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Cornelia Chapin

Cornelia Van Auken Chapin was born in 1893 at Waterford, near New London, Connecticut. She was the youngest child of Lindley Hoffman Chapin and Cornelia Garrison Van Auken Chapin, and part of a prominent family. Cornelia Chapin was a descendant of Judge George Andrews, who presided in the trials of former slave traders, and Cornelius Garrison, a wealthy merchant involved with the building of railroads. Cornelia Garrison Van Auken Chapin and her mother, Catherine Andrews, were very active in the New York City social scene in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Chapin's sister was poet Katherine Biddle, and her brother in-law Francis Biddle was a former United States Attorney General.

Chapin spent her childhood in New York City where she attended private schools, and also traveled extensively in Europe, often keeping diaries and notes about her travels. Her interests included book collecting, dramatics, and aeronautics; she became one of the first women to receive a pilot's license. Though she had previously dabbled in pencil sketches and watercolors, in the early 1920's, Cornelia Chapin decided that sculpture was her main interest, and she studied with Gail Sherman Corbett. In 1930 she began to exhibit her work, and in 1934 she studied in Paris as the only pupil of Mateo Hernandez. From Hernandez Chapin learned the art of direct carving, and from that time on, all of her exhibited works were carved directly from life in stone and wood, without making preliminary models or sketches.

Cornelia Chapin is noted for her stone models of birds and animals, although in later years she added human figures to her repertoire. She quickly gained wide renown and exhibited in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, California, Washington, DC, New Jersey, Maine, and Paris; lectured informally at museums and schools on "Carving Direct From Life, Some Tales and Tools"; and was accepted as a member of the National Academy of Design in 1945. Chapin was also active in numerous artistic organizations, maintaining memberships in the National Sculpture Society, the "Philadelphia Ten" (a group of female artists who exhibited work in Philadelphia), and Artists for Victory, Inc. She was as well the only foreign and only woman sculptor elected to the Societaire Salon d'Automne, Paris (in 1936). Chapin won numerous awards and prizes for her sculptures during the 1930's and 1940's.

After returning to the United States in 1939, Chapin worked in a New York City studio which had formerly belonged to sculptor Gutzon Borglum, sharing the space with friend and fellow sculptor Marion Sanford. In their later years, Chapin and Sanford lived and worked together in Lakeville, Connecticut, where Chapin remained until her death in 1972.

FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Cornelia Chapin developed an interest in art as a young child - dabbling in pencil sketches and watercolors - but by the early 1920s, she settled on sculpture as her main interest. Chapin studied under Gail Sherman Corbett and later shared studios with both Genevieve Karr Hamlin and Marion Sanford.

She early became interested in creating somewhat abstracted animal forms and in the early 1934 moved to Paris to study direct carving with Mateo Hernandez (1884-1949), from whom she learned the art of direct carving.[3] She would go to the zoo and carve sculptures of animals,[4] an unusual technique for direct carvers.
​

In 1936, following the success of her carving Tortoise she was elected a member of the Salon d;Automne, the only foreigner and the only woman thus honored that year.[5]
She returned to the United States following the start of World War II and in the summer of 1949, was one of 250 sculptors who exhibited in the 3rd Sculpture International held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. From 1951 to 1953 Chapin served on the New York City Art Commission.[6]
Chapin was most famous for her sculptures of birds and animals, though she also sculpted human figures. Between 1930 and the early 1960s, Chapin exhibited in galleries in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, California, Washington, DC, New Jersey, Maine, and Paris,[7] and won numerous awards and prizes for her work during the 1930s and 1940s. These included the 2nd Grand Prize at the 1937 Paris International Exposition for her sculptures "Pelican in Repose" and "Tortoise in Volcanic Rock," the Sculpture Prize from the Asbury Park Fine Arts Society in 1939, and an Honorable Mention from the Allied Artists of America in 1941 for her sculpture "Paquita the Bear."[8] She also lectured on the art of direct carving in museums and schools. Chapin was a member of the National Academy of Design, the National Sculpture Society, and the only foreign and only woman sculptor elected to the Societaire Salon d'Automne, in 1936.[7]
Chapin was a founding member of the Sculptors Guild and also a member in the National Sculpture Society and the National Academy of Design.[9]
Cornelia Chapin sculptures are represented in the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. and in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, among other locations. Cornelia Chapin died in Connecticut in 1972.[2]

from archives of american art 
​http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/marion-sanford-and-cornelia-chapin-papers-6270/more#section_3
​
Visit Explore Downtown Warren for information on where to eat, play and stay!
A special thanks to our friends at Allegheny Outfitters for compiling such a great resource for our visitors.

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  • HOME
  • About
    • Visit >
      • Health & Safety Gguidelines
      • Find us
      • Groups
      • Nearby attractions
      • Video Tour
    • History
    • Collections >
      • Gene Walker Crary paintings
      • CJ Crary photographs
      • Marion Sanford sculptures
      • Focused on Nature photographs
    • Board of Directors
  • Calendar
    • 2023
    • 2022 Past Exhibitions
    • 2021 Past Exhibitions
    • 2020 Past Exhibitions
    • 2019 Past Exhibitions
    • 2018 Past Exhibitions >
      • 2018 Calendar
      • 2018 Dec. - Dowling
      • 2018 Dec. - Brown
      • 2018 Nov. - Vale
      • 2018 Sep. - PWS
      • 2018 Aug. - Kleinfelder
      • 2018 Aug. - Eck
      • 2018 Jun. - Kunst
      • 2018 Jun. - Japanese Prints
      • 2018 Apr. - Donoughe
      • 2018 Apr. - Minard
      • 2018 Feb. - Nemec
      • 2018 Feb. - Brohn
    • 2017 Past Exhibitions >
      • 2017 Dec. - Frederick
      • 2017 Dec. - Mader
      • 2017 Nov. - Frattali
      • 2017 Nov. - McConnor
      • 2017 Sept- A Legacy of Observation
      • 2017 August - 40th Anniversary Exhibition
      • 2017 July - Richard C. Hoff
      • 2017 July - William Turner
      • 2017 June - Kapp
      • 2017 June - Sosic
      • 2017 April - Varisco
      • 2017 April - Davis
      • 2017 March - Fantini
      • 2017 March - Neckers
  • For Artists
    • Exhibition Proposal
    • Teach a Workshop
    • Floorplans >
      • North galleries
      • South galleries
    • Video Tour
  • Support
    • Become a member >
      • Lifetime Members
    • Volunteer
    • Donate
  • Workshops
    • Ekphrasis Workshop
    • Easter Pysanky
    • Rock Paper Landscape
  • Rentals
    • Rental Request
    • Floorplans
  • BUY ART