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Ad Code: 4
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An example of work by Adrien Alexander Voisin
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Adrien Alexander Voisin spent 1929 in East Glacier, a little village on the east side of Glacier Park. While there he made contributions to the lives and future careers of three significant Montana artists. His main focus was John Clarke, a deaf/mute woodcarver and historical figure. Also learning from him was Charlie Beil, who finally settled in Banff where he was noted for his Indian portrait busts, much like those done by Voisin. The third artist was Bob Scriver, only fifteen at the time, whose huge body of work relates more closely to the Beaux Arts style of American sculpture than to the popular work of C.M. Russell. (Charlie Beil also worked with CMR.)
Adrien Alexander Voisin had been educated in Paris, both with Beaux Arts sculptors and in schools of architectural ornamentation. In the Depression. When art sales plummeted, but throngs went to the movies to forget their troubles, he did a series of designs of truly marvelous movie theatres. "The Oriental" in Portland, Oregon is the one I remember. It had a huge faux idol in the lobby, and the auditorium was lined with two rows of life-sized elephants, high on the wall. When the place was demolished, people wept, myself among them. I hope the elephants are safe somewhere.
Information submitted as a bulletins, November 2004 and February 2005, by: Mary Scriver |
Biography from Crocker Art Museum Store:
| Sculptor, watercolorist. Born in Islip, NY on Oct. 4, 1890 of French parents.
Early in life Voisin was a taxidermist and an apprentice to a French woodcarver. He was a pupil of Sargent Kendall at the Yale School of Fine Arts and in 1912 had further study in Paris at Académie Colarossi, Ecole des Beaux Arts, Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs, and in the ateliers of Mercié and Injalbert. While in Paris he realized that his true talent lay in sculpture.
After attending the Buffalo Bill Cody show in Paris, he became intrigued with Indians and began modeling the Indian busts for which he later became famous. Returning to America at the outbreak of WWI, he served in the U.S. Army. After the war he lived in southern California where he fulfilled architectural commissions (including work on Hearst Castle) as well as memorial busts of public figures. In 1929 he lived among the Indians in Montana and became an honorary member of the local tribe. The following year he went to Paris where his works were cast in bronze and exhibited at the Exposition Coloniale. The French government awarded him the Diplome d'Honneur and in 1932 he received a gold medal in the international art exhibition in Paris.
Moving to San Francisco in 1933, Voisin purchased the Old Albion Brewery at 881 Innes Avenue and spent over 20 years remodeling it into a studio and home. He later moved to Spokane, WA where his collection of Indian and animal sculptures were put on permanent display at the Museum of Native American Cultures.
His final years were spent as a resident of Palos Verdes, CA where he died on May 8, 1979.
Exh: GGIE, 1939. In: Oregon State College (Corvallis); Lewis & Clark Memorial (Portland); Salem (OR) State House, Har; CD; AAW; DR.
| | Nearly 20,000 biographies can be found in Artists in California 1786-1940 by Edan Hughes and is available for sale ($150). For a full book description and order information please click here. |
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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