Marion Sanford: A Woman at Work

MARION SANFORD

AWoman at Work

CRARY ART GALLERY 1

Foreword

MARION SANFORD

AWoman at Work

Marion Sanford’s sculptures were donated to the Warren County Historical Society on May 29, 1979, as she was relocating to England. This seemed a perfect match as Sanford’s chicken coop studio was the inspiration for the Warren County Historical Society’s publication Stepping Stones.

Marion Sanford was well-known for her “Women at Work” series. She is quoted in a 1947 Philadelphia Inquirer article “to be inspired by the everyday chores of women working on the farm, and more specifically, their dedication and joy in caring for their families.” She was also a realist, as she states in a hand-written letter dated November 1979, “The one you call Grief as you see is De Profundis—perhaps you remember ‘Out of the depths have I called Unto Thee, Lord Hear my prayer—Let thine ear consider well, the voice of my complaint.’”

OCTOBER 1 - NOVEMBER 6, 202 2

In 1979, the historical society owned and operated the C. W. Stone Museum and the Sanford sculptures were beautifully displayed in the museum’s library until 1996 when the museum was closed and the building was sold back into private residence. In 1997, Ann Lesser, one of the Sanford sculptures’ many safe-keepers, petitioned the historical society to place the collection on loan at the Crary Art Gallery. And the rest is history.

Museum Established 1977 2

Harvest (front cover) date unknown bronze 13.5” x 13.5” x 9.5”

Michelle Gray Managing Director Warren County Historical Society 3

Introduction

The Board of Directors of the Crary Art Gallery presents this exhibition of Marion Sanford’s sculptures from its own collection, along with the far greater number of her sculptures on long-term loan from the Warren County Historical Society.

Scrub Woman date unknown bronze 13” x 10” x 11”

These works are now displayed on their new, more secure and accessible plinths, or sculpture stands, which were constructed recently to address various safety and aesthetic concerns. This exhibition is their official unveiling. The Crary Art Gallery had them constructed using donations by generous supporters given through Warren Gives, an annual civic benefit run by the Community Foundation of Warren County. These new plinths are a continuing part of the gallery’s stewardship of these significant sculptures. The courtyard room in which they are displayed was reconfigured with a glass roof in 2001, an improvement designed expressly to better display the Historical Society’s Sanford sculptures.

Besides Sanford’s “Women at Work” series, explored in this catalogue essay, two larger pieces are also on long-term loan from the Historical Society: Abraham and Isaac, and Seated Girl. The exhibition is augmented by two large Sanford sculptures, Hippocrates and Little Boy with Flower, which were generously donated to the Crary Art Gallery in 2017 by Dr. Michael and Maureen Tesoro.

The Board of Directors is very proud to provide a home for all these works by this gifted daughter of Warren, in an art museum started by her dear friend and fellow artist Gene Walker Crary, just a short – albeit steep – walk from where they worked together in the chicken-coop-turned-art-studio they called “Stepping Stones.”

The Board wishes to thank community supporters Dr. Ruth Barnes Shaw for her insightful essay for the exhibition; and the Warren County Historical Society for their continued trust in the Crary Art Gallery’s care while these works are shared with the world here.

We’d also like to thank board members Eric Morelli for photographing the collection and Ines Bergna for the design of the catalogue.

Crary Art Gallery Board Of Directors 4

Sanford working on Scrub Woman with Chapin serving as her model 5

A Woman at Work Essay by Dr. Ruth Barnes Shaw

In many ways, women’s worth in Western culture has been defined by their bodies. In the United States, the decade of the 1930s gave rise to the romanticized influence of a “Hollywood” style of fashion and definition of beauty. The voluptuous Hollywood starlet epitomized glamor, elegance, and charm. But this was not the world of Marion Sanford. Sanford’s women, engaged in reproductive work and invisible labor, often flew in the face of modern convention by not only portraying the subtle grace of menial and farm labor, but also the inner strength of the woman at work. Sanford discarded romantic views of the time by focusing on the inherent, albeit subtle, sublimity of women’s labor.

Born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, in 1904 to American parents, Sanford was raised in Warren, Pennsylvania, a small, yet affluent oil town in the Northwestern corner of the Commonwealth. After graduating from Warren High School in 1917, Sanford went to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, where she studied painting and drawing. In 1921, she returned to Warren, where she worked from a small studio she called “Stepping Stones.” Sanford returned to New York in 1926 to study at the Art Students League with sculptors Robert Laurent and Leo Lentelli, and from 1937 to 1943, she apprenticed under sculptor Brenda Putnam. It was during this time that Sanford produced her “Women at Work” series.

Wash Woman, date unknown bronze 15” x 10” x 9.5” 6

Since the mid-nineteenth century, American women have pursued careers as professional sculptors and broken new ground through their independent lifestyles that emphasized career over marriage and motherhood. Many of these trailblazing artists studied abroad under established male sculptors, such as Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, Auguste Rodin’s only American student, while others, including Frances Grimes and Helen Farnsworth Mears, worked as studio assistants. But unlike their male counterparts who created more monumental works, female sculptors typically produced small bronze statuettes. Their subject matter often included – but certainly was not limited to – lighthearted adolescent figures suitable for gardens or fountains, goddesses or nymph-like nudes, such as the work of Frishmuth and Grimes, birds and animals, commissioned portraits, as was the bulk of Mears’s work, and domestic themes portraying women reading or tending to children.

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Sanford’s work, however, was even non-conventional for a female sculptor of her time. She chose to experiment with direct-carving – as did her partner, Cornelia Chapin – using her hands with the same intense focus as many of her subjects.

But while Chapin specialized in sculptures of animals, Sanford’s primary interest was women. Her works were not the lithe Greek goddesses of the past, but rather a reflection of how society is affected by gender, race, and class structures, while providing a way to understand women’s experiences beyond social conventions. The richness of Sanford’s work resides in their very humanity – they are human beings in the act of being human.

While the work in which many of these women are engaged – plowing fields, doing laundry, scrubbing floors, churning butter, picking potatoes, stomping grapes – is quite physically demanding, Sanford manages to capture a softness in the rhythmic movement of bodies in motion.

Vintage date unknown bronze 17.5” x 10” x 7.5” 8

Because beauty is disproportionately assigned to the feminine role within society, women are often defined more by their appearance than by their deeds. At every age, physical appearance is emphasized and valued more highly in females than in males. This disparity among the sexes produces different social expectations and psychological consequences for each gender role. But “beauty” (however society defines it) is not the enemy. Rather, men and women are bound by, and simultaneously reinforce, a system that encourages obsessive preoccupation with the female body. Sanford’s work,

however, achieves a more realistic view of the notion of beauty, and through this greater awareness, a reformation of what constitutes “beauty” can indeed be possible.

Sanford’s work strives to break free of constricting stereotypes of who women are (as did Sanford herself), by challenging idealized feminine beauty. Her work is not merely a decorative diversion – rather, the sense of self resides within the bodies as they gracefully move through space. False beauty images produce false body parts – remodeled torsos, flawless faces – reconstructions that are worn like acquired accessories.

Sanford’s women break free of such distortions and are no longer bound by them, thus producing a beauty that is natural, fluid, alive – reflecting a greater appreciation of strength, health, and confidence. The physical labor in which they are engaged is typically seen as demeaning and lacking in value, but Sanford allows them almost a nobility as they toil, humbly getting their work done.

Sanford captures the movements of women at work with a grace and fluidity typically reserved for images of dancers or mythological beings. Through the softness of the lines and curves, Sanford portrays an inner strength. The fabric of the textiles lacks definition of folds, such as can be seen in Spring or Pomme de Terre, and instead drapes smoothly over flesh and muscle, almost indistinguishable from it. The details are reduced to the essential form and movement. Even Sanford’s more actively laborious women, such as her Ploughwoman,

Butter Woman, date unknown bronze 15.5” x 9” x 9” 9

Wash Woman, and Butter Woman seem to move with a rhythmic appeal. Devoid of harsh edges, they have heft and dignity, as does the more passive Tired Feet. By contrast, there is a playfulness in the lifted skirts and firmness of movements of the grape stomper in Sanford’s Vintage. Through Scrub Woman, Sanford illustrates a subtle beauty and grace of everyday movement. Scrub Woman shows inner strength through softness. Her gentleness belies her strength. It is worth noting that Cornelia Chapin was the model for Scrub Woman, as she was for several of Sanford’s pieces. Though small in scale, Sanford’s women at work suggest a largeness beyond their size.

Their serene faces, although not necessarily devoid of emotion, are stoic enough as not to detract from the rhythmic movement of the work. Even the grief-stricken De Profundis leans dancelike in a dramatic and graceful arch across her left knee, not unlike the apple picker of Harvest. The focus becomes more about the movement and less about the task. In this sense, Sanford’s “Women at Work” become objects of beauty without being objectified.

Spring 1942 bronze 18” x 11” x 10” 10

Sanford’s Tiny, a large man of color, is another depiction of the under-represented (non-represented) “other” – women, minorities, working class. As prevailing stereotypes continue to reflect the interaction of racism and sexism in Western culture, Tiny stands as an example of “other” relative to white men (or women), just as women collectively are viewed as the “other” sex. But he neither cowers nor looks away – instead,

Tiny stands tall, proud, and unafraid to make eye contact.

While Sanford’s primary subject matter was women at work, she did produce other notable sculptures, on display here as well, that bear mentioning. Sanford’s Seated Girl perches demurely, yet not meekly, with her back straight and her eyes forward. Like Tiny, she appears more confident than self-conscious. Abraham and Isaac also embody the inner strength and graceful movements that characterize Sanford’s working women. Two works donated by Dr. and Mrs. Tesoro – Hippocrates, the maquette for the sculpture at the entrance of Warren General Hospital, and Little Boy with Flower, an image of the innocence of youth – while differing in subject matter, still espouse Sanford’s signature style.

Our Western-centric attitudes about beauty, the human body, gender socialization, and sexism develop early in life. The unrealistic expectations created by a society that objectifies women, limit choices and restrict growth for both the individual and society at large. Images of women convey powerful beliefs about what is considered appropriate behavior, while at the same time they create a limiting notion of what it means to be a woman in Western society. Regardless of the context of these images, they tend to illustrate prevailing norms, along with an objectifying and harmful definition of beauty. When we begin to defy social dictates for physical beauty, we begin to define beauty in a more meaningful way. Through her sculpture, Marion

Lamb Girl date unknown plaster 20” x 10.25” x 17.5” 11

Sanford refused to embrace the static images of mannequins, and rejected the notion that a woman’s beauty is her primary source of power. Sanford’s women are released from the bonds of the beauty myth by appearing “ordinary,” and in this expanded sense, they reveal a beauty and grace that emanates from the strength residing within. This, not the body object, is the lifeforce that defines us as human beings. Sanford’s work celebrates the woman’s right to determine her own life, and to empower her to make her own choices by engaging in work that is indeed meaningful.

Dr. Ruth Barnes Shaw, August 2022 MA History of Decorative Arts and Design, Parsons School of Design and Cooper Hewitt MA Art History, State University of New York, University at Buffalo PhD History/Women’s Studies, State University of New York, University at Buffalo Bather date unknown plaster 18” x 18.75” x 16.625”

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Pomme de Terre date unknown plaster 16.5” x 15” x 18.5”

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Chronology Feb 9, 1898

Sanford is born, named Marion Sleeman, in Guelph, Ontario, Canada to American parents.

1917

Graduates Warren High School.

1922

Begins studies at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

1925 Returns to Warren to teach art classes in a remodeled chicken coop dubbed “Stepping Stones.”

Shares studio with a friend from Pratt, Gene Alden Walker, during summers.

1926 Returns to New York City. Switches from Stage Set Design and Dramatics to Sculpture. Joins Arts Institute League.

Studies under Leo Lentelli and Robert Laurent.

1937-1940 Apprenticed to professional sculptor Brenda Putnam, at the National Academy of Design School. Putnam creates Puck, the sculpture on permanent exhibit at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC.

Plough Woman date unknown stone 19.5” x 25” x 10”

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1937

Takes Second Place Anna Hyatt Huntington Prize

1937-1941

Guggenheim Fellowship awarded. At Art Students League, she finishes the “Women at Work” series.

1941-1943

Guggenheim Fellowship (second award).

1941

Creates Isaac and Abraham [currently exhibited at Crary Art Gallery].

1942-1951

NYC reported residence.

1945

American Artists’ Professional League (two awards) 15

Tiny, date unknown plater 19.5 “ x 10.5” x 7.5”

1943

Elizabeth N. Watrous gold medal for De Profundis [currently exhibited at Crary Art Gallery].

1945

At Allied Artists of America, wins gold medal.

1946

Pen & Brush - takes first place prize.

1947 Pen & Brush Bronze Medal & National Academy of Design’s Sculptural Award for Dawn [currently exhibited at Crary Art Gallery].

Works in Carriage-House Manhattan Studio in Murray Hill with Cornelia Chapin - once used by Gutzon Borglum, creator of Mount Rushmore.

1952

Takes residence with Chapin in Lakeville, Connecticut.

1952

Delivers Hippocrates for facade of newly built Warren General Hospital.

1972

Cornelia Chapin dies, age 79.

1974

Sanford donates the “Chapin Papers” to Archives of American Art.

1979 1979 Sanford moves from Lakeville, Salisbury, CT, to Eastbourne, Sussex, England. She donates 16 sculptures to Warren Public Library. Due to lack of space and security, they were passed to Warren County Historical Society at the Charles Warren Stone Museum Library. Before moving, Dr. Michael and Maureen Tesoro acquire Hippocrates and Little Boy with Flower directly from Sanford, and the two works are now part of the Crary Art Gallery’s collection.

1987

Sanford dies in England, age 83.

1996 Stone Museum facility closes: Historical Society loans the 16 sculptural works to the Crary Art Gallery museum.

The Gallery is the project of her fellow artist and lifelong friend Gene Alden Walker Crary and C.J. Crary, and the board of directors takes the step of renovating and enclosing a courtyard with a glass ceiling in order to exhibit the Sanford works to best efffect.

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Tired Feet date unknown terracotta 16.5” x 11.25” x 13”

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De Profundis 1943 bronze 13” x 16.5” x 12”

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Drying Dishes date unknown plaster 15” x 10” x 9.5”

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Abraham and Isaac 1941 plaster 25” x 23.75” x 18.75”

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REPORTED COLLECTIONS

Hippocrates 1950s carved medium-relief 55.5” x 25.5” x 6”

Brookgreen Gardens, Murrell’s Inlet, South Carolina – Little Lamb Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC – Butterwoman Cosmopolitan Club, New York, New York LIttle Boy with Flower 1979 plaster 36” x 17.5” x 17.5”

Dawn/Marion/Sister date unknown plaster 31” x 21” x 23.5”

Crary Art Gallery, Warren, Pennsylvania – Little Boy with Flower; Hippocrates maquette First Methodist Church of Warren, Pennsylvania Haynes College, Boston, Massachusetts National Academy of Design, New York, New York – Harvest Norton Hall, Chautauqua, New York Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC – Butterwoman; Little Lamb; Harvest; Little Boy with Flower St John Episcopal Church, Salisbury, Connecticut – three pieces including Isaac and Abraham St Mary’s Chapel, Faribault, Minnesota – altarpiece and reredos Trinity Memorial Church, Warren, Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania Medical School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Hippocrates bronze US Post Office, Winder, Georgia – bas-relief over entrance Warren County Historical Society, Warren, Pennsylvania – sixteen sculptures including “Women at Work” series Warren General Hospital, Warren, Pennsylvania – Hippocrates Warren Public Library, Warren, Pennsylvania

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www.craryartgallery.org

This catalogue was funded in part by the Warren County Historical Society.

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