Francis Edwin Elwell

Elwell with his clay model of Isis Instructing Horus, c.1899

Francis Edwin Elwell (also cited as Frank Edwin Elwell; June 15, 1858, in Concord, Massachusetts – January 23, 1922, in Darien, Massachusetts) was an American sculptor, teacher, and author.

He lectured on art at Harvard University, and taught modeling at the National Academy of Design[1] and the Art Students League of New York.[2] He served as Curator of Sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art until he was ousted in 1905,[3] and wrote one of the first, though unpublished, histories of American sculpture.[4]

Elwell established an early reputation as a sculptor of portrait busts, but also became known for major works, funereal and military monuments, and architectural sculptures. His most famous work is probably Dickens and Little Nell (1890).

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Who was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Epoch was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ ""Museum's Trustees Oust Curator Elwell," The New York Times, October 17, 1905" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on November 15, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  4. ^ Thayer Tolles, ed., American Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Volume I (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999), pp. 365-366.[1]