Brenda Putnam

She was the daughter of Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam and his wife Charlotte Elizabeth Munroe. Her older sister Shirley and she were granddaughters of publisher George Palmer Putnam.{{Cite web|title=Shirley Putnam and Brenda Putnam, ages 11 and 8, on shore at Annisquam, Mass.|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2003655382/|access-date=2022-12-31|website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}} She attended the National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C., where she first was taught to sculpt."Brenda's Book". Time. June 26, 1939. She also trained as a classical pianist, and toured with violinist Edith Rubel and cellist Marie Roemaet as the Edith Rubel Trio.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x-w6AQAAMAAJ&q=%2522Edith%2520Rubel%2520Trio%2520Back%2520from%2520a%2520Successful%2520Southern%2520Trip&pg=RA9-PA14|title=Musical Courier and Review of Recorded Music|date=1917|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Gilpin|first=Laura|date=1917|title=The prelude|url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95506525/|access-date=2022-12-31|website=www.loc.gov|language=en}}

She studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1905–1907, under Mary E. Moore, William McGregor Paxton and Bela Pratt; then for three years at the Art Students League of New York under James Earle Fraser.{{Cite web|title=NAD|url=https://nationalacademy.org/collections/artists/detail/335/|access-date=2022-12-31|website=nationalacademy.org}} She also studied at the Corcoran Museum Art School in Washington, D.C.

File:Brenda Putnam Water Baby Touchstone 1917 v1 p11.jpg

Early in her career, Putnam was noted for her busts of children and for garden and fountain figures. She exhibited an overtly sensual piece at the National Academy of Design in 1915, Charmides [Dialogue], a nude woman and man asleep together, which was described as "Rodin-like"."The Naked and the Nude", American Art News, December 12, 1915, p. 2. To mark the grave of her close friend, pianist Anne Simon, she created a profound work: the Simon Memorial (1917)—a nude male angel ecstatically rising from the clouds.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qUc0AQAAMAAJ&q=putnam%2520%28brenda%29%2520memorial%2520figure&pg=PA69|title=Musical America|date=1918|publisher=Music Publications, Limited|language=en}}

Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, is a supremely beautiful spot wherein are erected many striking memorials. Within recent years there has grown to be another place of pilgrimage—the memorial to Mrs. Otto Torney Simon. The triumph of her passing from "life to life" ... is symbolized in the Simon Memorial wrought by Brenda Putnam. Until recently, I had never heard of this winged figure interpreted by one who knows the full significance of the statue. [T]his angel with wide flung hands and upward gaze symbolizes liberation of our faculties and our abilities, the enfranchisement of the soul released by the kindly gift of Death."

She modeled a series of busts of musicians, including Metropolitan Opera conductor Artur Bodanzky,[http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=SAAM-J0040047 Artur Bodanzky], from SIRIS. Russian pianist Ossip Gabrilowitsch,[http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=SAAM-J0040046 Ossip Gabrilowitsch], from SIRIS. British pianist Harold Bauer,[http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=SAAM-J0040043 Harold Bauer], from SIRIS. and Polish harpsichordist Wanda Landowska. Her bust of Spanish cellist Pablo Casals was highly praised:

When playing, he always closes his eyes, tilts his head a little to the side, and seemingly loses himself in the magic of his music. It is this characteristic pose, with eyes closed, that Brenda Putnam has captured perfectly. This portrait bust, which one can sincerely say is magnificently done, is in the Museum of the Hispanic Society, New York, and a replica is in Spain.

Her Sea Horse Sundial (1922) – a winged cherub joyfully riding a seahorse hobby-horse (while the toy's stick casts its shadow on the sundial) – was widely praised, and received awards from the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and elsewhere. She also had a success with her life-size, three-quarter-length, bas-relief portrait of William Dean Howells (1926), for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

About 1920, sculptor Anna Hyatt and Putnam rented an apartment and studio at 49 West 12th Street, Manhattan.{{Cite book|last=Eden|first=Myrna G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YPLKnTr0-9MC&q=award%2520brenda%2520putnam&pg=PA22|title=Energy and Individuality in the Art of Anna Huntington, Sculptor and Amy Beach, Composer|date=1987|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-1916-0|language=en}} Hyatt married millionaire Archer Milton Huntington in 1923 – their wedding took place at the studio – and the Huntingtons became great patrons of the arts. In 1931 they founded Brookgreen Gardens, a vast sculpture garden in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.

File:Folger What fools.JPG

Putnam grew dissatisfied with conventional academic sculpture. Her desire to pursue "a more modern aesthetic" brought her to Italy in 1927, where she studied under Libero Andreotti, and later under Alexander Archipenko in New York City.

She collaborated with architect Paul Philippe Cret on the Art Deco Puck Fountain (1930–1932), for the west garden of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. Inscribed below her Figure of Puck is the elf's famous line from A Midsummer Night's Dream: "What fooles these mortals be." The marble sculpture, damaged by acid rain and vandalism, was removed in 2001, restored, and placed inside the library. It was used to cast an aluminum replica that was placed atop the fountain in 2002.Nicole M. Miller, "The Folger's Happy Mending", The Washington Post, January 10, 2002.

She exhibited three works as part of the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.{{Cite web|date=2020-04-18|title=Brenda Putnam Bio, Stats, and Results {{pipe}} Olympics at Sports-Reference.com|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/pu/brenda-putnam-1.html|access-date=2022-12-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418113047/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/pu/brenda-putnam-1.html |archive-date=April 18, 2020 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/921816 |title=Brenda Putnam |work=Olympedia |accessdate=August 8, 2020}} She created bas-relief murals for two U.S. post offices under the Works Progress Administration.{{Cite web|title=Brenda Putnam {{pipe}} Smithsonian American Art Museum|url=https://americanart.si.edu/artist/brenda-putnam-3896|access-date=2022-12-31|website=americanart.si.edu|language=en-US}} Her fountain figure, Crest of the Wave (1939), a larger-than-life male nude swimming atop a stylized wave, made its debut at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

Putnam seriously injured her arm in an industrial accident during World War II.Beatrice Gilman Proske, The Early Years of the Hispanic Society of America (The J. Paul Getty Trust, 1995), pp. 34, 52. Proske was one of Brenda Putnam's students. She gave up creating large-scale works and concentrated on busts and smaller pieces.Mantle Fielding & Glen B Opitz, eds., Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers, (Poughkeepsie, NY: Apollo Press, 1986), p.

In 1942, she created the 26th issue of the Society of Medalists. She was commissioned to create the Admiral Ernest Joseph King Congressional Gold Medal (1945–46), awarded by a Special Act of Congress, March 22, 1946, for Admiral King's distinguished leadership of U.S. Naval Forces in World War II.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2H2EaWWGpP0C&q=ernest%2520joseph%2520king%2520medal&pg=PA9|title=Congressional Gold Medals, 1776-2009|publisher=DIANE Publishing|isbn=978-1-4379-2906-5|language=en}} She created three bas-relief portrait busts (1949–50) for the House of Representatives chamber in the United States Capitol. Her last completed sculpture was the Bust of Susan B. Anthony (1952) for the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.Charlotte Streifer Rubinstein, American Women Sculptors: A History of Women Working in Three Dimensions (G.K. Hall, 1990), pp. 248-49.

Putnam had made the stylistic transition from Academic to Art Deco, but she was no fan of post-war Modernism. In 1952 the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced its intention to expand its holdings of contemporary sculpture. On behalf of the conservative National Sculpture Society (of which she was a fellow), Putnam vehemently advocated that The Met purchase realist works.Alan Filreis, Counter-revolution of the Word (University of North Carolina Press, 2012), pp. 225-26.

Putnam exhibited at the 1911 International Exhibition of Art and History in Rome.John W. Leonard, Woman's Who's Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915 (American Commonwealth Company, 1914), p. 666. She exhibited regularly at the National Academy of Design beginning in 1911, where Sea Horse Sundial won the 1922 Barnett Prize, and Mid-Summer won the 1935 Waltrous Gold Medal. She exhibited at the National Sculpture Society's exhibitions, including 1916,{{Cite book|last1=National Sculpture Society (U.S.)|url=http://archive.org/details/cu31924015074572|title=Catalogue of an exhibition of contemporary American sculpture held under the auspices of the National Sculpture Society; June 17-October 2, 1916|last2=Buffalo Fine Arts Academy|date=1916|publisher=Buffalo, Printed by the Courier Co.|others=Cornell University Library}} 1923,Exhibition of American Sculpture Catalogue, 156th Street of Broadway New York, The National Sculpture Society, 1923 p. 201. 1929,{{Cite book|last=Society (U.S.)|first=National Sculpture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SerVAAAAMAAJ&q=fountain+formal+garden+brenda+putnam|title=Contemporary American Sculpture: The California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Lincoln Park, San Francisco, April to October, MCMXXIX.|date=1929|publisher=Press of the Kalkhoff Company|language=en}} and 1940.{{Cite book|last=Whitney Museum of American Art|url=http://archive.org/details/exhibitionofscul00whit|title=Exhibition of sculpture under the auspices of the National Sculpture Society: open to the public April 3 to May 2, 1940 ... at the Whitney Museum of American Art|date=1940|publisher=New York: Whitney Museum of American Art|others=Frances Mulhall Achilles Library, Whitney Museum of American Art|language=English}} Water-Lily Baby received an Honorable Mention at the 1917 Art Institute of Chicago annual exhibition.Thirtieth Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture (Art Institute of Chicago, 1917). She exhibited regularly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts between 1910 and 1944, and won the 1923 Widener Gold Medal for Sea Horse Sundial.Peter Hastings Falk, ed., The Annual Exhibition Record of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Volume 2 (Sound View Press, 1989), p. 379. She won the 1923 Prize for Sculpture from the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors for [add work]."Putnam, Brenda, N.A., Sculptor", Encyclopedia of American Biography, Volume 11 (American Historical Society, 1940), pp. 548-50. Fountain for a Formal Garden [The Pigeon Girl?] won the 1924 Avery Prize from the Architectural League of New York.{{Cite news|date=1924-02-03|title=ARCHITECTURAL EXHIBITION; Brenda Putnam Wins Avery Prize as Annual Show Opens.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/02/03/archives/architectural-exhibition-brenda-putnam-wins-avery-prize-as-annual.html|access-date=2022-12-31|issn=0362-4331}}

She was elected an associate member of the National Academy in 1934, and an academician in 1936. She was elected to the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors in [year], and designed them a 7-sided Art Deco medal in 1941 when they changed their name to the National Association of Women Artists. She was elected to the National Sculpture Society in 1919, served as its secretary, 1933-1936, and later was elected a fellow of the society.[http://nationalsculpture.org/members/historic-members/ Historic Members], from National Sculpture Society.

Putnam had a 30-year career teaching at various institutions and privately. She incorporated that experience into her book, The Sculptor's Way: A Guide to Modeling and Sculpture, first published in 1939.Putnam, Brenda, The Sculptor's Way: A Guide to Modelling and Sculpture. Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. New York, 1939. It is still considered a classic on the subject and was in print as recently as 2003.{{Cite web|title=Goodreads|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2320684.The_Sculptor_s_Way|access-date=2022-12-31|website=Goodreads|language=en}} She also was the author of Animal X-Rays: A Skeleton Key to Comparative Anatomy (New York: G.P. Putnams's Sons, 1947).

Among her students were Elfriede Abbe,Obituary: Elfriede Abbe, The Bennington Banner (Vermont), January 19, 2013. Laura Gilpin,"{{cite book|author=Martha Sandweiss|title=Laura Gilpin, An Enduring Grace|publisher=Ft Worth: Amon Carter Museum|year=1986|pages=13, 30}} Ethel Painter Hood,{{cite web|url=http://www.sternfinearts.com/etpahob1.html|title=Ethel Painter Hood (1906–1982)|publisher=|accessdate=February 18, 2017}} Beatrice Gilman Proske, Lilian Swann Saarinen, Marion Sanford, and Katharine Lane Weems.

Putnam never married, but maintained long friendships with a number of her students. She retired to Wilton, Connecticut in the early 1950s. She moved to Concord, New Hampshire in 1971, where she died in 1975.

Works by her are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and many other museums. Brookgreen Gardens holds several of her works.[https://www.brookgreen.org/VEwebsite/exhibit1/vexcreator1.htm Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012171337/https://www.brookgreen.org/VEwebsite/exhibit1/vexcreator1.htm |date=October 12, 2016 }}, from Brookgreen Gardens.

The Brenda Putnam Papers are at Syracuse University. The Smithsonian American Art Museum holds a collection of photographs of her works.

File:Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture14.jpg, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.]]

{{external media | width = 190px | float = right | headerimage = | video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJLURmDlWLs The Pigeon Girl, Brenda Putnam, Indianapolis Museum of Art]{{cite web|title=The Pigeon Girl, Brenda Putnam |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJLURmDlWLs |publisher=Indianapolis Museum of Art on YouTube |accessdate=September 3, 2016}} }}

• Charmides [Dialogue] (1915, marble), unlocated.[http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=SAAM-J0040058 Charmides], from SIRIS.
• The Pigeon Girl ({{circa}} 1919, bronze), "Oldfields", Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana.{{Cite web|title=Indianapolis Museum of Art Collection Search|url=http://collection.imamuseum.org/results.html?query=Putnam,+Brenda&has_image=T|access-date=2022-12-31|website=collection.imamuseum.org}} Putnam's sculpture was placed in Oldfield's formal garden sometime after J. K. Lilly Jr.'s 1933 purchase of the estate.Patricia M. O'Donnell & Jonathan Fairbanks, Oldfields, Indianapolis Museum of Art: Estate, Sculpture & Horticultural Study (Report for the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1996).
• Young Faun (1919, bronze), Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden (on loan from Dallas Museum of Art),{{Cite web|title=Young Faun - DMA Collection Online|url=https://www.dma.org/object/artwork/4048547/|access-date=2022-12-31|website=www.dma.org|language=en}} Dallas, Texas.{{Cite web|title=Young Faun, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=147226J62LU06.13713&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!14194~!12&ri=1&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=putnam,+brenda&index=.AW&uindex=&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ri=1|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}} Also known as Stop Thief,{{Cite book|last=Office|first=Library of Congress Copyright|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=19siAQAAMAAJ&q=stop%2520thief%2520brenda%2520putnam&pg=PA17|title=Catalogue of Title-entries of Books and Other Articles Entered in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, Under the Copyright Law ... Wherein the Copyright Has Been Completed by the Deposit of Two Copies in the Office|date=1919|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|language=en}} it depicts a young faun stealing flowers.
• Sea Horse Sundial (1922, bronze), Williamstown, Massachusetts.{{Cite web|title=Sea Horse Sundial [sculpture] /|url=https://siris-juleyphoto.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!sijuleyphotos&uri=full=3100001~!40023~!0|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-juleyphoto.si.edu}}
• Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Tablet (1925, marble), Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
• Bas-relief Portrait of William Dean Howells (1926, bronze), American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts.[http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=SAAM-J0040038 William Dean Howells], from SIRIS.
• Harriet, Isabella and Katherine Beecher (1926, gold-painted bronze), Stowe-Day Foundation, Hartford, Connecticut.{{Cite web|title=Harriet, Isabella, and Katherine Beecher, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=EF72Y60885435.13305&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!4419~!0&ri=3&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda,+1890-1975,+sculptor.&index=AUTHOR&uindex=&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ri=3|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}} Sculpture group of three sisters sitting on a park bench.
• Figure of Puck (1930–32, marble), Puck Fountain, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C., Paul Cret, architect.{{Cite web|title=Figure of Puck over Fountain and Pool, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1472GO14817B6.11545&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!5124~!36&ri=3&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda,+1890-1975,+sculptor.&index=AUTHOR&uindex=&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ri=3|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}}
• Two Kids Sundial (1931, bronze), Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.{{Cite web|title=Sundial, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1472GO14817B6.11545&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!21635~!15&ri=3&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda,+1890-1975,+sculptor.&index=AUTHOR&uindex=&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ri=3|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}} The sundial features a child and a young goat.
• Mid-Summer (1935, carved in marble 1946), Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida.{{Cite web|title=Mid-Summer, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1472317J532N8.19084&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!6649~!6&ri=1&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=putnam,+brenda&index=.AW&uindex=&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ri=1|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}} A female nude reclining on a bed of summer vegetables.{{Cite web|url=http://www.artnet.com/artists/brenda-putnam/midsummer-j_YaWcP34ttX7ajwnme3Dg2|access-date=2022-12-31|website=www.artnet.com}}
• Bas-relief lunette: Sorting the Mail (1936–37, plaster), Post Office, Caldwell, New Jersey.{{Cite web|title=Post Office - Caldwell NJ|url=https://livingnewdeal.org/projects/post-office-caldwell-nj/|access-date=2022-12-31|website=Living New Deal|language=en-US}} The lunette is now in storage.[http://sites.temple.edu/endangeredmurals/murals/new-jersey/nj-caldwell-putnam0001/ Sorting the Mail] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828131137/http://sites.temple.edu/endangeredmurals/murals/new-jersey/nj-caldwell-putnam0001/ |date=August 28, 2016 }}, from Temple University.
• Bas-relief mural: Mississippi Divides the Southwest from the Northeast (1936–39, plaster), Post Office, St. Cloud, Minnesota.{{Cite web|title=The Southwest and the Northeast Divided by the Mississippi [sculpture] /|url=https://siris-juleyphoto.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!sijuleyphotos&uri=full=3100001~!40089~!0|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-juleyphoto.si.edu}} Removed to Minnesota Department of Manpower Services Building.
• W. Albert Manda Memorial (1939), Meadowland Park, South Orange, New Jersey.
• Communion (1939, bronze), Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.{{Cite web|title=Communion, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1472655M3N03O.653&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!25352~!24&ri=3&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda,+1890-1975,+sculptor.&index=AUTHOR&uindex=&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ri=3|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}}[http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=SAAM-J0040031 Communion], from SIRIS.
• Crest of the Wave (1939, medium), 1939 New York World's Fair, Queens, New York City.[http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/view-of-sculpture-the-crest-by-brenda-putnam-at-the-1939-new-york-picture-id158330402 Crest of the Wave], from Getty Images.

• Simon Memorial (1917, marble), Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington D.C.{{Cite web|title=Simon Memorial, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1MTP252920326.12566&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!377969~!35&ri=1&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda&index=.AW&uindex=&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ri=1|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}}
• Porter Monument (1931–32, bronze), Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Putnam replaced its 1890s stone angel with a bronze replica.{{cite web | url=http://www.alleghenycemetery.com/content.php?cat=genealogy&page=monuments&mode=detail&id=15183 | title=Porter Monument | publisher=Allegheny Cemetery | accessdate=May 15, 2015}}
• Carefree Days ({{circa}} 1932, bronze), Mead Monument, Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, California.{{Cite web|title=Carefree Days, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1MTP252920326.12566&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!297920~!28&ri=1&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda&index=.AW&uindex=&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ri=1|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}}
• Fortitude, Kindliness, Vision (1943, limestone), Morton Memorial, Spring Hill Cemetery, Lynchburg, Virginia.{{Cite web|title=Fortitude, Kindliness, Vision, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1J72496R9C329.30755&profile=ariallimg&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100013~!335935~!3&ri=1&aspect=subtab37&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda&index=.AX&uindex=&aspect=subtab37&menu=search&ri=1|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}} Also known as Memorial to the Women of Virginia.

File:HarrietBeecherStoweHoF.jpg, Bronx, New York.]]

• Statuette of Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson as Hamlet (1915, plaster; 1932, bronze), Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.{{Cite web|title=Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson- as Hamlet [sculpture] /|url=https://siris-juleyphoto.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!sijuleyphotos&uri=full=3100001~!40066~!0|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-juleyphoto.si.edu}}
• Bust of Herbert Putnam (1922, medium), Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.{{Cite web|title=Herbert Putnam [sculpture] /|url=https://siris-juleyphoto.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!sijuleyphotos&uri=full=3100001~!40090~!0|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-juleyphoto.si.edu}} Portrait of the sculptor's father.
• Bust of Pablo Casals (1923, bronze), Hispanic Society of America, New York City.{{Cite web|title=Pablo Casals, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1472GO14817B6.11545&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!5983~!4&ri=3&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda,+1890-1975,+sculptor.&index=AUTHOR&uindex=&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ri=3|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}}
• A copy is at Villa Casals, El Vendrell (Catalonia), Spain.
• Bust of Harriet Beecher Stowe (1925, bronze), Hall of Fame for Great Americans, Bronx Community College, Bronx, New York.{{Cite web|title=Harriet Beecher Stowe, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1MTP252920326.12566&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!5909~!43&ri=1&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda&index=.AW&uindex=&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ri=1|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}}
• Bust of Wanda Landowska (1928, medium).
• Bust of Amelia Earhart (1932, marble), Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York.{{Cite web|title=Portrait of Amelia Earhart, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1472GO14817B6.11545&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!8957~!7&ri=3&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda,+1890-1975,+sculptor.&index=AUTHOR&uindex=&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ri=3|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}}[http://e-archives.lib.purdue.edu/cdm/ref/collection/earhart/id/681 Amelia Earhart and Brenda Putnam], from Purdue University.
• Bust of Ossip Gabrilowitsch (1933, marble), Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan.{{Cite web|title=Ossip Gabrilowitsch (sic), (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1472GO14817B6.11545&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!6140~!5&ri=3&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda,+1890-1975,+sculptor.&index=AUTHOR&uindex=&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ri=3|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}}
• Bust of John Mapother (1936, plaster), Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky.{{Cite web|title=John Mapother, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1472GO14817B6.11545&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!9669~!11&ri=3&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda,+1890-1975,+sculptor.&index=AUTHOR&uindex=&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ri=3|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}}
• Bust of Mary Baker Eddy (1937, medium).
• Bust of Artur Bodanzky (by 1940, medium), Hispanic Society of America, New York City.
• Bust of Harold Bauer (1949, medium).
• Great Law-Givers: three bas-relief portrait busts (1949–50, marble), U.S. House of Representatives Chamber, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.
• Maimonides{{Cite web|title=Maimonides, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1MTP252920326.12566&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!4834~!37&ri=1&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda&index=.AW&uindex=&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ri=1|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}}
• Solon{{Cite web|title=Solon, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=14S22C3123J66.13525&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!4840~!38&ri=1&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=putnam,+brenda&index=.AW&uindex=&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ri=1|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}}
• Tribonian{{Cite web|title=Tribonian, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=14S22C3123J66.13525&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!4842~!39&ri=1&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=putnam,+brenda&index=.AW&uindex=&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ri=1|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}}
• Bust of William Adams Delano (1950, bronze), National Academy of Design, New York.{{Cite web|title=William Adams Delano, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1MTP252920326.12566&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!294373~!27&ri=1&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda&index=.AW&uindex=&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ri=1|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}}
• Bust of Susan B. Anthony (1952, bronze), Hall of Fame for Great Americans, Bronx Community College, Bronx, New York.{{Cite web|title=Susan B. Anthony, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1MTP252920326.12566&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!5910~!44&ri=1&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda&index=.AW&uindex=&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ri=1|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}}{{Cite web|url=http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=SAAM-J0040023|title=Susan B. Anthony}} Putnam's last completed sculpture.

• Charles P. Daly Medal (1924, bronze). Awarded by the American Geographical Society, Putnam's design replaced the 1902 medal by Victor David Brenner.{{Cite web|title=Charles P. Daly Medal – American Geographical Society {{pipe}} Since 1851|url=https://americangeo.org/honors/medals-and-awards/charles-p-daly-medal/|access-date=2022-12-31|language=en-US|archive-date=May 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522204325/http://americangeo.org/honors/medals-and-awards/charles-p-daly-medal/|url-status=dead}}
• Cleveland Centennial half dollar (1936, silver), Minted 1936–1937.
• National Association of Women Artists Medal (1941, bronze).{{Cite web|title=Artist Page|url=http://medallicartcollector.com/brenda-putnam_medals.html|access-date=2022-12-31|website=medallicartcollector.com}}
• Amelia Earhart Medal (1941, bronze), Princeton University Library, Princeton, New Jersey.[http://www.medalartists.com/uploads/3/5/5/0/3550356/6328105_orig.jpg Amelia Earhart Medal], from Medal Artists.
• Flight Medal (1941–42, bronze), Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana.{{Cite web|title=Flight, (sculpture).|url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1MTP252920326.12566&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!300548~!29&ri=1&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Putnam,+Brenda&index=.AW&uindex=&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ri=1|access-date=2022-12-31|website=siris-artinventories.si.edu}}
• Replicas are at Fogg Museum, Harvard University; National Gallery of Art; Smithsonian American Art Museum;{{Cite web|title=Flight {{pipe}} Smithsonian American Art Museum|url=https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/flight-20276|access-date=2022-12-31|website=americanart.si.edu|language=en-US}} and elsewhere.
• Admiral Ernest Joseph King Congressional Gold Medal (1945–46).{{Cite web|url=https://crashmacduff.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/1313.jpg|title=Admiral Ernest Joseph King Congressional Gold Medal}}

File:Cleveland Centennial half dollar obverse.jpg|Cleveland Centennial half dollar (1936).

Maimonides bas-relief in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber cropped.jpg|Maimonides (1949–50), U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.

{{reflist|30em}}

{{commons category|Brenda Putnam}}

• [https://www.nytimes.com/1975/11/02/archives/brenda-putnam-85-sculptor-is-dead.html Obituary], The New York Times, November 2, 1975
• [http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/p/putnam_b.htm#christ Brenda Putnam Papers], Syracuse University.
• [http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=14M2B19H69058.8179&menu=search&aspect=Keyword&npp=50&ipp=20&spp=20&profile=ariall&ri=&term=&index=.GW&aspect=Keyword&term=Putnam%2C+Brenda&index=.AW&term=&index=.TW&term=&index=.SW&term=&index=.FW&term=&index=.OW&term=&index=.NW&x=0&y=0 Brenda Putnam], at Smithsonian Institution Information Research System.
• [http://siris-juleyphoto.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1T7239357D365.555&profile=julall&uri=link=3100006~!19786~!3100001~!3100002&aspect=alpha&menu=search&ri=4&source=~!sijuleyphotos&term=Putnam%2C+Brenda%2C+1890-1975%2C+artist.&index=PAUTH Brenda Putnam], at Smithsonian American Art Museum Photographic Archives.
• [https://new.liveauctioneers.com/search?parameters=%7B%22pageSize%22:24,%22page%22:1,%22sort%22:%22-hammer_price%22,%22keyword%22:%22Brenda%20Putnam%22,%22status%22:%22archive%22,%22pagesize%22:24%7D Brenda Putnam], at LiveAuctioneers.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Putnam, Brenda}}

Category:1890 births

Category:1975 deaths

Category:Place of birth missing

Category:20th-century American sculptors

Category:School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni

Category:Art Students League of New York alumni

Category:Artists from Washington, D.C.

Category:Artists from New York City

Category:National Academy of Design members

Category:National Sculpture Society members

Category:National Cathedral School alumni

Category:Sculptors from New York (state)

Category:Olympic competitors in art competitions

Category:American coin designers

Category:20th-century American women sculptors