John Frazee

John Frazee
Portrait of Frazee by Asher Brown Durand (c. 1823)
Born	(1790-07-18)July 18, 1790 Rahway, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	February 24, 1852(1852-02-24) (aged 61) Crompton Mills, Rhode Island, U.S.
Known for	sculpture, architecture
Notable work	New York Custom House (Now Federal Hall) Thomas Paine Monument

The Thomas Paine Monument in New Rochelle, New York

Designed by Frazee as New York Customs House, the building was converted into Federal Hall National Memorial.

John Frazee (July 18, 1790 – February 24, 1852) was an American sculptor and architect.^[1][2][3] The Smithsonian has a collection of many of his sculptures as well as paintings of Frazee by other artists including Asher B. Durand and Henry Colton Shumway.^[4]

He was born in Rahway, New Jersey, and worked in the Neo-Classic tradition. He is known as being one of the first successful native born American sculptors and "the first American born sculptor to execute a bust in marble".^[5] He is best known for his portrait busts, including of John Jay and Marquis De Lafayette. He carved sculptures for the Boston Athenaeum including of Chief Justice John Marshall and Daniel Webster.^[6] He also received a commission to design the New York Customs House, later used as Federal Hall National Memorial.^[6]

The sculptor Thomas Crawford began his career as a marble carver in Frazee's studio in New York City.^[7]

In 1826, he helped found the National Academy of Design. ^{[citation needed]}

Self-portrait by Frazee, 1827

Selected works

• early 1820s, Elbridge Gerry Monument
• 1824, John Wells (1770 – 1823) First sculpture portrait by a native born American sculptor^[8]
• 1827, Self-portrait sculpture
• 1831, John Jay sculpture
• 1831, John Henry Hobart (1775 – 1830) plaster sculpture
• 1832, Nathaniel Prime bust
• 1834, Daniel Webster marble sculpture
• 1834, Nathaniel Bowditch (1773 – 1838) marble sculpture
• 1834, Cadwallader D. Colden, (1769 – 1834) bas relief on tombstone
• 1835, John Lowell sculpture
• 1835, Thomas Handasyd Perkins (1764 – 1854) marble sculpture
• 1835, John Marshall sculpture
• 1836, Joseph Story sculpture
• 1836, Judge William Prescott marble sculpture
• 1836, William Prescott sculpture
• 1839, Monument to Thomas Paine in New Rochelle, New York, (The bronze bust of Paine by sculptor Wilson MacDonald was added in 1899)^[9]
• 1839, Thomas Paine memorial with bas relief
• 1840, William Leggett portrait on tombstone
• 1842, George Griswold III (1777 – 1859) bust
• 1847, Monument to Charlotte Canda (1828 – 1845)
• ca. 1850, Andrew Jackson sculpture
• Luman Reed sculpture
• William Wetmore Story (1819 – 1895) marble sculpture
• early 1830s, Robert R. Randall attributed to Frazee

References

1. Archives of American Art. "Summary of the John Frazee papers, 1810-1964 - Digitized Collection - Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution". si.edu. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
2. John Frazee Archived 2016-08-24 at the Wayback Machine National Academy
3. "John Frazee papers, 1810-1964". si.edu. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
4. John Frazee Smithsonian Collections
5. James-Gadzinski, Susan and Mary Mullen Cunningham, ‘’American Sculpture in the Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts’’, Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1997 p. 20
6. "John Frazee papers, 1810-1964". si.edu. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
7. Crane, Sylvia E., ‘’White Silence: Greenough, Powers and Crawfoed, American Sculptors in Nineteenth Century Italy’’, University of Miami Press, Coral Gables, 1972 p. 279
8. Voss, Frederick S., ‘’John Frazee: 1790-1852, Sculptor’’, the Boston athenaeum and the National Portrait Gallery, Washington City and Boston, 1986 p. 29
9. Voss, Frederick S., ‘’John Frazee: 1790-1852, Sculptor’’, the Boston athenaeum and the National Portrait Gallery, Washington City and Boston, 1986 p. 104

Further reading

• From artisan to artist : John Frazee and the politics of culture in antebellum America by Linda Hyman 1983
• John Frazee, American sculptor by Henry B. Caldwell 115 leaves, 20 leaves of plates : ill 1983, 1951 Call number:N40.1.F845 C14 1983a