Henry Kirke Bush-Brown
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sculptor and the adopted nephew of sculptor Henry Kirke Brown
Henry Kirke Brown
Henry Kirke Brown was an American sculptor.-Life:He began to paint portraits while still a boy, studied painting in Boston under Chester Harding, learned a little about modelling, and in 1836-1839 spent his summers working as a railroad engineer to earn enough to enable him to study further.He spent...
. He was raised in Newburgh, New York and attended the National Academy of Design
National Academy of Design
The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
He became known for historically accurate realist sculptures illustrating American history.
Works at Gettysburg battlefield
Bush-Brown produced three equestrianEquestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
sculptures at Gettysburg battlefield
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
. The first equestrian statue ever produced by Bush-Brown was that of General George Meade
George Meade
George Gordon Meade was a career United States Army officer and civil engineer involved in coastal construction, including several lighthouses. He fought with distinction in the Second Seminole War and Mexican-American War. During the American Civil War he served as a Union general, rising from...
, the victor at Gettysburg. Located on Hancock Avenue, it is near where "Meade watched his Union troops repulse the Confederate charge." This statue was created after two years of research, and portrays "Meade without a hat, as he appeared during the battle," in keeping with Bush-Brown's commitment to historical accuracy. Meade holds a pair of binoculars in his right hand and his hat in his left hand. A sword hangs from the left side of his saddle. The monument cost $37,500. The sculpture of Meade gazes across the battlefield toward the statue of his opponent, Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
.
Following the production of Meade, Bush-Brown created a 9,000-pound monument of General John F. Reynolds
John F. Reynolds
John Fulton Reynolds was a career United States Army officer and a general in the American Civil War. One of the Union Army's most respected senior commanders, he played a key role in committing the Army of the Potomac to the Battle of Gettysburg and was killed at the start of the battle.-Early...
(killed in action July 1, 1863), in which the horse has only two feet on the ground. This statue was dedicated in 1899 at a ceremony in which Bush-Brown, Reynolds' nephew, and Pennsylvania Governor William Stone
William A. Stone
William Alexis Stone was the 22nd Governor of Pennsylvania from 1899 to 1903.-Early life:Stone was born in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. In 1864, Stone enlisted in the Union Army as a private during the American Civil War, and became a second lieutenant in 1865. He continued his military service after...
were present. The sculpture is located approximately 1100 feet from the marker where Reynolds was killed.
Bush-Brown also produced an equestrian bronze of General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
John Sedgwick
John Sedgwick
John Sedgwick was a teacher, a career military officer, and a Union Army general in the American Civil War. He was the highest ranking Union casualty in the Civil War, killed by a sniper at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.-Early life:Sedgwick was born in the Litchfield Hills town of...
, the seniormost Union casualty of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, who was killed later at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse and who had participated in the Battle of Gettysburg. The statue of Sedgwick incorporates such details as the dents in the General's scabbard
Scabbard
A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, knife, or other large blade. Scabbards have been made of many materials over the millennia, including leather, wood, and metals such as brass or steel.-Types of scabbards:...
and the tiny stitching seen on the horse blanket
Horse blanket
A horse blanket or rug is a blanket or animal coat intended for keeping a horse or other equine warm or otherwise protected from wind or other elements. They are tailored to fit around a horse's body from chest to rump, with straps crossing underneath the belly to secure the blanket yet allowing...
.
In addition, Bush-Brown made a bust
Bust
Bust may refer to:*Bust , a sculpture depicting a person's head and shoulders*Bust , a feminist pop culture magazine*Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in north-eastern France*Bust, a word for a woman's breasts...
of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, dedicated in 1912 as part of the Lincoln Speech Memorial commemorating Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and is one of the most well-known speeches in United States history. It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery...
.
Other notable works
Another of Bush-Brown's noted works was a figure of Commodore Isaac HullIsaac Hull
-External links:* *...
, one of four American naval heroes produced by various artists for the 1899 triumphal
Triumphal arch
A triumphal arch is a monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crowned with a flat entablature or attic on which a statue might be...
Dewey Arch
Dewey Arch
The Dewey Arch was a triumphal arch that stood from 1899 to 1901 at Madison Square in Manhattan, New York. It had been erected for the parade in honor of Admiral George Dewey to celebrate his victory in the Battle of Manila Bay at the Philippines in 1898....
in New York City's Madison Square
Madison Square
Madison Square is formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The square was named for James Madison, fourth President of the United States and the principal author of the United States Constitution.The focus of the square is...
, commemorating the naval victory of Admiral George Dewey
George Dewey
George Dewey was an admiral of the United States Navy. He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War...
at the Battle of Manila Bay.
Bush-Brown created numerous sculptures for the exterior of New York City's Beaux Arts 1907 Surrogate's Courthouse
Surrogate's Courthouse
The Surrogate's Courthouse, also known as the Hall of Records, is a Beaux Arts municipal building in lower Manhattan in New York City....
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Bush-Brown also produced a relief of financier and civic planner Cyrus Clark (1911), who was instrumental in the planning and development of New York City's Riverside Drive
Riverside Drive (Manhattan)
Riverside Drive is a scenic north-south thoroughfare in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The boulevard runs on the west side of Manhattan, generally parallel to the Hudson River from 72nd Street to near the George Washington Bridge at 181st Street...
and Riverside Park
Riverside Park (Manhattan)
Riverside Park is a scenic waterfront public park on the Upper West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The park consists of a narrow four-mile strip of land between the Hudson River and the gently...
. Brown’s relief of Clark is embedded in a natural rock outcropping near the 83rd Street entrance to Riverside Park.
Author
Apart from his numerous sculptures related to American history, Bush-Brown was also the author of an unpublished biographicalBiography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
detailing the life and work of his uncle. One copy of the manuscript is with the Bush-Brown family papers at Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
and another is held by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
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Bush-Brown died in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and was buried in Memorial Cemetery, Arundel, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
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