John Storrs (sculptor)

John Henry Bradley Storrs (June 25, 1885 – April 26, 1956), also known as John Bradley Storrs and John H. Storrs, was an American modernist sculptor best remembered for his art deco sculptures that examined the relationship between architecture and sculpture.[1]

John Henry Bradley Storrs
Born(1885-06-25)June 25, 1885
Chicago
DiedApril 26, 1956(1956-04-26) (aged 70)
NationalityAmerican
Known forSculpture
SpouseMarguerite Deville Chabrol

Life
'Profile Head with Cap', woodcut on paper, c. 1918, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Storrs was born in Chicago in 1885, son of architect D.W. Storrs.[2] In 1905, he traveled to Berlin to study singing, but he soon decided to become a sculptor. He studied with Lorado Taft at the Art Institute of Chicago, with Bela Pratt at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and with Charles Grafly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. By 1911, he was living in Paris, where he studied with Auguste Rodin and also attended the Académie Julian.[3] He gradually moved from representational sculpture and wood engravings to the machine-like sculptures for which he is best known.

'Forms in Space, Number 1', stainless steel and copper sculpture, 1927, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

During his time in France, Storrs became friends with Jacques Lipchitz. In 1914, Storrs married the novelist and writer Marguerite Deville Chabrol and started dividing his time between France and the United States. In the 1930s, Storrs turned to abstract painting that often suggested the human figure. During World War II Storrs was twice arrested and imprisoned by the German occupation forces. After being released, he returned to his studio in Mer, France, and worked and lived there until his death in 1956.

Work
Ceres, created by John Storrs

Storrs is best remembered for his late-career abstract works, often cast from materials not used in traditional sculpture such as aluminum and stainless steel. He is responsible for the Ceres sculpture at the top of the Chicago Board of Trade Building.

References
  1. "Forms in Space #1". The Whitney Museum of American Art. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  2. Armstrong, Craven et al, ‘’200 Years of American Sculpture", David R. Godine, Publisher in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1976
  3. "Biography of the Storrs and Deville Chabrol families". Newberry Library. 1 January 2010. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

Further reading
  • Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Forerunners of American Abstraction; Painters: Charles Demuth, Arthur G. Dove, John Marin, Georgia O'Keeffe, Charles Sheeler, Joseph Stella; Sculptors: John B. Flannagan, John Storrs, Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, 1971.
  • Frackman, Noel, John Storrs, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1986.
  • Hirschl and Adler Galleries, Six American Modernists: Marsden Hartley, Gaston Lachaise, Elie Nadelman, Georgia O'Keeffe, Charles Sheeler, John Storrs New York, Hirschl and Adler Galleries, 1991.
  • Rutgers University Art Gallery, Vanguard American Sculpture, 1913-1939, New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University, 1979.
  • Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, John Storrs and John Flannagan, Sculpture and Works on Paper, Williamstown, Mass., Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1980.
  • Storrs, John Henry Bradley, John Storrs, Chicago 1885-Mer 1956, Musée de l'Orléanais, Château Dunois, Beaugency, 1987, Beaugency, France, Musée de l'Orléanais, 1987.
  • Storrs, John Henry Bradley and Meredith E. Ward, John Storrs, Rhythm of Line, New York, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1993.
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