Images(4)

John C. Calhoun (1782-1850)

Artist Hiram Powers American, 1805–1873, active in Italy 1837–1873

Dateoriginally modeled 1835, carved 1859

MediumMarble

DimensionsH. 29 1/2 in. (74.9 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LinePresented to the State of North Carolina by Wharton Jackson Green, 1861; transferred to the North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956

Object numberSC.56.3.1

On View

Not on view

ProvenanceCommissioned by Wharton Jackson Green (1831-1910), Warrenton, NC, 1858; presented to the State of North Carolina, June 11, 1861; NC State Capitol, Raleigh, 1861-1914; transferred to NC Hall of History, Raleigh, 1914; transferred to NCMA, 1956.
Published ReferencesJ[ames] A. Mowris, A History of the One Hundred and Seventeenth Regiment, N.Y. Volunteers (Hartford: Case, Lockwood & Co., 1866) (reprinted Hamilton, NY: Edmonston Publishing, Inc., 1996), 210-11.

Henry W. Bellows, "Seven Sittings with Powers, the Sculptor, III," Appleton's Journal of Literature, Science, and Art 1 (June 26, 1869), 402-404, noted 404.

"Portraits of the Governors," Raleigh, NC: The News and Observer (March 30, 1886), 2.

Julian Ralph, Dixie, Or Southern Scenes and Sketches (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1896), 279.

"Memories of the State Capitol," Raleigh, NC: The Raleigh Times (ca. 1902/03) (see curatorial file).

Fred A. Olds, "Report to the Secretary of the North Carolina Historical Commission," dated November 30, 1914, included in "Report of the Secretary of the North Carolina Historical Commission, December 1, 1912-November 30, 1914." Notes removal of bust from Senate Chamber and transfer to NC Hall of History. Typescript, NC State Archives, Raleigh.

Fred A. Olds, "Report of the Collector for the Hall of History," in Fifth Biennial Report of the North Carolina Historical Commission (Raleigh: N.C. Historical Commission, December 1, 1912-November 30, 1914), 17.

Sixth Biennial Report of the North Carolina Historical Commission (Raleigh: NC Historical Commission, 1914-16), listed 19.

John G. Barrett, Sherman's March through the Carolinas (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1956), 219 (cites Mowris above).

May Davis Hill, "Checklist of Additional Sculptures in the North Carolina Museum of Art," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 2 , no. 1 (Summer 1958), listed and illus. (b-w) 35.

Donald Martin Reynolds, Hiram Powers and His Ideal Sculpture (Ph. D. diss., Columbia University, 1975) (New York: Garland Publishing, 1977), noted 64; listed in "Handlist of Hiram Power's Sculpture" 1054.

Charles W. Stanford, Jr., Selections from British and American Painting and Sculpture (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1967), no. 23, illus. (b-w).

Wayne Craven, Sculpture in America (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1968), discussed 113, 119.

Wayne Craven, "The Index of American Sculpture: A New Research Archive," Antiques 94 (November 1968), 712-13, illus. (b-w) fig. 3.

Sylvia E. Crane, White Silence: Greenough, Powers, and Crawford (Miami: University of Miami Press, 1972), discussed 181-184.

John S. Crawford, "Physiognomy in Classical and American Portrait Busts," The American Art Journal 9 (May 1977) discussed 57, illus. (b-w) fig. 16.

John H. Dryfhout, The Work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens (Hanover: University Press of New England, 1982), discussed in relation to Saint-Gaudens' bust of Calhoun, no. 58.

Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 238.

"Object of the Month Celebrates Capitol Anniversary," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Summer 1990), 15, illus. (b-w).

Richard P. Wunder, Hiram Powers, Vermont Sculptor, 1805-1873 (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1991), listed Portraits no. 16.1 [or 16.2].

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 227.

John G. Barrett, Sherman's March through the Carolinas (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992), 219 (quotes Mowris).

John W. Coffey, entry for John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 406, illus. (color) 407.

John W. Coffey, “Arms for Art, and Other Shenanigans: The Curious Case of a Marble Bust of John C. Calhoun,” in Southern Cultures 19, no. 4 (Winter 2013), 5–21, illus. (b-w) 5, and illus. in situ (b-w) 18.
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Augustus Saint-Gaudens: Sculptor of the Gilded Age," February 23-May 11, 2003.
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