John Rhoden was an American sculptor from Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

. Rhoden worked in wood and bronze, and created a number of commissioned works including "Untitled (Family)" at the Metropolitan Hospital in Harlem

Harlem

Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...

; "Mitochondria" at Bellevue Hospital Center

Bellevue Hospital Center

Bellevue Hospital Center, most often referred to as "Bellevue", was founded on March 31, 1736 and is the oldest public hospital in the United States. Located on First Avenue in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, Bellevue is famous from many literary, film and television...

 in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

; "Curved Wall" at the African American Museum in Philadelphia

African American Museum in Philadelphia

The African American Museum in Philadelphia is notable as the first museum funded and built by a municipality to help preserve, interpret and exhibit the heritage of African Americans...

; "Zodiacal Structure" at the Sheraton Hotel in Philadelphia and a sculpture of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...

 at Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)

Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)

Lincoln University is the United States' first degree-granting historically black university. It is located near the town of Oxford in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. The university also hosts a Center for Graduate Studies in the City of Philadelphia. Lincoln University provides...

.

Rhoden served in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, studied at the School of Painting and Sculpture at Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, and was named a Fulbright Fellow in 1951. His works have been displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...

, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is a museum and art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1805 and is the oldest art museum and school in the United States. The academy's museum is internationally known for its collections of 19th and 20th century American paintings,...

, the Art Institute of Chicago

Art Institute of Chicago

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...

, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. At Columbia University he studied under William Zorach

William Zorach

William Zorach was a Lithuanian-born American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and writer. He won the Logan Medal of the arts.-Life and career:...

, Oronzio Maldarelli

Oronzio Maldarelli

-Education:He was born on September 9, 1892 and immigrated with his parents, Michael Maldarelli, a goldsmith, and mother, Louisa Rizzo Maldarelli, to the United States in 1901. About 1906 he began taking modeling lessons at the Cooper Union, and after two years began to study at the National...

 and Hugo Robus.

Further reading

• Appelhof, Ruth Ann. Sculpture by John Rhoden. Birmingham Museum of Art, 1984. ISBN B00071Z3B8
• "Frederick Douglass Statue Unveiled At Lincoln Univ." "Jet Magazine", November 20, 1989.

External links

• - biography of John Rhoden on BhamWiki.com
• - Rhoden sculpture at Harlem Hospital Center from the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation "Art Collection" webpage
• - Rhoden sculpture at Bellevue Hospital Center from the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation "Art Collection" webpage
• - "John W. Rhoden 1918-2001" on AskART.com