Biography
Stewart, Albert ( April 9, 1900- Sept. 23, 1965)
American sculptor born in Kensington England. He arrived in America in 1908 and was orphaned shortly there after. Through the intervention of a wealthy benefactor, Edwin T. Bechtel, Stewart was allowed to pursue his art studies at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design and the Students Art League, staples for young and not-so-well-off sculptors of the day, and upon completing his studies, obtain some needed commissions.
During World War I he went to Canada and joined the Royal Air Force. Returning after the war he worked as an assistant to both Frederick MacMonnies and Paul Manship.
During the 1930s he worked as a WPA [Works Progress Administration] artist. Throughout his career Stewart frequently was employed to create architectural sculpture. In 1939 he was appointed head of the sculpture program at Scripps College in Clarement, California. He moved to California and stayed there the rest of his life.
Selected Architectural Sculpture
- Buffalo City Hall friezes, Buffalo NY 1931
- decorative panels, 333 Michigan Avenue Building, Chicago, Illinois 1931
- frieze and Eagle, Post Office, Albany New York 1933
- Municipal Auditorium Reliefs, Kansas City, Missouri [WPA] 1934
- pediment, Department of Labor Building, Washington D.C. 1934
- United States Customs Building, Washington, D.C. [WPA] 1935
- panels & EagleUS Mint Building, San Francisco, California 1935
- panels, the Nassau County Court House, Mineola, NY 1939
- panels on Home Builder’s Savings and Loan Association, Pomona California 1946
- Animal figures in brick wall at Los Angles County Fair Grounds, at Pomona 1952
- Reliefs, Life Science Building, UCLA, Los Angeles, California 1953
- figures, Los Angeles County Courthouse, Los Angles California 1956
- reliefs, Scottish Rite Temple, Los Angles, California 1960
Other Works
- baptristey doors, St. Bartholomew’s Church, NYC 1931
- elevator doors Ramsey County Court House, St. Paul, Minnesota 1931
- eagles for legs of Steinway & Sons piano given to the White House 1938
- Several works at Brookgreen Gardens, Myrtle Beach, SC
Images
References
Falk, Peter Hastings, Editor, Who Was Who in American Art, Sound View Press, Madison Connecticut, 1985
Goode, James M. The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington D.C., Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington D.C. 1974
Gurney, George, Sculpture and the Federal Triangle, Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington D.C. 1985
Kvaran, , Einar Einarsson. American Architectural Sculpture, unpublished manuscript
McClellen, Douglas at al, Albert Stewart, Scripps College, Claremont, California 1966
Opitz, Glenn B , Editor, Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Book, Poughkeepsie NY, 1986
Pare, Richard, Editor, Courthouse, Horizon Press, New York NY 1978
Proske, Beatrice Gilman, Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture, Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina, 1968