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

and

Académie Delécluse The Académie Delécluse was an atelier-style art school in Paris, France, founded in the late 19th century by the painter Auguste Joseph Delécluse. It was exceptionally supportive of women artists, with more space being given to women students ...

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 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 the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

in Washington, D.C., in 1894. The following year, he was commissioned to create the Court of Neptune Fountain in front of the Library's main building, now known as the

Thomas Jefferson Building The Thomas Jefferson Building, also known as the Main Library, is the oldest of the Library of Congress buildings in Washington, D.C. Built between 1890 and 1897, it was initially known as the Library of Congress Building. In 1980, the building ...

. 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 in New York City (1899), '' Thompson Elk Fountain'' standing in the Plaza Blocks of downtown

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

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

Benjamin Rush Benjamin Rush (April 19, 1813) was an American revolutionary, a Founding Father of the United States and signatory to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, social refor ...

in Washington and of General George S. Greene at

Gettysburg Battlefield The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the site of the first shot & at Knoxlyn Ridge ...

(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 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-century "La ...

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

(1907), the John B Castleman Monument (1913), and a monument to the Thirty-Eighth Infantry in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

(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, Edm ...

and the National Sculpture Society. Many of his paintings are displayed at the

Detroit Museum of Art The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...

. Perry's cousin was the sculptor Clio Hinton Bracken, 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:Roland Hinton Perry Selfportrait.jpg, Self-portrait (1923), Chalk Study File:Pdx main street elk P2041.jpeg, '' Thompson Elk Fountain'' (1900), Portland, Oregon File:Greene Gettysburg Monument.jpg, George S. Greene 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 Golden Gate Park is an urban park between the Richmond District, San Francisco, Richmond and Sunset District, San Francisco, Sunset districts on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of San Francisco, California, United States. It is the Lis ...

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 greater ...

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