Sculpture at the Academy

Sculpture has been an intrinsic part of the Academy since its founding in 1805. With more than 300 works ranging from 1780 to the present, the Academy's sculpture collection is particularly notable for its portrait busts, neoclassical marble sculpture, French-inspired bronze figures, direct carvings in stone and wood and the overall variety of materials and techniques represented. William Rush, one of the three artists connected with the formation of PAFA, was also one of the nation's first sculptors, representative of the American craft tradition aspiring to European fine arts. The Academy holds several notable works by Rush, including a masterful self-portrait.

The kind of art tradition Rush sought to emulate is represented in the collection by his contemporary, Jean-Antoine Houdon, a French sculptor who memorialized several of America's Founding Fathers, and by later 19th-Century American sculptors working in a neoclassical style, including Hiram Powers, William Wetmore Story and Randolph Rogers.

Notable Sculpture Instructors

Joseph Alexis Bailly was the first of the Academy's notable sculpture instructors now represented in the collection. Others include Thomas Eakins, Charles Grafly, Albert Laessle, and Walker Hancock.

Other major artists represented in the sculpture collection include:

Augustus Saint-Gaudens
John Quincy Adams Ward
A. Stirling Calder
Alexander Calder
Chaim Gross
Isamu Noguchi
David Smith
Leonard Baskin

Louise Nevelson
George Segal
Mary Frank
Red Grooms
Everett Shinn
Siah Armajani
Nancy Graves