1885-1983
Recchia's father, a native of Verona, Italy, was a marble carver who had worked for Bela Pratt and Daniel Chester French, and it was in his father's studio that the younger Recchia had his earliest training. He took his formal training with Pratt at the school of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1904 to 1907, and then stayed on as Pratt's assistant until early in 1912. Under the patronage of Pratt and French, he went to Paris where he remained until the end of the year. On his return to Boston, he rejoined Pratt in his Boston studio and continued to serve as his apprentice for another five years.
Recchia's first major commission, allegorical panels representing architecture for the exterior of the Museum of Fine Arts, was executed during this period and he soon became known as a competent carver in relief. His success was further assured when, in 1915, he won medals for several works exhibited at San Francisco's Panama-Pacific Exposition. Recchia specialized in portraiture and figural pieces for gardens. Examples of these are his relief portrait of Robert Brown for Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, and a bronze cast of his garden sculpture, Baby and Frog, 1923, in Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina. On a monumental scale, he created the equestrian General John Stark for the city of Manchester, New Hampshire, winning the commission in competition with eighty-three other sculptors. On a more whimsical note, he sculpted Mother Goose for the Rockport (Massachusetts) Carnegie Library, and illustrated a number of children's books written by his wife, Kitty Parsons.
In 1928, Recchia established his home and studio in Rockport, Massachusetts, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. He remained an active participant in Boston art life, was a founder of the Boston Society of Sculptors, a charter member of the Guild of Boston Artists, and a member of the Rockport Art Association, the North Shore Arts Association, and the National Sculpture Society.
Recchia was a frequent exhibitor at the Academy from his first appearance in an annual in 1909. Among his numerous awards was the Academy's Watrous Gold Medal conveyed in the annual exhibition of 1944.
Recchia's first major commission, allegorical panels representing architecture for the exterior of the Museum of Fine Arts, was executed during this period and he soon became known as a competent carver in relief. His success was further assured when, in 1915, he won medals for several works exhibited at San Francisco's Panama-Pacific Exposition. Recchia specialized in portraiture and figural pieces for gardens. Examples of these are his relief portrait of Robert Brown for Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, and a bronze cast of his garden sculpture, Baby and Frog, 1923, in Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina. On a monumental scale, he created the equestrian General John Stark for the city of Manchester, New Hampshire, winning the commission in competition with eighty-three other sculptors. On a more whimsical note, he sculpted Mother Goose for the Rockport (Massachusetts) Carnegie Library, and illustrated a number of children's books written by his wife, Kitty Parsons.
In 1928, Recchia established his home and studio in Rockport, Massachusetts, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. He remained an active participant in Boston art life, was a founder of the Boston Society of Sculptors, a charter member of the Guild of Boston Artists, and a member of the Rockport Art Association, the North Shore Arts Association, and the National Sculpture Society.
Recchia was a frequent exhibitor at the Academy from his first appearance in an annual in 1909. Among his numerous awards was the Academy's Watrous Gold Medal conveyed in the annual exhibition of 1944.
