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Marion Sanford (February 9, 1904 - February 1987) was an American sculptor known for her bronze portraits of women engaged in everyday domestic activities.


Early life and career

Sanford was born to American parents in
Guelph, Ontario Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...
and was raised on a farm in Warren, Pennsylvania. Her artistic education began at
Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...
, where she studied painting in 1922. She later worked as a stage and costume designer before developing an interest in sculpture. At the
Art Students League of New York 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 ...
, Sanford studied sculpture under
Leo Lentelli 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. He also taugh ...
and Robert Laurent, experimenting with the direct-carving method. She also worked as an apprentice to artist
Brenda Putnam Brenda Putnam (June 3, 1890 – October 18, 1975) was an American sculptor, teacher and author. Biography She was the daughter of Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam and his wife Charlotte Elizabeth Munroe. Her older sister Shirley and sh ...
between 1937 and 1940. Sanford provided pen and ink illustrations for Putnam's book, ''The Sculptor's Way,'' and is referred to by Putnam in that book as "my pupil, assistant and colleague." In 1937, Sanford had her first exhibition of sculptures. The same year, her statue ''Diana'' was awarded a prize by the
National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors 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 ...
. In 1939, she completed a plaster bas-relief of black workers weighing cotton, which had been commissioned with funds provided by the
Treasury Section of Fine Arts A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry; in a business context, corporate treasury. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be st ...
for the
Winder, Georgia Winder (, ) is a city and the county seat of Barrow County, Georgia, United States. It is located east of Atlanta and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. The population was 18,338 at the 2020 census. History Creek people first inhabited ...
post office as part of a
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 ...
arts initiative. Sanford also was included in the
1939 New York World's Fair The 1939 New York World's Fair (also known as the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair) was an world's fair, international exposition at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, New York, United States. The fair included exhibitio ...
exhibition of American art, and won
Guggenheim Fellowships Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
in 1941 and 1942. Sanford is best known for her "Women at Work" (also referred to as "working women") series of bronze sculptures depicting women doing household chores such as picking apples (''Harvest,'' 1941), preparing food (''Butterwoman'', 1942) and washing clothes (''Scrubwoman'', n.d.). These works were inspired by memories of her Swedish neighbors working on their farm when she was a child in Pennsylvania. In a 1947 interview, Sanford stated that she feels there is a "beauty in movements one makes while performing chores" as well as an "unconscious grace in the succession of movements as the work proceeds." Other notable works include ''De Profundis'' (1943), a portrait of a grief-stricken woman for which she received the Watrous Gold Medal at 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 ...
, and ''Dawn'' (1947), a portrait of a seated teenaged girl, which won another award from the Academy. In the summer of 1949 she was one of 250 sculptors who exhibited in the
3rd Sculpture International 3rd Sculpture International was a 1949 exhibition of contemporary sculpture held inside and outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It featured works by 250 sculptors from around the world, and ran from May 15 ...
held at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...
. Other exhibitions include those at the Newport Art Association,
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 the
Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...
. Sanford was a founding member of the
Sculptors Guild Sculptors Guild, a society of sculptors who banded together to promote public interest in contemporary sculpture, was founded in 1937. Signatories to the original corporation papers (Sculptors Guild, Inc.) were Sonia Gordon Brown, Berta Margouli ...
and also a member in 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 ...
.


Personal life and death

Sanford began working with fellow sculptor Cornelia Chapin in the late 1930s. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, they redecorated and maintained the former studio of
Gutzon Borglum John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an American sculpture, sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Moun ...
on 38th Street in New York City. The two artists eventually relocated to
Lakeville, Connecticut Lakeville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States, close to Dutchess County, New York. It is within the town of Salisbury, but has its own ZIP Code (06039). As of the 2010 census, the population of L ...
in 1952. Chapin often modeled for Sanford's work. After Chapin's death in 1972, Sanford relocated to Eastbourne, England, where she lived and worked until her own death in February 1987. The two artists' combined papers are in the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
's
Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...
as the "Marion Sanford and Cornelia Chapin papers, 1929-1988."


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanford, Marion 1904 births 1987 deaths 20th-century American sculptors Treasury Relief Art Project artists American modern sculptors Sculptors from New York City American expatriates in Canada People from Lakeville, Connecticut Sculptors from New York (state) 20th-century American women sculptors