Mabel Conkling

Mabel Harris Conkling (November 17, 1871 – October 11, 1966) was an American sculptor, and president of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors from 1926 to 1928.[1]

Mabel Conkling
Frederick William MacMonnies, 1904
Born
Mabel Viola Harris

(1871-11-17)November 17, 1871
Boothbay, Maine, U.S
DiedOctober 11, 1966(1966-10-11) (aged 94)
Boothbay Harbor, Maine, U.S.
EducationAcadémie Julian
Académie Vitti
Académie Carmen
Académie Colarossi
SpouseDavid Paul Burleigh Conkling
Children2

Early life

Mabel Viola Harris was born in Boothbay, Maine, the daughter of Charles Thomas Harris and Orissa Edna Preble Harris. After graduating from Boothbay Harbor High School,[2] She studied art in Paris,[3] at the Académie Julian, the Académie Vitti, the Académie Carmen, and the Académie Colarossi.[4] Among her instructors were William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Raphaël Collin, Luc-Olivier Merson, and Frederick William MacMonnies.[5] A 1904 portrait of Mabel Conkling by MacMonnies was called "the finest portrait MacMonnies has yet made."[6]

Career
Mabel Conkling, Ethel Barrymore, bronze relief, ca. 1910, National Portrait Gallery

Mabel Harris Conkling's work was included in the 1900 Paris Exposition, the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, the 1908 Baltimore Sculpture Exhibition, at the National Academy of Design,[7] Harrisburg City Hall,[8] and many other shows. She specialized in public sculptures, including fountains, relief panels, trophies, and cemetery urns. She also made portrait busts in bronze, and bas relief medallions. A bas relief bronze portrait of Ethel Barrymore, by Mabel Conkling, is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.[9] A bronze statue by Conkling was presented to theatre professional Samuel Roxy Rothafel in 1931,[10] and a bronze loving cup by Conkling was presented to musician Walter Damrosch in 1933, both presentations by the New York Federation of Women's Clubs.[11]

Conkling was president of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors from 1926 to 1928.[12] She was still on the board when the organization changed its name to the National Association of Women Artists in 1941.[13] Conkling was also president of the Maine Women's Club of New York.[14][15]

Personal life

In 1901 Mabel Viola Harris married a fellow artist, David Paul Burleigh Conkling. They had two daughters, Pauline and Natalie. She was widowed in 1926,[16] sold her four-story Greenwich Village residence and studio at 26 West 8th Street in 1940,[17] and died in 1966, aged 94 years, in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.[18]

References
  1. "New Class Members" Decatur Herald (May 16, 1929): 11. via Newspapers.comopen access
  2. "Page:Woman's who's who of America, 1914-15.djvu/187 - Wikisource, the free online library". en.wikisource.org. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  3. Mariea Caudill Dennison, "The American Girls' Club in Paris: The Propriety and Imprudence of Art Students, 1890-1914" Woman's Art Journal 26(1)(Spring-Summer 2005): 32-37.
  4. John William Leonard, Woman's Who's Who of America (American Commonwealth Publishing 1914): 199.
  5. American Numismatic Society, Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Contemporary Medals (DeVinne Press 1911): 67-68.
  6. "Doings of a Week in World of Art" Philadelphia Inquirer (May 14, 1905): 38. via Newspapers.comopen access
  7. "Sculptors' Work Shows No Genius" New York Times (January 1, 1908).
  8. "Exhibit of Art Open in Gallery in City Hall" Harrisburg Telegraph (February 5, 1932): 9. via Newspapers.comopen access
  9. Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, "Ethel Barrymore" by Mabel Conkling (c. 1910).
  10. "Roxy Gets Music Award" Oshkosh Daily Northwestern (February 9, 1931): 10. via Newspapers.comopen access
  11. "Musical Adventure Subscribers Guest at Broadcast; Cup Given to Dr. Damrosch after Program" Brooklyn Daily Eagle (January 29, 1933): 5. via Newspapers.comopen access
  12. "Woman Artist is Versatile" San Bernardino County Sun (June 25, 1926): 3. via Newspapers.comopen access
  13. "Art Notes" New York Times (April 12, 1941): 18.
  14. "Mrs. Paul B. Conkling" Brooklyn Life and Activities of Long Island Society (November 13, 1926): 14. via Newspapers.comopen access
  15. "Maine Women's Club Twenty-Three Years Old" Brooklyn Daily Eagle (March 13, 1926): 12. via Newspapers.comopen access
  16. "David P. B. Conkling Dies" New York Times (March 16, 1926): 25.
  17. "Village Dwelling Sold by Sculptor" New York Times (April 30, 1940): 42.
  18. "Mabel H. Conkling" New York Times (October 13, 1966): 45.
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