Adrien A. Voisin
Born
Adrien Alexandre Voisin

Islip, New York, U.S.
DiedMay 8, 1979(1979-05-08) (aged 88)
Palos Verdes Estates, California, U.S.
Resting placeGolden Gate National Cemetery
Other namesAdrien Alexander Voisin,
Adrien Alex Voisin
EducationYale School of Art,
Beaux-Arts de Paris,
École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs,
Académie Colarossi
Occupation(s)Visual artist, poet, art conservator
Known forSculptural busts of Native Americans and wild animal sculptures, architectural sculpture, public art memorials

Adrien Alexandre Voisin (1890–1979), was an American sculptor. He was known for his bronze work, and had been one of the lead architectural sculptors at Hearst Castle.[1]

Early life and education

Adrien Alexandre Voisin was born in 1890 in the town of Islip in Suffolk County, New York, to parents from France.[2] He was raised in Newport, Rhode Island.[2] Voisin first learned the art of taxidermy and apprenticed as a woodcarver.[3][4] In his early career he studied art under Elijah Baxter Jr. and William Sergeant Kendall at the Yale School of Fine Arts (now Yale School of Art).[5]

He continued his art studies in France at the Beaux-Arts de Paris; the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs; and at Académie Colarossi. He also worked under Jean Antoine Injalbert and Antonin Mercié in France. While studying at Beaux-Arts de Paris, Voisin was using the Fonderie Valsuani an art bronze foundry, when he met the sculptor Alexander Calder, who was a few years older.[6] Calder strongly disliked Voisin's work which he wrote about in his journal.[6]

While in France during World War I, he served first in the American Volunteer Motor Ambulance Corps; and later served in the 49th Infantry Regiment in the United States Army.[7][3][8] After the war he moved to California "for his health", as he had been exposed to mustard gas.[3]

Career

While living in southern California around 1919, he fulfilled multiple architectural commissions for sculptural works, including work on Hearst Castle.[4] In 1927, he did architectural commission work for the Oriental Theatre in Portland, Oregon for an interior sculpture similar to a Khmer sculpture at Angkor Wat.[9]

In 1929, he moved to Montana, to "live among the Indians" with the Blackfeet tribe.[4] While living in Montana he completed bust sculptures of John Two Guns White Calf, Chief Bad Roads, and Mountain Chief (Ninastuko).[3] One of his pupils was Blackfeet artist Albert Racine.[10] Voisin returned to Paris in 1930 to exhibit his Native American bronze cast sculptures, which won him awards.[3] A year later in 1931, he moved to Oregon.[11]

In 1933, Voisin moved to San Francisco, where he purchased the Albion Castle, formally the home of the Albion Ale And Porter Brewing Company and a natural occurring mineral water spring.[12] Over the span of almost 20 years he worked to restore the Norman-style stone building, using the aid of old photographs.[13] In 1964, the property was purchased by the San Francisco Mountain Springs Water Company in order to use the springs.[13] Voisin was allowed to remain living on the property beyond that date as a clause of the sale.[13]

In 1971, the Gonzaga University in Spokane received 53 sculptures for their Pacific Northwest Indian Center (now known as the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture).[1][14] At the time of the donation, the center had planned an entire Voisin Gallery wing dedicated to his work.[14]

Death and legacy

Voisin died on May 8, 1979, in Palos Verdes Estates, California. He was preceded in death by his wife Frances Maude Voisin (née Vahuy) in 1965, and they are both buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery.

Voisin's work was part of the Bill and Dorothy Harmsen Art Collection at the Denver Art Museum, however in December 2004 the work was donated to the Colorado Community College System.[15]

Voisin created notable portrait busts, included busts of Benjamin Franklin Irvine (1935), editor of The Oregon Journal;[16] John Two Guns White Calf, a Piegan Blackfeet chief;[3] and Vachel Lindsay, poet.[8] He created public memorials including the Father McQuade Memorial and Fairfax Whelan Memorial Fountain.[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Garmel, M. (21 July 1979). "Art Show That Is Different". Newspapers.com. The Indianapolis News. p. 54. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
  2. 1 2 Harmsen, Dorothy (1977). American Western Art: A Collection of One Hundred Twenty-five Western Paintings and Sculpture with Biographies of the Artists. Harmsen Publishing Company. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-9601322-1-8.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Important Bronze Collection". Newspapers.com. El Paso Herald-Post. March 6, 1981. p. 52. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
  4. 1 2 3 Hughes, Edan Milton (2002). Artists in California, 1786-1940: L-Z. Crocker Art Museum. p. 1144. ISBN 978-1-884038-08-2.
  5. ↑ Gallaher, Juanita R. (1972). Western Conservation Journal - Volumes 29-30. J. R. Gallaher. p. 53.
  6. 1 2 Perl, Jed (2017-10-24). Calder: The Conquest of Time: The Early Years: 1898-1940. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 457. ISBN 978-0-451-49421-4.
  7. ↑ Elliott, Maud Howe (1975). This Was My Newport. Arno Press. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-405-06911-6.
  8. 1 2 3 "Newporters Work To Be On View". Newspapers.com. Newport Mercury. August 7, 1931. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
  9. ↑ "Oriental Theatre, 828 Southeast Grand Avenue, Portland, Multnomah County, OR". www.loc.gov. Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
  10. ↑ Craig, Susan V. (2006). Biographical Dictionary of Kansas Artists (active before 1945). Lawrence, KS: Murphy Art and Architecture Library, University of Kansas. ISBN 978-1-936153-00-8.
  11. ↑ The WPA Guide to Oregon: The Beaver State. Federal Writers' Project. Trinity University Press. 2013-10-31. ISBN 978-1-59534-235-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ↑ "San Francisco Landmark #60: Albion Brewery". noehill.com. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  13. 1 2 3 Bevk, Alex (2014-02-10). "Local Landmark #60: Albion Castle in Hunters Point". Curbed SF. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
  14. 1 2 O'Connor, H.J. (February 14, 1973). "Voisin Gallery Planned For Northwest Indian Center". Newspapers.com. Spokane Chronicle. p. 17. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
  15. ↑ "Harmsen Western Art Exhibit at Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce". www.tfaoi.com. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
  16. ↑ "Blindness is No Barrier to Newspaperman Irvine". Newspapers.com. Corvallis Gazette-Times. April 8, 1985. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
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