Brown created the model for his eagle in 1867 for his monument to Abraham Lincoln, the first erected in the United States, and placed in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York, in 1869. Brown had exhibited a bronze eagle at the National Academy of Design Exhibition in 1868, the premiere national exhibition venue for American artists at the time. The Gilcrease eagle, purchased by Thomas Gilcrease from a New York dealer in 1944, was likely cast in 1867-68 for that exhibition as no other casts are known aside from those made for the base of the monument.
From the exhibition:Frontier to Foundry: the Making of Small Bronze Sculpture in the Gilcrease Collection, December 2014 - March 2015.
Ann Boulton Young, Associate Conservator for the Gilcrease Museum, 2014.
Massachusetts native Henry Kirke Brown, arguably the father of American art bronze casting, built a small foundry in his Brooklyn studio in the late 1840’s to make a number of sand casts of a few small sculptures. At his urging and with his advice, the Ames Manufacturing Company added art bronze production to their business. The Robert Wood Iron foundry (casting art bronze 1866-1875) entered the art bronze arena with new French foundry employees in 1866 after Brown’s falling out with Ames. Other sculptors also defected from Ames to Robert Wood that year.
From the exhibition:Frontier to Foundry: the Making of Small Bronze Sculpture in the Gilcrease Collection, December 2014 - March 2015.
Ann Boulton Young, Associate Conservator for the Gilcrease Museum, 2014.
Role(s):
Artist
Names (all):
Brown, Henry Kirke
Birth Date:
1814
Death Date:
1886
Nationalities:
American (North American)
Roles:
American sculptor, 1814-1886
Gender:
male
Related People:
Hunt, William Morris, teacher of - person American painter, 1824-1879
Bush-Brown, Margaret Lesley, spouse of - person American painter, etcher, and graphic artist, 1857-1944
The Robert Wood Iron foundry (casting art bronze 1866-1875) entered the art bronze arena with new French foundry employees in 1866. Sculptures, such as Henry Kirke Brown, defected from Ames to Robert Wood that year.
From the exhibition:Frontier to Foundry: the Making of Small Bronze Sculpture in the Gilcrease Collection, December 2014 - March 2015.
Ann Boulton Young, Associate Conservator for the Gilcrease Museum, 2014.
