Gladys Edgerly Bates (July 15, 1896 – July 28, 2003) was an American sculptor known for her figure carving. Her work is in permanent collections at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

and the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

. She was a member of the

Philadelphia Ten The Philadelphia Ten, also known as The Ten, was a group of American female artists who exhibited together from 1917 to 1945. The group, eventually numbering 30 painters and sculptors, exhibited annually in Philadelphia and later had traveling ex ...

. She was a founding member of the Mystic Museum of Art.

Biography

Bates was born Gladys Cecelia Edgerly on July 15, 1896, in

Hopewell, New Jersey Hopewell is a borough in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Centrally located within the Raritan Valley region, this historical settlement (and its neighboring township of the same name) is an exurban commuter suburb of New York ...

. From 1910 to 1916 she attended the

Corcoran School of Art The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design (known as the Corcoran School or CSAD) is the professional art school of the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C.Peggy McGloneUniversity names first director of Corcoran School of the Arts an ...

in Washington, D.C. In 1916 she began attending the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art (PAFA) where she studied with

Daniel Garber Daniel Garber (April 11, 1880 – July 5, 1958) was an American Impressionist landscape painter and member of the art colony at New Hope, Pennsylvania. He is best known today for his large impressionist scenes of the New Hope area, in which he ...

and

Charles Grafly Charles Allan Grafly, Jr. (December 3, 1862 – May 5, 1929) was an American sculptor, and teacher. Instructor of Sculpture at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for 37 years, his students included Paul Manship, Albin Polasek, and Walker H ...

. In 1921, she was awarded the Cresson Traveling Scholarship by the PAFA which allowed her to travel to Europe. In 1923, she married Kenneth Bates, with whom she had three children. In 1924, the couple settled in

Mystic, Connecticut Mystic is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in Groton and Stonington, Connecticut, United States. Mystic was a significant Connecticut seaport with more than 600 ships built over 135 years starting in 1784. Mystic Seaport, located in ...

. There they were among the artists who worked with Charles Harold Davis to establish the Mystic Museum of Art. Bates was a member of the Philadelphia Ten, the Mystic Art Association, the

National Association of Women Artists The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...

and the

National Sculpture Society Founded in 1893, the National Sculpture Society (NSS) was the first organization of professional sculptors formed in the United States. The purpose of the organization was to promote the welfare of American sculptors, although its founding member ...

. Bates died in

on July 28, 2003.

References

External links

''Morning''
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
''Sleepy Girl''
at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts {{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Gladys Edgerly 1896 births 2003 deaths 20th-century American women sculptors George Washington University Corcoran School alumni Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni American women centenarians 20th-century American sculptors People from Hopewell, New Jersey Sculptors from New Jersey People from Mystic, Connecticut Sculptors from Connecticut