John Walter Rhoden (March 13, 1916 – January 4, 2001) was an American sculptor from Birmingham, Alabama.[1]
John Rhoden | |
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| Born | John Walter Rhoden March 13, 1916 Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | January 4, 2001 (aged 82) Queens, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Talladega College, Columbia University, American Academy in Rome |
| Known for | Sculpture |
Rhoden graduated from Birmingham's Industrial High School, and then enrolled at Talladega College on an art scholarship. At the suggestion of Hale Woodruff, he moved to New York in 1938, where he began studying with Richmond Barthé.[2] Rhoden worked in wood and bronze, and created a number of commissioned works including Untitled (Family) at Harlem Hospital Center;[3] Mitochondria at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan; Curved Wal at the African American Museum in Philadelphia; Zodiacal Structure at the Sheraton Hotel in Philadelphia; and a sculpture of Frederick Douglass at Lincoln University.[1]
Life
editRhoden served in World War II, studied at the School of Painting and Sculpture at Columbia University, and was named a Fulbright Fellow in 1951.[1] He won a Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome in 1952. In 1956, he was a member of an artists delegation that visited the Soviet Union, Poland and Yugoslavia under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.[4]
After his time traveling with the State Department, the Rhodens returned to New York City in 1960. Shortly thereafter, John Rhoden left for Indonesia on a Rockefeller Foundation grant to set up a bronze foundry at the Institut Teknologi in Bandung, from 1961 through 1963.[5]
At Columbia University, he studied under William Zorach, Oronzio Maldarelli and Hugo Robus.[3]
Personal life
editRhoden was married to Richanda Rhoden, a Native American artist.
Institutional acknowledgement
editRhoden's works have been displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.[1]
In February 2019, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) officially opened the John and Richanda Roden Arts Center,[6] locating the Center in a previously unused lower level of the Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building which occupies an arts complex with the Furness and Hewitt Historic Landmark Building.
References
editNotes
- 1 2 3 4 "John Rhoden, 82, Sculptor of Public Art". The New York Times. January 17, 2001. Retrieved May 8, 2010.
- ↑ Exhibition Catalogue: John Rhoden: Sculpture. Gallery 62, New York, NY 1982. Evans-Tibbs Collection, Artist file: Rhoden, John. National Gallery of Art Library, Washington D.C.
- 1 2 Rose, Derek (February 23, 2001). "Crafting a Big Tribute: Sculptor John Rhoden recalled as art genius". New York Daily News. Retrieved May 9, 2010. Archived January 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Exhibition Catalogue: Sculptures of John W. Rhoden. Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia, 1971. Evans-Tibbs Collection, Artist file: Rhoden, John. National Gallery of Art Library, Washington D.C.
- ↑ "John Rhoden Digital Archives - Biography". johnrhoden.pafaarchives.org. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
- ↑ "Dramatic Transformation at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts". DLR Group. April 2, 2019. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
Further reading
- Appelhof, Ruth Ann. Sculpture by John Rhoden. Birmingham Museum of Art, 1984. ISBN B00071Z3B8
- "Frederick Douglass Statue Unveiled At Lincoln Univ". Jet Magazine, November 20, 1989.
External links
edit- Rediscovering John Rhoden archival collection at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
- John Rhoden on BhamWiki.com
- Rhoden sculpture at Harlem Hospital Center from the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation "Art Collection" webpage Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- Rhoden sculpture at Bellevue Hospital Center from the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation "Art Collection" webpage Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- "John Rhoden" on AskART.com