| Facts/Data
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Birth
1869 (Ogdensburg, New York)
Death
1943 (New York City)
Lived/Active
New York
Subject to Copyright
Often Known For
sculpture-portrait-western painter; medals
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Categories of Interest
San Francisco Panama-Pacific Exhibition 1915
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  A sculptor in the tradition of Frederic Remington, Sally Farnham had studios in New York City and Great Neck, New York. She did numerous statuettes, portrait busts of prominent persons, and friezes as well as western works which she began in 1905.
In her childhood in her birthplace of Ogdensburg, New York she became a skilled rider and hunter and was particularly interested in horse anatomy. Her parents took her to Europe several times, and she became much interested in sculpture from seeing museums there.
But she did not develop this interest until after her marriage in 1896 to Paulding Farnham, who was a painter and designer for Tiffany's. While recovering from an illness, Farnham began experimenting with plasticine, a synthetic modeling material given to her by her husband. Her first work, a model of a Spanish Dancer, was the subject of both ridicule and encouragement by her friend Frederic Remington who called it "all-fired ugly," but he also said the work had a lot of vitality.
Soon she opened a studio, and was filling commissions while raising three children. Her most noted work is the equestrian statue of Simon Bolivar for Central Park in New York City. This sculpture earned her special recognition from the government of Venezuela, which awarded her the "Order of the Bust of Bolivar". She also did a monument of Father Junipero Serra (1925) for the San Fernando Mission in Los Angeles and in 1938, an equestrian statue of Will Rogers.
In 1905, she took a trip to a ranch in British Columbia and was inspired to create a number of action-cowboy statuettes with titles such as "Scratchin' 'im", "Going To Town", and "Horse and Rider".
Basically self taught, she looked to Frederic Remington as her mentor and is best known for her portraits that were good character studies.
Source:
"An Encyclopedia of Women Artists of the American West" by Phil and Marian Yoshiki-Kovinick
The website for the artist is: http://www.sallyjamesfarnham.org |
This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  The following is from Michael Reed, The Sally James Farnham Catalogue
Raisonne Project, 3 Church Street in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
PERIODICALS
Sculpture Review, Spring 2005, "Museum Collections" by Julianne Crane
The Quarterly of the St. Lawrence County Historical Association,
Summer 1991, "Sally James Farnham: The Remington Years" by George F.
McFarland
BOOKS
The Art of Being an Artist: Sally James Farnham, American Sculptor by
Peter H. Hassrick, 2005, 71 pages, B/W illustrations, no color repro.
MUSEUM LISTINGS
R.W. Norton Art Gallery, Shreveport, Louisiana
William Center for the Arts, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson Hole Wyoming
The Organization of American States (formerly the Pan-American Union), Washington, D.C.
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