Robert White (sculptor)

Robert Winthrop White (September 19, 1921 – September 21, 2002)[1] was an American sculptor and educator who lived for much of his life in St. James, Long Island, New York. He was a grandson of the architect Stanford White.

Robert White
Photograph of White, 1949.
Born
Robert Winthrop White

(1921-09-19)September 19, 1921
St. James, New York, U.S.
DiedSeptember 21, 2002(2002-09-21) (aged 81)
Smithtown, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationPortsmouth Priory School
Rhode Island School of Design
Known forSculpture
Spouse(s)
​
(
m. 1947; his death 2002)

Early life

White was born in New York on September 19, 1921. He was the third of eight children born to architect Lawrence Grant White (1887–1956) and his wife, Laura Astor (née Chanler) White (1887–1984).[2]

His father was the only surviving child of architect Stanford White. His mother was the eldest child of sportsman Winthrop Astor Chanler and Margaret Louisa (née Terry) Chanler,[3] and a descendant of the Ward, Astor, Dudley–Winthrop, Livingston and Stuyvesant families.[4]

He attended the Portsmouth Priory School (now Portsmouth Abbey School) in Rhode Island, and the Rhode Island School of Design.[5]

Career

He served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II and subsequently taught art at the Parsons School of Design from 1949-1952. He was a fellow of the American Academy in Rome from 1952 to 1955.[5]

From 1967 to 1987, White was an associate professor of art at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Over his artistic career, he created a substantial body of sculptural work, notably a series of evocative neo-classical figures in cast bronze and terra cotta which were shown at the James Graham & Sons Gallery and the Davis Galleries (later Davis and Langdale), both in Manhattan. Public sculptures include his 1983 statue of General John J. Pershing, General of the Armies, in Pershing Park, Washington D.C.[5]

He was also an illustrator for clients including Harper's Magazine, and before his death published two illustrated books of poetry, Casques and Dust on the Palace: The Story of a Friendship, published by Waterline Books in Hardwick, Massachusetts.[5]

Personal life

In August 1947, White was married to the American poet and Smith College graduate Claire Nicolas (b. 1925) at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in East Islip.[6] Claire is the daughter of a Dutch stained-glass painter, Joep Nicolas, the niece of English writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley, and the cousin of Matthew Huxley.[7] They lived at his grandfather's former Italianate mansion and subdivided 60-acre estate, known as Box Hill, on Long Island.[8]

He died on September 21, 2002, at a hospital in Smithtown on Long Island. He was survived by his wife, two sons (Sebastian and Christian), one (Stephanie) of his two daughters, and seven grandchildren.[5]

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References
  1. New General Catalog of Old Books and Authors
  2. "WHITE-CHANLER WEDDING.; Architect, Son of the Late Stanford White, Marries Sculptress". The New York Times. 20 June 1916. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  3. "MAJOR CHANLER STRICKEN.; Master of Genesee Valley Hunt Has Stroke After a Fall From Horse". The New York Times. 6 August 1926. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  4. Jacob, Kathryn Allamong (2010). King of the Lobby: The Life and Times of Sam Ward, Man-About-Washington in the Gilded Age. JHU Press. ISBN 9780801893971. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  5. "Robert Winthrop White -- Sculptor, 81". The New York Times. 21 October 2002. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  6. "TROTH ANNOUNCED OF CLAIRE NICOLAS; Smith College Alumna Engaged to Robert Winthrop White, Veteran of Coast Guard" (PDF). The New York Times. 7 March 1947. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  7. "Miss Nicolas Is Wed to Robert W. White" (PDF). The New York Times. 13 August 1947. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  8. Giovannini, Joseph (18 August 1983). "A Legacy of Talent at the Stanford White Estate". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
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