Samuel Herbert Adams (January 28, 1858 – May 21, 1945) was an American sculptor.

Biography

Herbert Adams was born in 1858 at West Concord, Vermont, son of machinist and patternmaker Samuel Minot Adams and Nancy Powers. In 1863, at the age of five, he moved to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, so his father could take a job at the Putnam Machine Co. His family purchased a home on 26 Chestnut Street. He was educated in the public schools of Fitchburg and Worcester, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He was a member of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts from 1915 to 1920, serving as vice chairman from 1918 to 1920.

Adams died in New York City in 1945.

Works by Adams are held by numerous American museums, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Selected works

thumb|right|Bust of Adeline Valentine Pond by Herbert Adams in 1889

  • 1887-1889 – Bust of Adeline Valentine Pond (Mrs. Herbert Adams), Hispanic Society of America, New York, New York.
  • 1888 – Boys and Turtles Fountain, Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
  • 1894 – The Rabbi's Daughter, private collection.
  • 1896-1898 – Two bronze doors: Truth, Research, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Begun by Olin Levi Warner in 1895.
  • 1897 – Bust of Professor Joseph Henry, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
  • 1898 – Bust of Julia Marlowe as Juliet, Museum of the City of New York, New York, New York.
  • 1898 – Memorial Tablets, Massachusetts State House, Boston, Massachusetts.
  • 1898-1905 – Vanderbilt Memorial bronze doors, St. Bartholomew's Church, New York, New York.
  • 1899-1900 – La Jeunesse, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York.
  • 1899-1901 – Richard Smith (type-founder), Smith Memorial Arch, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  • 1900 – Jonathan Edwards Memorial, First Congregational Church, Northampton, Massachusetts.
  • 1902 – William Ellery Channing, Boston Public Garden, Boston, Massachusetts.
  • 1902-1905 – Matthias William Baldwin, City Hall, Philadelphia, Philadelphia.
  • 1912 – McMillan Fountain, Washington, D.C.
  • 1916 - Michigan Memorial, Vicksburg, Mississippi
  • 1919-1923 – James Scott Memorial Fountain, Belle Isle Park, Detroit, Michigan (with Cass Gilbert).
  • 1926-1928 – World War Memorial, Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
  • 1928 – Girl with Water Lilies, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
  • 1928 - Annual Medal of Honor Plaquette for the City Gardens Club of New York
  • 1934 - Ninth issue of the Society of Medalists, First Little Shiner.

<gallery>

Image:Truth-Warner-Highsmith.jpeg|Bronze door, Truth (1896–1898), Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Image:Research-Warner-Highsmith.jpeg|Bronze door, Research (1896–1898), Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Image:Smith arch Smith.jpg|Richard Smith (1899-1901), Smith Memorial Arch, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Image:William Ellery Channing by Herbert Adams, Boston, MA.JPG|William Ellery Channing (1902), Boston Public Garden.

Image:Matthias William Baldwin.jpg|Matthias William Baldwin (1902–1905), City Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Image:Girl with Water Lilies.jpg|Girl with Water Lilies (1928), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

File:Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi, US (18).jpg|Michigan Memorial, Vicksburg, MS

</gallery>

References

Sources

  • American National Biography, vol. 1, pp.&nbsp;96–97.
  • Profile of Herbert Adams 1858-1945 Sculptor, by Marilyn Gage Hyson c. 2000, pp.&nbsp;9–10, 29-30, 59-60.