Arthur Putnam (1873 - 1930) was born in Waveland, Mississippi and died in Paris. He was mostly a self-taught sculptor. He studied briefly at the Art Students League but could not stand the confines of the big city and returned to California in 1899 where he was married. After selling some of his bronzes to the Crocker family they took an interest in his work and paid for him travel to Italy to study. Arthur Putnam exhibited bronzes at the Paris Salons in 1906 and 1907 where they achieved much acclaim. So well was his work viewed that Rodin said of Putnam's bronzes when he was shown some "this is the work of a master". He was not comfortable in the big cities of Europe and again returned to California where he did architectural sculpture and started a successful bronze foundry in 1909. He suffered a debilitating brain tumor that same year and an operation left him paralyzed and changed his personality. In 1917 he moved with his second wife to Paris where they lived until his death.
The life of Arthur Putnam is documented in the following books:
The Animaliers by James Mackay (1973)
Animals in Bronze by Christopher Payne (1986)
American Sculpture by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1965)
Dictionary of American Sculptors by Glenn Opitz
Masters of American Sculpture by Donald M. Reynolds
Bronzes of the American West by Patricia Broder (1973)
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