Roland Hinton Perry (January 25, 1870 – October 27, 1941)"New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WRL-TLD : 20 March 2015), Roland Perry, 27 Oct 1941; citing Death, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 2,130,459. was an American sculptor and painter.

Background

Perry was born in New York City to George and Ione Hinton Perry, and entered the École des Beaux Arts in 1890 at the age of 19. At 21, he studied at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the numbe ...

and Académie Delécluse in Paris and focused on sculpture, the medium in which he would achieve the most artistic success.

Career

After returning to the United States, Perry received a commission to sculpt a series of

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

s for the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The librar ...

in Washington, D.C. in 1894. The following year, he was commissioned to create the

Court of Neptune Fountain The Court of Neptune Fountain is a group of bronze sculptures made by Roland Hinton Perry in 1897–98. Jerome Connor may have assisted in their manufacture. The sculptures are located at the Library of Congress, at Independence Avenue and 1st S ...

in front of the Library's main building, now known as the

Thomas Jefferson Building The Thomas Jefferson Building is the oldest of the four United States Library of Congress buildings. Built between 1890 and 1897, it was originally known as the Library of Congress Building. It is now named for the 3rd U.S. president Thomas Jeffe ...

. The success of this work in Washington led to other commissions including a design for the statue of ''Commonwealth'' on top of the dome of Pennsylvania's new Capitol Building in 1905. He also created the spandrels on the temporary

Dewey Arch __NOTOC__ The Dewey Arch was a triumphal arch that stood from 1899 to 1900 at Madison Square in Manhattan, New York. It was erected for a parade in honor of Admiral George Dewey celebrating his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Phi ...

in New York City (1899), '' Thompson Elk Fountain'' standing in the

Plaza Blocks The Plaza Blocks, two courthouse squares known as Chapman Square and Lownsdale Square, are located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The blocks are north of Terry Schrunk Plaza and east of City Hall. The northmost square is named after ...

of downtown

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

(1900), interior reliefs for the New Amsterdam Theater in New York City, (1903), statues of Dr.

Benjamin Rush Benjamin Rush (April 19, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States who signed the United States Declaration of Independence, and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, social reformer, humanitarian, educato ...

in Washington and of General

George S. Greene George Sears Greene (May 6, 1801 – January 28, 1899) was a civil engineer and a Union general during the American Civil War. He was part of the Greene family of Rhode Island, which had a record of distinguished military service to the United S ...

Gettysburg Battlefield The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg within and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the site of the first sho ...

(both 1904), the Perry Lions on the Connecticut Avenue Bridge in Washington (1906), a figural group atop

Lookout Mountain Lookout Mountain is a mountain ridge located at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southeastern Tennessee state line in Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain was the scene of the 18th-centu ...

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, it also extends into Marion County, Tennessee, Marion County on its west ...

(1907), the John B Castleman Monument (1913), and a monument to the Thirty-Eighth Infantry in Syracuse, New York (1920). Perry was a member of the

Grand Central Art Galleries The Grand Central Art Galleries were the exhibition and administrative space of the nonprofit Painters and Sculptors Gallery Association, an artists' cooperative established in 1922 by Walter Leighton Clark together with John Singer Sargent, Ed ...

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 members ...

. Many of his paintings are displayed at the

Detroit Museum of Art The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers with a major renovation and expansion project complete ...

. Perry's cousin was the sculptor

Clio Hinton Bracken Clio Hinton Bracken (1870–1925) was an American sculptor. A native of Rhinebeck, New York, Bracken studied with Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Her mother was a painter and sculptor, and she shared studio space with her cousin, Roland Hinton Perry ...

, and the two shared studio space for a time.

Death

Perry died in New York City on October 27, 1941 at the age of 71.

Gallery

File:LOC Court of Neptune Fountain by Roland Hinton Perry - 3.jpg, '' The Court of Neptune Fountain'' (1897-1898) at the

, Washington, D.C. File:Pdx main street elk P2041.jpeg, '' Thompson Elk Fountain'' (1900), Portland, Oregon File:Greene Gettysburg Monument.jpg,

monument (1904), Gettysburg, Pennsylvania File:Bronze sculpture of a lion by Roland Hinton Perry, Golden Gate Park.JPG, Bronze sculpture of a lion (1898, cast 1905), Golden Gate Park File:Perry Lions.JPG, Perry Lions (1906) on the Connecticut Avenue Bridge, Washington, D.C. File:TH259.jpg, John Breckinridge Castleman Equestrian Statue (1913) Louisville, Kentucky File:22-26-122-neely.jpg, Bronze relief portrait of Col. George W. Neely at

Vicksburg National Military Park Vicksburg National Military Park preserves the site of the American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg, waged from March 29 to July 4, 1863. The park, located in Vicksburg, Mississippi (flanking the Mississippi River), also commemorates the greate ...

References

Roland Hinton Perry
at Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Capitol: Capitol Artists * "R. H. Perry is Dead", ''The New York Times'', October 29, 1941. * "Roland Perry, Sculptor, Dies", ''The Washington Post'', October 30, 1941. {{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Roland Hinton 1870 births 1941 deaths Académie Julian alumni 20th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists American male sculptors Painters from New York City Sculptors from New York (state) Académie Delécluse alumni