George Edwin Bissell

For the industrialist, please see George Bissell (industrialist).

George Edwin Bissell (February 16, 1839 – August 30, 1920) was an American sculptor.

Biography

Bissell was born New Preston, Connecticut, the son of a quarryman and marble-cutter. During the American Civil War he served as a private in the 23rd Connecticut Volunteers in the Department of the Gulf (1862-1863), and on being mustered out became acting assistant paymaster in the South Atlantic Squadron. At the close of the war he joined his father's marble business in Poughkeepsie, New York.

He studied the art of sculpture abroad in 1875-1876, and lived much in Paris during the years 1883-1896, with occasional visits to America. Among his more important works are

• The Soldiers' Monument at Waterbury, Connecticut
• Statue of Colonel Chatfield at Waterbury, Connecticut
• The statue on top of the Soldier's Monument at Winsted, Connecticut
• Statue of General Horatio Gates at Saratoga, New York
• Statue of Chancellor John Watts in Trinity Churchyard, New York City
• Statue of Colonel Abraham de Peyster, originally placed in Bowling Green, New York City
• Statue of Abraham Lincoln at Edinburgh
• Statue of Abraham Lincoln at Clermont, Iowa
• Statue of Robert Burns and Highland Mary, in Ayr, Scotland
• Statue of Chancellor James Kent, in the Congressional library, Washington, D.C.
• Statue of a Civil War soldier, on the Town Green in Colchester, Connecticut
• Statue of President Arthur in Madison Square, New York City

Bissell also created smaller works, such as a bust of President Abraham Lincoln as well as a larger statue of the president.

References

• Opitz, Glenn, B.,editor, Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Books, Poughkeepsie, NY 1986
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.