Seattle Public Sculptors

From Seattle’s earliest days as a Gold Rush boomtown to its celebration of the future during the 1962 World’s Fair, local artists have created public art installations—statuary, reliefs and other sculpture—that have become familiar features of the city’s landscape. This comprehensive study of 12 Seattle sculptors and their works examines the motivations of the artists and their benefactors, the development of the city’s public art policy, and the political forces behind the pieces that are now part of the city’s rich history. Biographical details and historical perspective are provided for such artists as Lorado Taft, Alice Robertson Carr, John Carl Ely, Max P. Nielsen, August Werner and James FitzGerald.

Fred F. Poyner IV is an independent historian and author with over 30 years of experience in researching and writing about history and art of the Pacific Northwest. He is currently a grant writer for the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe in Washington state, and a regular contributor to The Filson Journal.

Fred F. Poyner IV
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 240
Bibliographic Info: 37 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2017
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6650-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2866-0
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. Lorado Taft (1860–1936) 3
2. Richard E. Brooks (1865–1919) 18
3. Finn Haakon Frolich (1868–1947) 31
4. Max P. Nielsen (1864–1917) 47
5. James A. Wehn (1882–1973) 58
6. Allen George Newman (1875–1940) 70
7. Herman Atkins MacNeil (1866–1947) 82
8. Alonzo Victor Lewis (1886–1946) 98
9. John Carl Ely (1897–1929) 120
10. Alice Robertson Carr (de Creeft) (1899–1996) 130
11. James FitzGerald (1910–1973) 149
12. August H. Werner (1893–1980) 166
Abbreviations 191
Chapter Notes 193
Bibliography 203
Index 217

“written with clarity and considerable detail”—Seattle Times.