Robert Paine (sculptor)
Robert Treat Paine (1870–1946) was an American sculptor.
Early life[edit]
Paine was born in Valparaiso, Indiana, on February 11, 1870, a descendant of the Robert Treat Paine who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.[1][2] He was a student at the Art Students League, where he studied with Augustus Saint Gaudens.
Pointing machine and the Pan American Exposition[edit]
He spent time at the Cornish (New Hampshire) Art Colony, becoming an assistant to Saint Gaudens. While there he perfected the pointing machine used by Gaudens, called a "cubical pantograph," that increased the "accuracy and speed" of the previous machines, allowing for up to 400 points a day. The machine, while relatively new, was used to increase to monumental proportions the 500 clay models accepted in 1900 by Karl Bitter, director of sculpture, for the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Thirty-five sculptors, including Saint Gaudens, and 50–75 assistants worked for 5 months tirelessly in Weehawken, New Jersey, to produce the 500 plaster-and-fiber statues to be displayed in the temporary Rainbow City of Light, celebrating the genius of man at the dawn of the 20th century.[3]
Paine's marvelous invention was also used on Sherman's horse on the Sherman Monument in New York (1903).[4]
Panama-Pacific International Exposition[edit]
In 1914 Paine went to San Francisco with fellow sculptor Beniamino Bufano to create a sculpture ensemble designed by Paul Manship for the Panama–Pacific International Exposition. He settled in Berkeley for a time.
Los Gatos cats[edit]
In 1922, he stayed at the estate of Charles Erskine Scott Wood and Sara Bard Field in Los Gatos and created a pair of large statues of wild cats that are still local landmarks.[5] An image of his pair of sculptures is included in the town seal and is used on other signage.[6]
Federal Art Project[edit]
In 1924 he moved to Los Angeles, where he assisted Alexander Phimister Proctor on sculpture projects and was active on the Federal Art Project.[1]
Personal life[edit]
Paine married mathematician Mary Esther Trueblood in 1910; after they moved to Berkeley, she became an instructor in the extension program of the University of California, Berkeley.[7]
References[edit]
- ^ a b AskArt
- ^ Falk, Peter Hastings, "Who Was Who in American Art" Sound View Press, Madison CT, 1985
- ^ "The Pan American Exposition 1901".
- ^ Wilkinson, Burke, "Uncommon Clay: The Life and Works of Augustus Saint Gaudens", photographs by David Finn, Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch, Publishers, San Diego, 1983, p. 266
- ^ http://www.historylosgatos.org/cdm/ref/collection/cats/id/9 History Los Gatos
- ^ "Town of Lost Gatos, California".
- ^ "Mary E. Trueblood Paine, Mathematics: Berkeley", University of California: In Memoriam 1939, Calisphere
See also[edit]
Oral history of his daughter Evelyn and her husband, Berkeley architect Robert Ratcliff
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