William Clark Noble

William Clark Noble (February 10, 1858 – May 10, 1938) was an American sculptor best known for his monuments.

William Clark Noble
Noble poses next to his bust of Lincoln, 1924.
Born	(1858-02-10)February 10, 1858 Gardiner, Maine
Died	May 10, 1938(1938-05-10) (aged 80) Washington, D.C.
Spouse(s)	Emile Berlin Bleecker
Parent(s)	Clark Noble Emma Freeman Noble

Early life

Noble was born on February 10, 1858 in Gardiner, Maine. He was a son of Clark Noble, a ship’s captain, and Emma Freeman Noble, a descendant of Elder William Brewster, who came over on the Mayflower.[1] After his father's death at sea, his mother, older brother, and infant Clark went to live on her father's farm in Richmond, Maine.[2]

He studied with Horatio Greenough and Lorado Taft.[3] Taft, in his History of American Sculpture, remarked that Noble was one of a group of sculptors who had, "made something of a specialty of military figures."[4]

Career

Governor Andrew Curtin (1911-13), Pennsylvania State Memorial, Gettysburg Battlefield.

Noble designed coinage for Guatemala and Panama.[5] His Guatemalan quetzal (1925)[6] and Panamanian balboa (1931)[7] each exchanged for one US dollar. In 1924, Noble was selected by the Woman's Universal Alliance to create the Mothers' Memorial to be erected in Washington, D.C. in honor of motherhood and the world's great women.[8]

He was a member of the National Arts Club and the National Sculpture Society.[9]

"His best-known works include the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Newport, Rhode Island, and statues of Napoleon Bonaparte, Thomas Jefferson, and General "Mad Anthony" Wayne for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis."[2]

Personal life

Noble was married three times, including his last marriage to the former Emile Berlin Bleecker. His son, William Clark Noble Jr., also became an artist.[1]

Noble died on May 10, 1938 in Washington, D.C.[1] He and his widow are buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in South Gardiner, Maine.[10]

Selected works

• Reverend Charles T. Brooks Memorial (1884), Channing Memorial Church, Newport, Rhode Island.
  • Bas-relief portrait of Reverend Charles T. Brooks (1884), Redwood Library and Athenaeum, Newport, Rhode Island.[11]
• Bust of John McCullough as Virginius (1888), McCullough grave, Mount Moriah Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, John Lackme, architect.[12] The bust is missing from the grave monument.[13]
• Old Salt – Bust of Captain James Logan (1890).[14]
• Reverend William Ellery Channing (1892-93), Touro Park, Newport, Rhode Island.[15]
• Joseph Jefferson Loving Cup (1895-96), New Orleans Museum of Art.[16] Modeled in plaster by Noble, cast in silver by Gorham Manufacturing Company. Features three 10.5 in (26.7 cm) figures of Jefferson in the roles of Rip van Winkle, Dr. Pangloss, and Bob Acres.[17] Auctioned at Sotheby's New York, 21 January 2011, Lot 127.[18]
  • Statuette: Joseph Jefferson as Rip van Winkle (ca. 1895).[19] One of the figures from the loving cup.
• Lion and Eagle (1897-98), Commercial Cable Company Building, 20-22 Broad Street, Manhattan, New York City, G. E. Harding & Gooch, architects (demolished ca.1960).[20] The bronze figures stood upon piers at the 5th story of the building's façade.[21] They represented England and the United States – the two terminals of the Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Cable.
• Bishop Phillips Brooks Memorial (1898), Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, Manhattan, New York City.[22] A full-length bronze bas-relief portrait with a glass mosaic background by Louis Comfort Tiffany.[23][24]
• General Anthony Wayne (plaster, 1904). Exhibited at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri.[25] This and other larger-than-life statues of historical figures from the 1904 World's Fair decorated Pennsylvania Avenue during President Theodore Roosevelt's Inaugural parade, March 4, 1905.[26]
• Monsignor Doane (1908), Doane Park, Newark, New Jersey.[27][28]
• Minerva or Lady of Wisdom (gilded copper, 1909), Maine State House dome, Augusta, Maine.[29] The 15-foot (4.5 m) finial figure stands atop the lantern of the 185-foot (56.4 m) State House.[30][31]
• Lincoln the Candidate (Bust of Abraham Lincoln) (1909), private collection.[32]
• Bas-relief portrait of Edward Everett Hale (1909), American Unitarian Association Library, Boston, Massachusetts.
• Bust of George Washington Carver (1910).[33]
• Statuette: Honus Wagner (1910), Roman Bronze Works.[34]
• Bas-relief portrait of Mary Baker Eddy (1913).[35]
• Bas-relief portrait of Prime Minister David Lloyd George (1922).[36]
• Portrait medallion of Charles William Eliot (1924), Fogg Museum, Harvard University.[37] Diameter: 6 in (15.7 cm)

War memorials

• Newport Soldiers and Sailors Monument (1889-90), Congdon Park, Newport, Rhode Island.[38][39]
• General Josiah Porter (1902), Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, New York City.[40]
  • A replica is on the grounds of the New York State Capitol, Albany.
• 50th Pennsylvania Volunteer Reserve Infantry Monument (1904), Antietam Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland.[41] The statue is a posthumous portrait of General Benjamin C. Christ.[42]
• 100th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry "Roundheads" Monument (1904), Antietam Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland.[43]
  • A replica (1917) is at the Civil War Monument, Danville National Cemetery, Danville, Illinois.[44]
• Civil War Memorial (1906), Centre County Courthouse, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.[45]
• Governor Andrew Curtin (bronze, 1911-13), Pennsylvania State Memorial, Gettysburg Battlefield, Pennsylvania.[46]
  • A replica (ca. 1913) was added to the Civil War Memorial, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania (Governor Curtin's home town).[47]
  • A replica (1922) is at Governor Curtin Park, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.[48]
• Bas-relief: In Flanders's Fields (1919), World War I Memorial, Riverview Congregational Church, South Gardiner, Maine.

• 
  Reverend William Ellery Channing (1892-93), Newport, Rhode Island.
• 
  50th Pennsylvania Infantry Monument (1904), Antietam Battlefield, Maryland.
• 
  100th Pennsylvania Infantry Monument (1904), Antietam Battlefield, Maryland.
• 
  Civil War Memorial (1906), Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
• 
  Monsignor Doane (1908), Newark, New Jersey.
• 
  Minerva (1909), Maine State House, Augusta.
• 
  Civil War Monument (1917), Danville, Illinois.
• 
  Charles William Eliot medallion (1924).

References

1. "WILLIAM C. NOBLE, SCULPTOR, ARTIST; Creator of Statues Here and in Other Eastern Cities Dies in Washington at 80 DREW MODELS FOR COINS Designed Pieces for Panama and Guatemala--Planned J. P.Sousa Memorial" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 May 1938. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
2. "W. Clark Noble". americanart.si.edu. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
3. Opitz, Glenn B., Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Books, Poughkeepsie, NY, 1988.
4. Taft, Lorado, ‘’The History of American Sculpture’’, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1925, p.435.
5. "Works of sculptor W. Clark Noble placed on exhibition at 'Belcourt'," Newport Daily News, August 13, 1959, p.16.
6. Guatemalan quetzal, from Numista.
7. Panamanian Balboa, from NGC.
8. "APPROVE MEMORIAL TO MOTHERHOOD; Committees Select Design by W. Clark Noble for Erection in Washington" (PDF). The New York Times. 6 July 1924. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
9. Third Exhibition of the National Sculpture Society in the Galleries of the American Fine Arts Society: From May 1st to May 21st Inclusive, 1898. National Sculpture Society. 1898. p. 54. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
10. "Mrs. W. Clark Noble" (PDF). The New York Times. 2 April 1959. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
11. Rev. Charles T. Brooks, from SIRIS.
12. William Winter, In Memory of John McCullough, (Philadelphia: Devinne Press, 1889), p. 46-51.
13. McCullough grave in 2002, from Find-A-Grave.
14. Old Salt, from Invaluable.
15. William Ellery Channing, from SIRIS.
16. "New Donations to New Orleans Museum of Art," NOMA press release, January 14, 2012.
17. "The Silversmith's Art in Its Highest Estate," The Jeweler's Circular, June 22, 1898, cover & p.7. (Scroll up for photos.)
18. Joseph Jefferson Presentation Cup, from Sotheby's New York.
19. Joseph Jefferson as Rip van Winkle, from Mark Lasalle Fine Art.
20. The Monumental News, January 1897, pp.20-21.
21. Commercial Cable Company Building, from Amazon.
22. Phillips Brooks Memorial, Review of Reviews, September, 1895, pp.258 & 270.
23. Florence N. Levy, Art in New York, (New York: Art Service, 1922), p.48.
24. Joshua Newton Perkins, History of the Parish of the Incarnation, New York City, 1852–1912, (Frank B. Howard Press, 1912), p.190. (Scroll down for a photo.)
25. David Rowland Francis, The Universal Exposition of 1904 (St. Louis, MO: Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, 1913), p.204.
26. "World's Fair Statuary," Rock Island Argus, February 22, 1905, p.6.
27. Monsignor Doane, from Newark History.
28. Monsignor Doane, from SIRIS.
29. Minerva, from SIRIS.
30. "The Statue on the State-House Dome," Maine Library Bulletin, vol. 13, nos. 1-2 (July–October, 1927), p.21.
31. Minerva, from Tom Forst.
32. Lincoln the Candidate, from SIRIS.
33. George Washington Carver, from Skinner Auctions.
34. Honus Wagner, from Christie's New York.
35. The portrait appears on the cover of Myra B. Lord, Mary Baker Eddy: A Concise Story of Her Life & Works, (1918).
36. Our World, November 1922, p.9.
37. Charles William Eliot, from SIRIS.
38. Newport Soldiers and Sailors Monument, from SIRIS.
39. Newport Soldiers and Sailors Monument, from Getty Images.
40. General Josiah Porter, from NYC Parks.
41. 50th PA Infantry Monument, from SIRIS.
42. 50th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Monument, from National Park Service.
43. 100th PA Infantry Monument, from SIRIS.
44. Danville Soldiers Monument, from SIRIS.
45. Bellefonte Civil War Memorial, from SIRIS.
46. Governor Curtin (Gettysburg), from SIRIS.
47. Governor Curtin (Bellefonte), from SIRIS.
48. Governor Curtin (Harrisburg), from SIRIS.

External links

• "William Clark Noble". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
• John Kelly, "A Mom-umental Failure," The Washington Post Magazine, May 11, 2008.