biography of Frederick William MCMONNIES (1863-1937)

Birth place: Brooklyn, NY

Death place: NYC

Addresses: NYC/Eure, France

Profession: Sculptor, painter

Studied: A. Saint-Gaudens in NYC, 1879 (apprenticed at age 16); NAD; ASL; …cole des Académie Julian, Paris with Mercié, 1883; …cole des Beaux-Arts with Falguière.

Exhibited: Paris Salon, 1889 (hon. men. for "Diana", 1891 (med.), 1900 (prize), 1901-02, 1904 (med.); Columbian Expo., Chicago, 1893 (med., "Triumph of Columbus"); AIC 1891-1939; Antwerp, 1894 (gold); Phila. AC, 1895 (med.); Atlanta Expo., 1895 (med.); Munich (med.); Boston AC (prize), 1895-96; PAFA Ann., 1898-99, 1905-06; Pan.-Am. Expo., Buffalo (gold), 1901; Olympic Exh., Los Angeles, 1932 (prize).

Member: SAA 1891; ANA 1901; NA 1906; NAC; the Cornish (NH) Colony; Arch. Lg. 1892; NIAL; Chevalier Legion of Honor; Chevalier Order of St. Michael of Bavaria.

Work: Brooklyn Memorial Arch, NY; Brooklyn Mus.; statues, Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn; MMA; Luxembourg Gardens, Paris; West Point; Boston Pub. Lib.; Buffalo FA Acad.; Syracuse Univ.; Princeton (NJ) Battle Monument; Hall Of Fame, NYC; Charles Lindbergh Medal for Soc. of Medalists; City Hall Park, NYC; fountains, NYPL; LOC; Pioneer Monument, Denver,; largest project was the famous WWI Marne Monument, Meaux, France

Comments: At the turn of the century he was considered, along with Daniel Chester French and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, as one of the triumvirate of America"s great Beaux-Arts' sculptors. In 1898, he taught in Paris at Acad. Carmen, a school formed by his good friend, Whistler. MacMonnies' highly controversial sculpture "Bacchante and Infant Faun" was removed from public display at the Boston Public Library (and moved to the MMA), owing to protests made by Boston citizens and the Women's Christian Temperance Union about the sculpture's subject matter. Signature note: He signed as "MacMonnies" in a cursive style, but reserved his pegasus symbol for his larger important oils.

Sources: WW33; biography, Mary Smart, A Flight with Fame (Sound View Press, Madison, CT, 1997); Ethelyn Adina Gordon, The Sculpture of Frederick William MacMonnies: A Critical Catalogue (Ph.D dissertation, New York University, 1998); Falk, Exh. Record Series.