Name Louis Saint-Gaudens Died March 8, 1913 | Siblings Augustus Saint-Gaudens | |
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Role Augustus Saint-Gaudens' brother | ||
Louis Saint-Gaudens (January 1, 1854 – March 8, 1913) was a significant American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation. He was the brother of renowned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens; Louis later changed the spelling of his name to St. Gaudens to differentiate himself from his well-known brother.
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Life and career
Born in New York City to a French-born father, Bernard Paul Ernest Saint-Gaudens, and an Irish-born mother, Mary McGuiness, Louis received his early training as a cameo cutter from his brother, who later assisted him in beginning his art studies in Rome. In 1878 he and his brother Augustus moved to Paris where they shared a studio and attended the École des Beaux-Arts. Louis studied at the École from 1879 to 1880.
Returning to America, he settled in Flint, Ohio, where he lived from 1898 to 1900. There he met his future wife, sculptor Annetta Johnson. Their son, Paul Saint-Gaudens, was a master potter who became known for his Orchard Kiln Pottery Works. In 1900 the family relocated to Cornish, New Hampshire, a mile away from Louis's brother's studio.
For the rest of his life, Louis Saint-Gaudens not only worked as his brother's assistant but also pursued commissions of his own. He sculpted major pieces for the Boston Public Library; the Church of the Ascension, New York; The Brearley School, New York; Union Station, Washington, D.C.; U.S. Customs House, New York; St. Louis Art Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; New York Life Insurance Company Building, New York; the Joseph Francis U.S. Congressional Medal; and the Benjamin Franklin Centennial Medal of 1906.
The over fifty sculptures that Saint-Gaudens completed for Washington, D.C.'s Union Station are considered his masterwork. He was a member of the National Sculpture Society.
Legacy
Louis Saint-Gaudens died of pneumonia, aged 59, in Cornish, New Hampshire. His home and studio in Cornish, New Hampshire, a former Shaker Meetinghouse, is on the National Register of Historic Places.