Fine Art at the Met, A Famous President and a Bitter Rivalry - Art History Intersects with My Life.
I remember as a young girl growing up in Massachusetts hearing stories of my family. I know all of us hear this type of story growing up. Is it fiction, reality or somewhere in between. Has our family history turned to legend or did these people really exist? I had a famous uncle that I heard about but only remember seeing once, and my grandmother who spoke French and was a child laborer in the mills, was such a mystery to my knowledge of the world. But those stories are for another time. I had also heard about how we had ancestors that were thought to be in the Boston Tea Party, but I don’t know if that is something I can ever validate. One story that always captured my imagination was of the sculptor who made a statue on commission for someone for the soul purpose of that person irritating their neighbors. Yes, it seems hard to believe, but I am related to a sculptor from Boston (of course) whose sculpture of Andrew Jackson now sits in the folk art section of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was my Great-great grandfather on my mother’s side and was a sculptor who was one of the most respected ship prost creators in the busy port of Boston in the mid 1800’s. This is what the Met has to say about the sculpture,
“The shipbuilder Daniel Dennis Kelly commissioned this sculpture of the late Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) from Rumney, his most talented figurehead carver, for his home in East Boston. Kelly was probably familiar with the two Jackson figureheads that adorned the United States frigate Constitution during and after Jackson’s presidency (1829–37); the ship’s name appears on the base of Rumney’s sculpture. Rumney carved the surface in broad planes, downplaying anatomical structure in favor of textural detail in areas such as the wavy hair and the ruffled shirt. The figure was painted white to simulate marble, aligning it with the classicizing garden sculptures popular at the time.”
The funny story my mother used to swear by was that Kelly had commissioned the piece for the purpose of planting it in his yard, directly looking at a next door neighbor who despised Jackson just to irritate him on a daily basis. Although I can’t confirm this, it sounds pretty plausible. I actually relate more to the neighbor that was annoyed, since I know the realities of this president’s actions, but as an artist, I am excited to think that my ancestor’s art is still valued. Regardless of the reason for its creation, it is nice to know that it sits in such a place of honor now. To learn more about this cool sculpture and to see it, click here.
