Arthur Putnam Explained

Arthur Putnam
Birth Name:John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum
Birth Date:6 September 1873
Birth Place:Waveland, Mississippi
Nationality:American
Field:Sculpture

Arthur Putnam (September 6, 1873 – May 27, 1930) was an American sculptor and animalier[1] who was recognized for his bronze sculptures of wild animals. Some of his artworks are public monuments. He was a well-known figure, both statewide and nationally, during the time he lived in California.[2] Putnam was regarded as an artistic genius in San Francisco and his life was chronicled in the San Francisco and East Bay newspapers.[3] He won a gold medal at the 1915 San Francisco world's fair, officially known as the Panama–Pacific International Exposition, and was responsible for large sculptural works that stand in San Francisco and San Diego. Putnam exhibited at the Armory Show in 1913, and his works were also exhibited in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Paris, and Rome.

Early life

Putnam was born on September 6, 1873, in Waveland, Mississippi, whilst his family was traveling. He had an older brother, George, born in New Orleans, and a younger sister, Clara Elizabeth, born in Mississippi. Their father, Oramel Hinkley Putnam (1841–1880), was a civil engineer from Vermont[4] and served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Oramel Putnam was a railroad worker, and the family frequently relocated during the sculptor's early years. The Putnams eventually settled in Omaha, Nebraska, for an extended time whilst Putnam was growing up; Putnam enjoyed drawing animals and modeling them in clay during this period. He experienced a serious accident as a child, falling forty feet out of a tree and receiving a head injury.[5] In San Francisco he visited the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894, took Julie Heyneman’s drawing class at the local Art Students League,[6] [7] [8] [9] and had a short apprenticeship with the sculptor Rupert Schmid.[10] [11] In 1899 Putnam married his first wife, Grace Choate Storey, in Sacramento, California, and moved first to Berkeley, California, and then in 1900 to San Francisco. He worked frequently on commissions for architectural sculpture.[12]

Scripps commission

Putnam received his first major commission from the newspaperman, E. W. Scripps (1854–1926), for the creation of five monumental figures from California history and lore. Putnam's brother, George, worked for Scripps' secretary, and this arrangement led to Putnam visiting the Scripps Ranch at Miramar, where he was awarded the commission. Five works were initially planned for locations on the Scripps estate, and the designs were to be approved by Scripps.[13]

San Francisco, 1900 to 1921

In San Francisco, Putnam was friends with artist and stained glass designer Bruce Porter (1865–1943) and the tonalist painter Gottardo Piazzoni (1872–1945); these friendships would help sustain the sculptor in the future. He shared a studio with sculptor Earl Cummings (1876–1936), and Piazzoni at 628 Montgomery Street (part of the Montgomery Block, where a number of other artists and bohemians lived). Literary figures such as Jack London (1876–1916) and George Sterling were known to visit the studio.[14] Putnam worked with progressive painters like Maynard Dixon (1875–1946), Matteo Sandona (1881–1964), and Xavier Martínez (1869–1943), all of whom left the San Francisco Art Association and formed the California Society of Artists with Piazzoni and Putnam.[15] The breakaway group organized a single exhibition that was held at Charles Peter Neilson's studio in 1902.[16] In 1905 he traveled first to Rome and then to Paris, where he exhibited six sculptures at the Salon and Auguste Rodin praised him as “a master.” The streetlights at 680–1140 Sutter Street in the Lower Nob Hill district of San Francisco were designed by Putnam with "The Winning of the West" bases, installed with architects D. H. Burnham & Co.[17] In 1910 he sold his Snarling Jaguar to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.[18]

Neurological problems which began in 1909 led to the removal of a brain tumor in 1911. As a result of the operation, Putnam was paralyzed on his left side and his formal perceptions were impaired.[19] He divorced his wife and in 1917 married Marion Pearson, a woman half his age.[20] Constant demands for new work, especially from the art critic Laura Bride Powers who falsely claimed that Putnam had recovered his talents “by a miracle,” kept him out of the country until his death on May 27, 1930, at Ville d’Avray, France.[21] [22]

Between 1900 and his permanent move to France in 1921 his sculptures were exhibited on more than 25 separate occasions in the San Francisco Bay Area, including venues at the Berkley and San Francisco Art Associations, Bohemian Club, California Palace of Fine Arts, Vickery, Atkins & Torrey Gallery, and the Legion of Honor.

The awards that he received outside of California include an Honorable Mention at the Art Institute of Chicago (1917), the Barnett Prize at New York’s National Academy of Design, the Widener Medal at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1923), and the Avery Prize at the Architectural League of New York (1924).

Panama–Pacific International Exposition

Putnam's contribution to the Panama–Pacific International Exposition, held February 4 to December 15, 1915, was a mermaid situated in a fountain designed by architect Arthur Brown, Jr. The mermaid was not representative of the sculptor’s earlier work;[23] Putnam had been significantly hampered by a stroke caused by the 1911 surgery. Included in the fair's exhibition galleries was a case containing a selection of Putnam’s bronze sculptures, whilst his bronze group, The Puma and the Snake, was on exhibit in another gallery. These were cast in Rodin’s foundry outside of Paris. The bronze group, which was in the fair's competition for honors, generated positive reviews, with Neuhaus writing that "Arthur Putnam, whose case of animal sculpture is attracting most keen attention, a man for whom the word genius hardly seems too weighty, was awarded a gold medal."[24]

Rediscovery of the Jack London Writing Tablet

The Jack London Writing Tablet, considered to be one of Putnam's most interesting, impressive, and personal works, had faded into obscurity after its presentation at the Children's Pet Exhibition of 1917 in San Francisco. The California redwood sculpture was rediscovered by San Diego antique dealer Christian Chaffee in 1998.

The history of the Jack London piece remains unclear, but it was likely created in 1903. Putnam and Jack London were good friends. The animal depicted in the sculpture has been identified as "Old Buck", the resilient dog from London's major work, The Call of the Wild. Research supported by The Huntington Library confirms that Jack London owned the piece in 1916.[25]

Collections

Public monuments and sculpture groups

Memberships

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Commercial gallery representation

Sources

Books and essays

Newspaper articles

Periodicals

External links

Notes and References

  1. Proske, Beatrice Gilman, Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture, Brookgreen Gardens, SC, 1943 p. xxix
  2. Book: Edwards. Robert W.. Jennie V. Cannon: The Untold History of the Carmel and Berkeley Art Colonies, Vol. 1. 2012. East Bay Heritage Project. Oakland, Calif.. 9781467545679. 73, 75, 252, 580–582, 690. An online facsimile of the entire text of Vol. 1 is posted on the Traditional Fine Arts Organization website (http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/10aa/10aa557.htm).
  3. Laura Bride Powers, Artistic Genius of the West Leaves for Paris Next Week, Oakland Tribune, May 23, 1921.
  4. Dates verified on the Ancestry.com web site
  5. Jeffrey Morseburg, Arthur Putnam: The Trials, Tragedy and Triumphs of a California Sculptor, page 4
  6. http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/cara/ucb/text/Cara_Volume_06.pdf Arthur PUTNAM (1873-1930) - California Art Research Archive
  7. Web site: Arthur PUTNAM (1873-1930). 21 April 2014.
  8. https://bancroftlibrarycara.wordpress.com/
  9. Web site: Arthur Putnam | LACMA Collections.
  10. Book: Heyneman. Julie H.. Arthur Putnam, Sculptor. 1932. Johnck & Seeger. San Francisco, CA. 3129405. 5ff.
  11. Book: Heyneman. Julie H.. Desert Cactus, the Portrait of a Sculptor. 1934. G. Bles. London. 5057039. 7ff.
  12. Radford, Warren and Georgia, ‘’Outdoor Sculpture in San Francisco: A Heritage of Public Art’’, Helsham Press, Gualala, CA, 2002, p. 59.
  13. J. Mayne, A Splendid Piece of Bronze Work, Granite Marble and Bronze, A. M. Hunt Company, Boston, Massachusetts, page 35, and Christian Chaffee's timeline on the Jack London tablet web site
  14. See Jeffrey Morseburg essay and the letter on the Jack London tablet web site.
  15. Donald J. Hagerty, Desert Dreams: The Art and Life of Maynard Dixon
  16. Donald J. Hagerty, Desert Dreams: The Art and Life of Maynard Dixon, page 31
  17. Web site: July 31, 1991 . [{{NRHP url|id=91000957}} National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Lower Nob Hill Apartment Hotel District ]. May 26, 2023 . National Park Service. With
  18. The Art Digest, 1 June 1930, p. 16.
  19. Los Angeles County Museum of Art
  20. The Oakland Tribune, 25 February 1917, p. 17.
  21. The Oakland Tribune: 14 August 1921, p.S-5; 12 October 1921, p.13; 15 January 1922, p.S-7; 15 October 1922, p.S-7; 20 January 1929, p.S-5.
  22. New York Times, 29 May 1930, p. 23.
  23. Eugen Neuhaus, Art of the Exposition
  24. Eugen Neuhaus, Art of The Exposition
  25. Web site: History :: Jack London Writing Tablet . 2011-02-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110713072524/http://www.jacklondontablet.com/history.htm . 2011-07-13 . dead .

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