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Mary S. Washburn

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Mary S. Washburn
Born
Mary S. Washburn

1868 (1868)
DiedOctober 1932 (aged 63–64)
NationalityAmerican
Known forsculpture

For the American sprinter, see Mary Washburn.

Mary S. Washburn (1868 – October 1932) was an American sculptor. Deaf from age sixteen, Washburn studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and built a successful career creating sculptures and medallions. Her most significant work is a 1909 bust of Charles Burlingame Waite, located at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Early life and education

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Mary Washburn was born in Star City, Indiana, in 1868, and grew up in Rensselaer, Indiana.[1] She was deafened after a bout of scarlet fever at age sixteen.[2]

Washburn returned to her public high school and graduated with her class.[1] She attended Butler College in Indianapolis through her sophomore year in 1889.[3] She struggled to adjust to college life and communicate with teachers and other students; she took lessons in lipreading and learned to use her residual hearing to the best of her ability.[1]

Art education and career

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Washburn took courses in drawing and commercial art in Cincinnati, then moved to Chicago.[1] After traveling to Europe to study artistic classics, she began attending the Art Institute of Chicago.[1] At the Art Institute, she studied under Lorado Taft and Charles Mulligan.[4][1] She spent many evenings practicing anatomy drawings in the library and sketching skeletons and musculature models in the art studios.[1]

Her first commissioned work was a sculpture of Union Civil War general Robert H. Milroy in her hometown of Rensselaer; the statue stands at the former site of his homestead.[5][1] Many exhibits followed at the Art Institute and at exhibitions in Chicago, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and other cities.[1] Washburn decided to resign from taking commercial art orders so she could focus on sculpture.[1]

Washburn created the Waite Memorial for Charles Burlingame Waite and Catharine Van Valkenburg Waite after his death in 1909.[4] Located at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C., the memorial features a bronze bust of Charles and a circular bronze relief portrait of Catharine.[4] During a third visit to Paris, Washburn studied under master sculptor Edwin Sawyer, learning to sculpt medals and medallions.[1] One of her sketches was accepted at the Old Salon of Paris in 1913, and she exhibited her works at the Paris Allied Artists Association.[1]

At the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition, Washburn received an award.[1] She also exhibited at the Oakland Art Gallery in 1927.[6] Her artwork can be found in multiple institutions across the United States, including the Carnegie Institute.[1]

She died in October 1932.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lang, Harry G.; Meath-Lang, Bonnie (1995). Deaf persons in the arts and sciences : a biographical dictionary. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 370–371. ISBN 0313291705.
  2. ^ "Washburn, Mary". Gallaudet University Library Guide to Deaf Biographies and Index to Deaf Periodicals. Gallaudet University. 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  3. ^ Catalog of Former Students, Not Alumni of Butler College 1855-1900. Indianapolis, Indiana: Butler University. 1900. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  4. ^ a b c "Waite Memorial, (sculpture)". National Portrait Gallery. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  5. ^ "General Milroy Statue". Art Walk Rensselaer. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  6. ^ "Mary S Washburn". askART. Retrieved 20 September 2020.