Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-14
AROUSED

A memorial exhibition of the works ir
sculpture by the late Edward Kemeys
will open this evening in the Hemicycle
Hall Of the Corcoran Gallery of Art with
a private view and reception Over one
hundred original bronzes and plaster
casts of animals will be included in this
exhibition as we'll as some studies OF
Indians done both in the round and In
bas-relief. Not since the Barge exhibit
ton was held in New York has such a
collection of animal sculpture been as
sembled in this country.
Mr.. Kemeys has been called the "Barye
Of America and in some of his work
a certain kinship can be traced to that
of the French master but his viewpoint
was very different and his style quite dis
similar. Barge was technician and
interchangeable student. a stickler for ac-
curacy in detail. whereas Mr.. Kemeys
was chiefly interested in the spirit OF
&c work and concerned himself more
with expression than finish. Barge stud
led his subjects In geological garden
Mr. Kemeys learned to know his in their
native haunts.
Born in Georgia.
Born in Savannah. Ga, of northern
parents, in 1913, he was taken as a lad
to New York, where he received COM
mon school education, and where when
the civil war broke out he enlisted In
the G5th New York Regiment. By the
close of the war he had risen to the rank
Of captain. but, strangely enough, had
not even then discovered his real voca.
ton. From mis- boyhood he had been
deeply interested in animals. and his vaca
ton days spent on the farm of a rela.
tive in what were then the wilds of IL
linois had afforded his. opportunity t.
become acquainted with large game; II
was not. however, un,il ,me years after
his military experience that he thought
of following his bent an>. making use
of his accumulation of specific knowl.
edge.
1t was while he was employed on ar
engineering party laying out Contra
Park, New York, that Mr. hemeys came
across a modeler making a head of a
wolf and on account of his Indifferent
success was moved to experiment him.
self along the same Ines. Persuadine
the artisan to SCI. him a lump of his
clay, the young engineer hurried home
set to work. and with comparativ,
ease produced a creditaDie result Prob
ably he was no less astonished than his
friends, but as each new piece took shape
the conviction that he had found hi.
calling was forced upon him. and shortly
he laid aside all other work for this.
Studied Abroad.
about 1877 he went abroad. studied the
great works in sculpture of the old world
met Barge, became acquainted with Jose
Wolf. the painter of animals. and CLEANED
instruction from many out-of-the-wa,
places. In the Paris Salon of 1878 his
Bison and Wolves was exhibited and
both in France and England his uncom
mon ability was immeu -ately recognized
II lie lad been less individual and more
conventional he would undoubtedly have
been drawn into the vortex of academic
study and been content to follow where
others led. but as it was he soon tiret
of the restraint of studio life and longet
for the freedom of the OPEN
Laughingly he often said that he was
too much of the savage to live in Paris
to endure the old-world civilization. an,
certainly he cheerfulIy relinqu:shed it.
planGshments and came home. Doubt
less he profited by his foreign experience
out he used 1t more as a walking sticl
than as crutch; he had his own con
ceptions, and these he was determined
to carry out.
produced in quick succession, between
hunting trips in the south and west, tn,
Still Hunt" in Central Park, New York
the plaster model of which is included il
the present exhibition: the Wolves" il
paramount Park, Philadelphia; "Panthe
and Deer and Raven and Coyote" II
1887 he modelled a colossal head of :
| bison for the Union Pacific railroad bridg
| at Omaha. and in 1892 he executed a mum
| Der of large groups for the Columbia,
! yhihtfon This a CT led liz
| his commission for the large bronze lion
which now guard the entrance of tn,
| Chicago Art Institute. given, by the way
| by Mrs. Thomas Nelson Page. and indi
rectiy undoubte..y to his modelling thu
| Prayer for RAIN d headpiece to
memorial fountain IN Champaign City
| Ill.
Went to Arizona.
After making his home for eight year.
in Chicago Mr.. Kemeys. partly for his
| health and partly form a desire to stud,
the fauna and Indians of the western
| desert, moved to Arizona, where in ar
improvised studio on the arid plains som,
OF his best work was produced. It was
while he was there that a coterie of far
seeing Chicagoans devised a plan b,
which through a private subscription &
representative collection of his small
bronzes might be obtained for their ma
| tive city. This plan was carried out
some of the bronzes were done in Ari
| iona, some after he came to this city
| there were twenty-one in all-and this
group is now the property of the Chicago
| Art Institute. Through the courtesy OF
| the director and the generosity of one
| of the subscribers this entire collection
| is to be included in the memorial ex
| hibtion.
From Arizona Mr. Kemeys came t.
| Washington. and until his health fai1ef
he had a studio in the old Art Students
League building. There he modelled tn
great roguish bears which flanked tn,
entrances to the ST. Louis building a