Stephen F. Austin (Ney)

Stephen F. Austin by Elisabet Ney is a statue of Texas founder Stephen F. Austin which is part of the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. It is one of the two statues in the National Statuary Hall representing Texas; the other, of Sam Houston, is also by Ney. Both statues were unveiled in Washington, D.C. in 1905.[2]

Stephen F. Austin
ArtistElisabet Ney
Year1905 (1905)
MediumMarble sculpture
SubjectStephen F. Austin
Dimensions194 cm (76.5 in)[1]:140
LocationNational Statuary Hall Collection, Washington, D.C., United States

History

In 1892, Ney was commissioned by the Board of Lady Managers to execute statues of Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston for the Texas Building at the World's Columbian Exposition to be held the following year. She agreed to do this without payment for her efforts. Because she executed the Houston statue before the Austin, which portrayed him dressed in buckskin, holding a Kentucky long rifle in one hand and a scroll in the other, the statue was not finished on time and was never displayed in Chicago.[1]:126–141,181–83 When critics complained that the Houston statue was six foot two inches tall and the Austin statue was only five foot seven she replied that those are the actual heights of the men and that anyone with a problem should "take the issue up not with her but with God".[1]:139 Upon completion of her clay model it was decided to produce two versions of the statue in marble, one for the Texas State Capitol and the other for the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington, D.C. In 1901, the state legislature appropriated the funds necessary for the carving.[3]

See also

References
  1. Cutrer, Emily Fourmy (2016). The Art of the Woman: The Life and Work of Elisabet Ney. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 9781623494254.
  2. Architect of the Capitol Under the Direction of the Joint Committee on the Library, Compilation of Works of Art and Other Objects in the United States Capitol, United States Government Printing Office, Washington 1965, pp. 210–211.
  3. Fortune, Jan And Jean Burton, “Elisabet Nye, Alfred a Knopf, New York, 1943 p. 242.
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