Adolph Alexander Weinman - Biography

Biography

Weinman arrived in the United States at the age of 10. At the age of 15, he attended evening classes at Cooper Union and later studied at the Art Students League of New York with sculptors Augustus St. Gaudens and Philip Martiny. He later served as an assistant to Charles Niehaus, Olin Warner, and Daniel Chester French. Weinman opened his own studio in 1904. Although Weinman is now best remembered as a medalist, when he once was introduced as such he vehemently denied being one and said that he was an architectural sculptor. His steadiest income was derived from the sale of small bronze reductions of his larger works, such as Descending Night, originally commissioned for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, 1915

Weinman was a member of the National Sculpture Society, of which he was president from 1927 to 1930. He was also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Academy of Design, and the New York City Art Commission, among other organizations. He died in Port Chester, New York, on August 8, 1952.