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拍品專文
[A] "figure in front of the cigar store on Third Street above Walnut is by Rush. If you look it up bear in mind it is not the standing figure on the street level, but the somewhat grotesque little Indian in an iron frame over the door. The outstretched arm is a restoration, the original member having been broken off years ago. The figure is a good specimen of Rush's early manner." ("An Appreciation - by a Ship Carver," Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, undated)
The above quote, from an article found in the papers of William Rush's great-grandson, William Rush Dunton (1868-1966), was believed by Frederick Fried to refer to the figure offered here. Supporting this attribution, the right arm of this figure is an old replacement, just like that mentioned in the newspaper article. There do not appear to be any other similar figures by Rush, making this example more likely to be that referred to in the article.
William Rush's father, Joseph Rush, was a ship carver and William apprenticed with the English-trained carver Edward Cutbush from 1771 to 1774. After the War, when Rush was an ensign in a Philadelphia militia, he worked primarily on ship carvings, including those for the budding American Navy. Documentary evidence indicates that many of his early figureheads were polychromed, suggesting that this figure was made between 1790 and 1800. By 1810, Rush was becoming more involved in civic affairs and he was elected the first president of the Pennsylvania Society of Artists; he was later active in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where the curriculum was modeled after neoclassicism. Around this time, Rush's ship-carving commissions dropped off and he began carving architectural sculpture.
The above quote, from an article found in the papers of William Rush's great-grandson, William Rush Dunton (1868-1966), was believed by Frederick Fried to refer to the figure offered here. Supporting this attribution, the right arm of this figure is an old replacement, just like that mentioned in the newspaper article. There do not appear to be any other similar figures by Rush, making this example more likely to be that referred to in the article.
William Rush's father, Joseph Rush, was a ship carver and William apprenticed with the English-trained carver Edward Cutbush from 1771 to 1774. After the War, when Rush was an ensign in a Philadelphia militia, he worked primarily on ship carvings, including those for the budding American Navy. Documentary evidence indicates that many of his early figureheads were polychromed, suggesting that this figure was made between 1790 and 1800. By 1810, Rush was becoming more involved in civic affairs and he was elected the first president of the Pennsylvania Society of Artists; he was later active in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where the curriculum was modeled after neoclassicism. Around this time, Rush's ship-carving commissions dropped off and he began carving architectural sculpture.