Hiram Powers (
June 29, 1805 -
June 27, 1873) was a
U.S. neoclassical sculptor. The son of a
farmer, Powers was born in
Woodstock, Vermont, on the 29th of June
1805. In 1819 his father removed to
Ohio, about six miles from
Cincinnati, where the son attended school for about a year, staying meanwhile with his brother, a lawyer in Cincinnati. After leaving school he found employment superintending a reading-room in connection with the chief hotel of the town, but being, in his own words, forced at last to leave that place as his clothes and shoes were fast leaving him, he became a clerk in a general store. At age 17, Powers became an assistant to
Luman Watson, Cincinnati's early wooden
clockmaker. Powers was “skilled in modelling figures. Watson owned a
clock and
organ factory, Powers set himself to master the construction of the instruments, displaying an aptitude which in a short time enabled him to become the first mechanic in the factory.
In
1826 he began to frequent the studio of Frederick Eckstein, and at once conceived a strong passion for the art of
sculpture. His proficiency in modelling secured him the situation of general assistant and artist of the Western Museum, kept by a Frenchman named Dorfeuille, where his ingenious representation of the infernal regions to illustrate the more striking scenes in the poem of
Dante met with extraordinary success, commissioned of him by
Fanny Trollope. After studying thoroughly the art of modelling and casting, at the end of 1834 he went to
Washington DC, where his remarkable gifts soon awakened general attention. In 1837 he settled in
Florence, where he remained till his death. While he found it profitable to devote the greater part of his time to busts, his best efforts were bestowed on ideal work. In 1839 his statue of Eve excited the warm admiration of
Bertel Thorvaldsen, and in
1843 he produced his celebrated statue
The Greek Slave, which at once gave him a place among the leading sculptors of his time. It was exhibited at the centre of the
Crystal Palace Exhibition and
Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote a sonnet on it. The sculpture
The Greek Slave became an abolitionist cause and copies of it appeared in many Union-supporting state houses. Among the best known of his other ideal statues are
The Fisher Boy,
Il Penseroso,
Proserpine,
California,
America (modelled for
the Crystal Palace, Sydenham), and
The Last of the Tribe (also called
The Last of Her Tribe). Powers died on the
June 27, 1873, and is buried as were three of his children, in the
'English' Cemetery, Florence.
In 2007 the
Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, Ohio presented the first major exhibition devoted to the most celebrated nineteenth century American sculptor, "Genius of Marble". This is the same place where he gave his first solo show in 1842, when
Nicholas Longworth opened his private residence to allow the public to view Power's newest sculptures.
http://www.taftmuseum.org/exhibitions/hirampowers/hirampowers.htm
Collections holding works by Hiram Powers include the Addison Gallery of American Art (Andover, Massachusetts), the
Amon Carter Museum (Texas), the Arizona State University Art Museum, the Art Gallery of the University of Rochester (New York), the
Birmingham Museum of Art (Alabama), the
Brooklyn Museum of Art (New York City), the
Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), the
Cincinnati Art Museum, the
Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington D.C.), Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College (Florida),
Detroit Institute of Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the
Glencairn Museum (Pennsylvania),
Harvard University Art Museums, the
Honolulu Academy of Arts, the
Hudson River Museum (Yonkers, New York), the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, the
Milwaukee Art Museum, the
Morse Museum of American Art, (Florida), the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the
National Gallery of Art (Washington D.C.), the
Newark Museum (New Jersey), the
North Carolina Museum of Art, the
Portland Museum of Art (Maine), the
Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington D.C.), the United States Senate Art Collection, the University of Cincinnati Galleries (Ohio), the
University of Michigan Museum of Art, the
Vermont State House Fine Arts Collection (Montpelier, Vermont), the
White House Collection, (Washington) and the
Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Connecticut).
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