2022 December :: Hermon A. MacNeil

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Dec

Models of MacNeil Sculptures Rescued!

Posted by: Dan Neil Leininger, Webmaster | Comments (0)

Alexander Hamilton plaster model (reverse) with de-assession tag at Swope Art Museum

Plaster models from the studio of

Hermon Atkins MacNeil

are returning to College Point thanks to.

James Haas

(MacNeil biographer and College Point author)

Hermon Atkins MacNeil: American Sculptor In the Broad, Bright Daylight

Jim Haas, with help from Charlie Chiclacos, traveled to

Swope Art Museum

in Terre Haute, Indiana,

where the plasters have been in storage since 1947 after the death of the sculptor. His widow Cecelia MacNeil released them from the MacNeil estate.

Jim Haas and Charlie Chiclacos, drove a rental van to Terre Haute last month to retrieve the pieces.

One rescued piece is the Adventurous Bowman model (1915). The final plaster stood atop the Column of Progress at the Pan-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco (See photos below)

“Column of Progress” with MacNeil’s “Adventurous Bowman” as the finial figure on top.

Adventurous Bowman model (1915). The final plaster stood atop the Column of Progress at the Pan-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco

Swope Art Museum received the remaining plaster models from the original MacNeil Studio before it was sold and demolished.

The Bowman plaster has a broken arm and bow. < See photos above and below.> The pieces seem intact enough for possible repair.

Since the Pan-Pacific Exposition closed in 1916 all buildings and monuments were demolished. This broken model is the only remnant of depicting the “Adventurous Bowman.”

The MacNeil home and studio were occupied for several years, but once the property was sold both buildings were demolished. The site of the MacNeil Studio and home were prime real estate located on the East River Sound adjoining Chisholm Park.

In 1966, the centennial of Hermon’s birth, the City of New York renamed that park as:

“MacNeil Park”

to honor the name of the Sculptor-couple who lived and worked there in College Point for half a century. A condominium complex stands on the original site of the MacNeil property.

The Poppenheusen Institute will be the new caretaker of these pieces.

Hermon MacNeil served on the board there. His plaster of “The White Man Coming” has been displayed there for nearly a century. (See below)

“Coming of the White Man” original clay model 72 inches high at the Poppenhusen Institute in College Point, Queens, New York.

Unsuccessful efforts were made a decade ago to bring these MacNeil remnants home to College Point . (Click to see the George Washington piece)

Seventy-five years have passed since the sculptor’s death in 1947.