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William Rush

Linnaeus (Carl von Linn), c. 1812

Medium

carved and painted pine

Dimensions

overall: 61.12 × 43.66 × 31.75 cm (24 1/16 × 17 3/16 × 12 1/2 in.)
base (width x depth): 20 × 17.62 cm (7 7/8 × 6 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, William A. Clark Fund)

Accession Number

2014.136.257

Artists / Makers

William Rush (sculptor) American, 1756 - 1833

Image Use

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Provenance

Private collection, New Jersey; Kendrick Scofield [d. 1955], Washington, by 1936;[1] (Leon F.S. Stark, Philadelphia); purchased June 1951 by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.

[1] Corcoran records state that Scofield "purchased the bust from a New Jersey estate, where he found the bust on a gatepost." See also the correspondence between Kendrick Scofield and Henri Marceau of the Pennsylvania (now Philadelphia) Museum of Art, from November 1936 through January 1937 (copies in NGA curatorial files); in his letter of 16 November 1936, Kendrick writes: "The bust was found in the Southern part of New Jersey and the man who had it assumed it was a figurehead." The original correspondence is in the Registrar's files at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and copies were sent by Linda Bantel of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts to Edward Nygren of the Corcoran with her letter of 28 April 1981. Scofield, a reporter for Baltimore and Washington newspapers, was also a collector and antique dealer.

Associated Names

Corcoran Gallery of Art
Private Collection (NGA Former Owner)
Scofield, Kendrick
Stark, Leon F.S.

Exhibition History

1812: Second Annual Exhibition of the Society of Artists of the United States and the Pennsylvania Academy, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 11 May - 20 June 1812, no. 2.

1937: William Rush, 1756-1833, The First Native American Sculptor, Pennsylvania Museum of Art (now Philadelphia Museum of Art), Philadelphia, 1937, no. 56, as Unidentified Head, Attributed to William Rush.[1]

1966: Past and Present: 250 Years of American Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 15 April - 15 September 1966, unpublished checklist.

1976: The American Genius: W.W. Corcoran, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 24 January - 4 April 1976, catalogue without checklist.

1976: The Eye of Thomas Jefferson, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 5 June - 6 September 1976, no. 581, repro.

1982: William Rush: American Sculptor, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 20 June - 21 November 1982, no. 24, repro.

Exhibition History Notes

[1] The exhibition catalogue, by Henri Marceau, presented a catalogue raisonné of the artist's work. Number 56, the NGA bust, was lent to the exhibition by Kendrick Scofield, who had been in correspondence with Marceau about the work at the time Marceau was finalizing the catalogue. In a letter of 11 January 1937 to Scofield (copy in NGA curatorial files; original in the Registrar's files, Philadelphia Museum of Art), Marceau writes that he had concluded the bust was by Rush. However, probably because the catalogue was about to go to press, Marceau listed what was the same object twice, as no. 18 (Linnaeus by Rush, "whereabouts unknown") and as no. 56 (Unidentified Head attributed to Rush, lent by Scofield).

Bibliography

1977: Rheims, Maurice. 19th Century Sculpture. New York, 1977: 254, no. 24, repro.

2014: Igoe, Laura Turner. "'Appropriate in a Sylvan State.' William Rush's Self-Portrait and Enviornmental Transformation." American Art 28, no. 1 (Spring 2014): 83, fig. 4.