page_title: John A. Wilson (sculptor)
section_title: Harvard University
hierarchical_section_title: John A. Wilson (sculptor) / Works / Harvard University
caption_attribution_description: English: Lawrence Lowell Harvard University By John A Wilson
context_page_description: John Albert Wilson was a Canadian sculptor who produced public art for commissions throughout North America. He was a professor in the School of Architecture at Harvard University for 32 years. He is most famous for his American Civil War Monuments: the statue on the Confederate Student Memorial on the campus of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the Washington Grays Monument in Philadelphia.
  Renowned sculptor and art historian Lorado Taft wrote of the latter work, "No American sculpture, however, has surpassed the compelling power which John A. Wilson put into his steady, motionless 'Pennsylvania Volunteer'." Wilson created his studio at Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Walter Gropius, known as a pioneering master of modern architecture, said the studio "is the most beautiful in the world."
context_section_description: While teaching at Harvard University (1917–46), Wilson made numerous sculptures of figures connected to the University.  Perhaps the best known figure is the Janitor in the Fogg Museum entitled "George".  Articles with a photo of George Archambeau were printed in both Time Magazine and The New York Times when the bust was unveiled in September 1932.  Wilson also made two busts of William Crowninshield Endicott, one in the Fogg Museum and the other in Harvard University Law School (1932).  Wilson also made two busts of Harvard president Abbott Lawrence Lowell.  One is a marble bust in the Faculty Room, University Hall (Harvard University) (1930) and the other is a bronze bust at Lowell House Residence, Harvard University  Wilson also made the mould for the commorative punch bowl and dishes for Harvard University's tercentennial (1936).
  One of Wilson's most famous Harvard graduates was sculptor Wheeler Williams who wrote to him,
  How very lucky I was to find myself in your class in the basement of Robison Hall.  If it had not been for that, classes at the Copley Society of Art and Sundays in your studio,  I fear my life long dream of being a sculptor would not have materialized.  Where anybody today could get the sound training you gave us, I have no idea.
caption: Abbott Lawrence Lowell by John A. Wilson
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D200", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "QuickTime 7.7.1", "Image DateTime": "2012:12:20 08:54:41", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.8.2", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "256", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "616", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6745", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/45", "EXIF FNumber": "18", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1600", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:07:04 08:35:22", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:07:04 08:35:22", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "9/2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "62", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area"}