English, 1881 - 1970
Bryant Baker studied at the school of the Royal Academy of Art; his career was established when he was commissioned by King George V and Queen Alexandra to execute a monumental statue and a bust of King Edward VII. Baker's work was exhibited consistently at the Royal Academy from 1909 to 1915. However, in 1916, he followed the lead of his brother, Robert, also a sculptor, and emigrated to the United States.
Besides being adept at portraiture, Baker worked in ideal and allegorical themes; he executed fountain figures and busts such as Eros and Memory. Among the earliest portraits done after arriving in America were busts of Mary A. Huntington of San Francisco, and Margaret Longyear of Detroit. His sculpture was so wellÄreceived in America, that he was afforded an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington as early as 1919. TwentyÄfive works in bronze, mostly portraits of military officers and public figures, were shown.
As Baker modeled royalty in England, so he rendered American heads of state in marble and bronze. Among them, busts of presidents Wilson, Taft, Coolidge, and Roosevelt.
However, Baker's most famous work is, perhaps, the monumental Pioneer Woman, the result of a $100,000 competition, which was unveiled in Ponca City, Oklahoma, in 1930. Other celebrated statues by Baker include a George Washington done for the Masonic National Memorial Building, Alexandria, Virginia, and a Young Lincoln placed in a Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York, in 1935.
Baker served on the Academy Council from 1962 to 1965. He was awarded the Daniel Chester French prize in the Academy annual exhibition of 1963.
Besides being adept at portraiture, Baker worked in ideal and allegorical themes; he executed fountain figures and busts such as Eros and Memory. Among the earliest portraits done after arriving in America were busts of Mary A. Huntington of San Francisco, and Margaret Longyear of Detroit. His sculpture was so wellÄreceived in America, that he was afforded an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington as early as 1919. TwentyÄfive works in bronze, mostly portraits of military officers and public figures, were shown.
As Baker modeled royalty in England, so he rendered American heads of state in marble and bronze. Among them, busts of presidents Wilson, Taft, Coolidge, and Roosevelt.
However, Baker's most famous work is, perhaps, the monumental Pioneer Woman, the result of a $100,000 competition, which was unveiled in Ponca City, Oklahoma, in 1930. Other celebrated statues by Baker include a George Washington done for the Masonic National Memorial Building, Alexandria, Virginia, and a Young Lincoln placed in a Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York, in 1935.
Baker served on the Academy Council from 1962 to 1965. He was awarded the Daniel Chester French prize in the Academy annual exhibition of 1963.
