Rumsey's work in Albright-Knox

CHARLES CARY RUMSEY, born in Buffalo in 1879, graduated from Harvard University in 1902. He served as an apprentice to Paul Weyland Bartlett, who was at the time one of the most prominent American sculptors working abroad. He later studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Julian and Colarossi Academics in Paris.

A world-class polo player and amateur boxer, Rumsey's specialties included equestrian sculptures-portraits of polo players and prize horses, as well as of cowboys, cattle and horses as metaphors.

He worked principally in bronze and stone, often employing mythological and historical themes articulated in private commissions for free-standing statuary and in public monuments. His 40-foot bas-relief panels of Indians, horses and buffaloes for the Manhattan Bridge and the heroic subject matter of Rice Stadium commission are examples.

A collection of his works is on permanent exhibition in the Charles Cary Rumsey Room of the Burchfield-Penney Art Center at Buffalo State College and his work is in the permanent collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. His sculptures and bronze panels are also displayed in a number of public institutions in Buffalo, including Forest Lawn, where Rumsey is buried.


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