Leo Lentelli (20 October 1879 – 31 December 1961) was an Italian sculptor who immigrated to the United States. During his 52 years in the United States he created works throughout the country, notably in New York and

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. He also taught sculpture.

History

Born in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, Italy, on October 29, 1879, Leo Lentelli studied in Bologna and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and worked as a sculptor in his native land. Immigrating to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1903 at the age of 24, Lentelli initially assisted in the studios of several established sculptors. In 1911 he entered the Architectural League exhibition and won the Avery Prize. The following year he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Chosen to provide sculptural ornament for the Panama-Pacific Exposition, Lentelli moved to

in 1914. He collaborated with Frederick George Richard Roth and Stirling Calder. Calder has been credited with aiding Lentelli in developing his own style. An example can be seen in his ''Water Sprites''.

His long-limbed figures with hair and draperies in loose frills like seaweed made striking fountain statues and lent themselves well to architectural decoration. The surfaces were left rough for the sake of variety of texture and to give an effect of spontaneity.

He also participated as a sculptor in the city's artistic renewal, which took place after the 1906 earthquake and fire. While in San Francisco he taught at the California School of Fine Arts. Significant works from this period include the ''Five Symbolic Figures'' at the Old Main Library elevated above the street entrance of the Larkin Street entrance. Still a resident of San Francisco, he made the ornament for the Orpheum Theater, then known as the Historic American Theater, at Saint Louis and created two-figure groups depicting pioneers on the Dennis Sullivan Gateway at

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado. Returning to New York City, he began teaching at the

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

. He also taught at the

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

and became an academician of the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

. Lentelli gained fame through his ''The Savior with Sixteen Angels'' for the reredos at the

Cathedral of St. John the Divine The Cathedral of St. John the Divine (sometimes referred to as St. John's and also nicknamed St. John the Unfinished) is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It is at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue in the Morningside Heights neighborhoo ...

in New York, as well as his public sculpture for the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Among his important works are an equestrian statue of

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

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, Virginia (collaboration with Henry Shrady), and a 1932 monument to Cardinal Gibbons located north of Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C. A benignity is achieved in the latter, its decorative element accented in the carved chair and graceful folds of the cassock. During the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

Lentelli created four statues for the Post Office in Oyster Bay, Long Island, dated 1937: a terracotta bust of

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

, two terracotta panels and ornamentation at the base of the flagpole. During the same period, he also created sculpture for the post office of North East, Pennsylvania. His statue of Apollo and a musical muse, located in a lunette of

Steinway Hall Steinway Hall (German: ) is the name of buildings housing concert halls, showrooms and sales departments for Steinway & Sons pianos. The first Steinway Hall was opened in 1866 in New York City. Today, Steinway Halls and are located in cities suc ...

on 57th Street in New York City, was covered when the building was sold, but is again on display. Other ornamental figures include ''Bagnante'', a ''Diana'', and ''Leda''. In addition to figures, Lentelli sculpted panels and

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 ...

s for many distinguished buildings. He ornamented a frieze on the Free Academy building at Corning, New York with a panel of children's figures. Lentelli's bas-reliefs on the International Building at

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The 14 original Art De ...

are considered among his most important works. Among Leo Lentelli's marks of recognition are the 1922 Medal of Honor of the

Architectural League of New York The Architectural League of New York is a non-profit organization "for creative and intellectual work in architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construct ...

and gold medal at the National Academy of Design exhibition in 1927. He was a fellow of the National Sculpture Society, an associate member of the National Academy of Design and a member of the Architectural League of New York. In 1955 Lentelli retired to Italy and died on December 31, 1961, in Rome. The Charlottesville Robert E Lee statue was removed in 2021 in the aftermath of riots before being melted down in 2023.

Other works

Though best known for his work at

in New York City, he created sculpture which can be seen at a number of other locations, including the following: * Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina *

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

, Washington, DC * U.S. General Service Administration, Washington, DC *

Oakland Museum Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, Oakland, California * ''The Archer'', San Francisco Museum of Art * Pennsylvania Academy of Design * Cathedral Church of Christ the King, Kalamazoo, Michigan * Liberty Building, Buffalo, New York (the twin statues of liberty facing east and west atop the roof) *

The Breakers The Breakers is a Gilded Age mansion located at 44 Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island, US. It was built between 1893 and 1895 as a summer residence for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, a member of the wealthy Vanderbilt family. The 70-room mans ...

, Palm Beach, Florida

Images

File:Leo Lentilli Five Symbolic Figures.jpg, ''Five Symbolic Figures'' at the Old San Francisco Public Library File:Lentelli Rockefeller Center.JPG, Bas reliefs representing the four continents at Rockefeller Center File:Lentelli Steinway Building.JPG , Apollo and musical muse, Steinway Hall, New York City File:Lentelli Faun.JPG, ''Faun'', Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina File:Orpheum St. Louis.jpg, Lentelli ornamentation of Orpheum Theater, St. Louis, Missouri File:Didier Pasquette BIWNY 1.jpg,

Didier Pasquette Didier Pasquette is a noted French people, French tightrope walker. Pasquette studied with Philippe Petit (famous for his high wire walk between the former World Trade Center (1973–2001), Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York in 197 ...

walking a tightrope between the twin statues atop the Liberty Building in downtown Buffalo, New York, 2010

Notes

External links

Views of Lentelli's bronze statue of Cardinal Gibbons

* ttp://thedirtythirties.tumblr.com/post/95478130/american-beauties-at-the-worlds-fair-march-1939 Alfred Eisentadt's 1939 photo of Lentelli's ''American Beauties'', World's Fair, New York, NY {{DEFAULTSORT:Lentelli, Leo American modern sculptors Art Students League of New York faculty 1879 births 1961 deaths San Francisco Art Institute faculty American architectural sculptors American male sculptors Italian emigrants to the United States 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists Treasury Relief Art Project artists National Sculpture Society members Sculptors from New York (state)