Rudulph Evans: An American Sculptor (1878-1960)
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Rudulph Evans's name is relatively unfamiliar to the general art public. Very few are acquainted with his prodigious , which spanned six decades, and his international reputation as a prominent sculptor. The primary goal of this study is to provide an understanding of Evans's art and to establish its historical importance in the field of American sculpture . This dissertation is divided into two parts. The first section is an essay which integrates biograhical facts with analysis of his stylistic development through a comprehensive examination of his most prominent statuary: J. Serling Morton (1895); Maude Adams (1902); Morton Monument (1902-1905); The Golden Hour (1912-1914); Venus Aphrodite (1926); Robert E.Lee (1930-1931); and Thomas Jefferson (1941-1943). An extensive catalogue discussing each work of art pro duced, from the time of the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 until after the artist retired from professional life in 1953, comprises the second part of the dissertation. The creation and execution of some of the nation 's outstanding sculpture are documented here. The detailed catalogue information includes statistical data, history of provenance, exhibition records, and comments from primary sources. The works are arranged chronologically to reveal their stylistic characteristics and the sculptor 's development and to consider relationships with contemporary artistic trends. Both the essay and the catalogue trace the development of Evans's statuary through the sculptor's career. Evans's artistic career began in the mid71890s, when he became a pupil of u. s. J. Dunbar. Later, he attended classes at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. At the age of nineteen, Evans decided to broaden his provincial outlook by studying in France at the Academie Julian under Denys Puech and at the tcole des Beaux-Arts under Alexandre Falgulere. He also sought the instruction of Rodin and St.Gaudens. While abroad, contact with contemporary French art movements solidified Evans 's exist ing ideas and opened up new avenues of experimentation in Parisian tech niques . Upon his return to the United States in 1900, he concluded his formal training at the Art Students League in New York with H. Siddons Mowbray. Trips to Greece in 1910 and Rome in 1921 provided Evans with additional first-hand knowledge of antiquity. Outside of the consider able amount of time he spent in Europe, Evans developed his career in New York City and in Washington, D.c.. where he settled permanently in 1949. Logical stylistic phases are recognizable in Evans's work. There is an intermingling of naturalism, antiquity, and Parisian techniques in his statuary. Evans's artistic development is marked by an evolution from a traditional nineteenth-century style. He was a transitional figure who sought to reconcile modernist formal advances within a traditional context that would appeal to a broad public . In the final analysis, Evans's high quality of sculpture cannot be dismissed as retardataire. Though he derived inspiration from classical antiquity, he also synthesized the ideals of classicism with the naturalism of the American spirit and the modeling of the Parisian techniques. On the basis of the preceding specific consideration of Evans's works and the clarification of his 'it is possible to see Evans's art more clearly within the artistic milieu of his time. Enduring tributes to his art stand in the Hall of Fame, the Metropolitan Museum the Luxembourg Museum in Paris, and other prominent repositories of cultural monuments. As an artist who helped to establish an American tradition of sculpture in the United States, Evans emerges as a particularly interesting figure in the development of American art.
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