Leila Usher (August 26, 1859 – August 13, 1955) was an American sculptor.

Biography

Leila Woodman Usher was born in

Onalaska, Wisconsin Onalaska ( ) is a city in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 18,803 at the 2020 census. It borders the larger La Crosse, Wisconsin, and is a part of the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metropolitan Area. Onalaska is buil ...

on August 26, 1859, to parents Isaac Lane Usher and Susannah Coffin Woodman. She was a pupil of English sculptor H. H. Kitson in Boston, American George Brewster in Cambridge, and Irish-American

Augustus Saint-Gaudens Augustus Saint-Gaudens (; March 1, 1848 – August 3, 1907) was an American sculpture, sculptor of the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts generation who embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. Saint-Gaudens was born in Dublin to an Iris ...

in New York, and also studied abroad in Paris and Rome. Bust of Booker T

Her best-known work is a 1902 bust of educator Booker T. Washington commissioned by the

Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU; formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute) is a Private university, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was f ...

. She produced

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

portraits of many other prominent figures such as scholar

Francis James Child Francis James Child (February 1, 1825 – September 11, 1896) was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of English and Scottish ballads now known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor ...

, minister Elijah Kellogg, and geologist John Wesley Powell. Usher also created a bronze medallion of social reformer Susan B. Anthony, presented on April 21, 1902, to

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

. Anthony herself attended the ceremony and addressed the audience after the presentation. On September 27, 1915, Usher exhibited a replica of medallion at the Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture by Women Artists for the Benefit of Woman Suffrage Campaign held in New York, notable because it was the only portrait of a suffragist out of the 153 works displayed. Usher received the Bronze Medal at the 1895 Atlanta Exposition, and her work was also awarded at the 1915

Panama–Pacific International Exposition The Panama–Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California, United States, from February 20 to December 4, 1915. Its stated purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely s ...

. Usher's sculptures are held in the collections of institutions such as

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. It was chartered in 1794. The main Bowdoin campus is located near Casco Bay and the Androscoggin River. In a ...

, Hampton University,

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, and

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

. She died at St. Luke's Hospital in New York on August 13, 1955, aged 95.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Usher, Leila 1850s births 1955 deaths 19th-century American sculptors 20th-century American sculptors People from Onalaska, Wisconsin Sculptors from Wisconsin American expatriates in France American expatriates in Italy 20th-century American women sculptors 19th-century American women sculptors