John Storrs (sculptor)
{{short description|American sculptor}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = John Henry Bradley Storrs
| image = John-Storrs-AAA.jpg
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1885|06|25}}
| birth_place = Chicago
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1956|04|26|1885|06|25}}
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| nationality = American
| spouse = Marguerite Deville Chabrol
| known_for = Sculpture
| training =
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John Henry Bradley Storrs (June 25, 1885 – April 26, 1956), also known as John Bradley Storrs and John H. Storrs, was an American modernist sculptor best remembered for his art deco sculptures that examined the relationship between architecture and sculpture.{{cite web|url=http://collection.whitney.org/object/3005|title=Forms in Space #1|publisher=The Whitney Museum of American Art|accessdate=1 February 2016}}
Life
Storrs was born in Chicago in 1885, son of architect D.W. Storrs.Armstrong, Craven et al, ‘’200 Years of American Sculpture", David R. Godine, Publisher in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1976 In 1905, he traveled to Berlin to study singing, but he soon decided to become a sculptor. He studied with Lorado Taft at the Art Institute of Chicago, with Bela Pratt at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and with Charles Grafly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. By 1911, he was living in Paris, where he studied with Auguste Rodin and also attended the Académie Julian.{{cite web|url=http://mms.newberry.org/xml/xml_files/Storrs.xml|title=Biography of the Storrs and Deville Chabrol families|date=1 January 2010|publisher=Newberry Library|accessdate=1 February 2016}} He gradually moved from representational sculpture and wood engravings to the machine-like sculptures for which he is best known.
During his time in France, Storrs became friends with Jacques Lipchitz. In 1914, Storrs married the novelist and writer Marguerite Deville Chabrol and started dividing his time between France and the United States. In the 1930s, Storrs turned to abstract painting that often suggested the human figure. During World War II Storrs was twice arrested and imprisoned by the German occupation forces. After being released, he returned to his studio in Mer, France, and worked and lived there until his death in 1956.
Work
File:20120929 Chicago Board of Trade Building top recrop.jpg
Storrs is best remembered for his late-career abstract works, often cast from materials not used in traditional sculpture such as aluminum and stainless steel. He is responsible for the Ceres sculpture at the top of the Chicago Board of Trade Building.
References
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Further reading
- Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Forerunners of American Abstraction; Painters: Charles Demuth, Arthur G. Dove, John Marin, Georgia O'Keeffe, Charles Sheeler, Joseph Stella; Sculptors: John B. Flannagan, John Storrs, Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, 1971.
- Frackman, Noel, John Storrs, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1986.
- Hirschl and Adler Galleries, Six American Modernists: Marsden Hartley, Gaston Lachaise, Elie Nadelman, Georgia O'Keeffe, Charles Sheeler, John Storrs New York, Hirschl and Adler Galleries, 1991.
- Rutgers University Art Gallery, Vanguard American Sculpture, 1913-1939, New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University, 1979.
- Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, John Storrs and John Flannagan, Sculpture and Works on Paper, Williamstown, Mass., Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1980.
- Storrs, John Henry Bradley, John Storrs, Chicago 1885-Mer 1956, Musée de l'Orléanais, Château Dunois, Beaugency, 1987, Beaugency, France, Musée de l'Orléanais, 1987.
- Storrs, John Henry Bradley and Meredith E. Ward, John Storrs, Rhythm of Line, New York, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1993.
External links
- [http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/john-henry-bradley-storrs-papers-9484 Archived, digitized papers] at the Archives of American Art
- [http://www.newberry.org/collections/FindingAids/storrs/Storrs.html Storrs and Deville Chabrol Family Papers] at Newberry Library
- {{FrenchSculptureCensus}}
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Category:American modern sculptors
Category:Académie Julian alumni
Category:School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni
Category:School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni
Category:American expatriates in France
Category:20th-century American sculptors
Category:20th-century American male artists
Category:American male sculptors
Category:Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni