen Gardens, SC, 1968 p. 396
  4. ↑ Rubenstein, Charlotte Streifer, ‘’American Women Artists: from Early Indian Times to the Present’’, Avon Publishers 1982 p. 291-291
  5. ↑ Proske, Beatrice Gilman, Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture, Brookgreen Gardens, SC, 1968 p, 398
  6. ↑ Hall, Edward Hagaman, L.H.D., “A Guide to the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine on the City of New York’’ The Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church, Seventeenth Edition, 1965 pp. 130-132