Madeleine Park (1891 - 1960) was born in Mount Kisco, New York on July 19th 1881. As a young girl she attended the Emily Fowler School in Mt. Kisco then in 1907 at the age of 16 she was sent off to boarding school at the Blair Academy in Blairstown New Jersey, where she graduated in 1910. After finishing her education she enrolled in art classes at the Art Student's League of New York in 1910. While in New York she became engaged to Harold Park. Mr. Park came to the League to visit his fiancé and observe one of her life study classes. He was mildly shocked by the nude models and mentioned this to Madeleine's parents who forced her to stop her art studies during her first year.

Madeleine married Harold Park on October 2, 1913 and moved to Katonah New York. She would not pursue sculpture for the next 10 years in order raise her family. Her son, Harold Park Jr. was born in 1916 and daughter Barbara Park in 1919. She would have another daughter named Sylvia in 1932. She studied sculpture and modeling under Fred Guinzburg and painting and anatomy under George Barse. The Barses took Madeleine with them for a visit to Italy in 1928 to give her exposure to European art and artists. When she returned she met the sculptor Alexander Phimister Proctor with whom she would study for the next 3 years at his Wilton Connecticut home and studio. She would bring her children and they would play with Proctor's children while she studied. Like many sculptors she spent a lot of time at the zoos drawing and sketching. Unlike many artists she also went to the Circus with her children and while they were enjoying the show Madeleine would always go off to visit the animals to study them up close. Her first major sculpture was of a Circus elephant named Cutie who belonged to the Somer's Circus.

She did a number of private commissions of Champion show dogs and horses. Many of these were unique and never shown as they were done for the animal's owner and kept in their private homes, never to be exhibited publicly. She continued to visit the circuses and became employed by both the Ringling Brothers and the Charles Hunt Circus. While working for Charles Hunt in 1948 she was asked if she wished to travel to India where the Hunt Circus was acquiring tigers for their show. She purchased a panther that she named Brutus and kept it as a pet.

Madeleine Park had her first one person sculpture show at the Katonah Library in 1931 where she exhibited several bronzes. She exhibited at the National Academy of Design, at the Pen and Brush Club in NY, and at the National Sculpture Society. During her lifetime she was recognized for her sculpture and received several awards for her work. In 1933 she was awarded First Prize at the American Woman's Association. She was represented by Argent Galleries of NYC and they held a solo exhibit of 21 of her animal bronzes in 1936. In 1938 she won the Pen and Brush Club's Malvina Hoffman award and in 1940 she was included in the National Sculpture Society's exhibit which was held at the Whitney Museum and the same year she won the Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt prize. The J. B. Speed Museum held an exhibit of her sculptures in 1944. in 1954 she won the Anna Hyatt Huntington prize and in 1958 the National Academy of Design awarded her an honorable mention. She was one of the best of the women sculptors who specialized in animals, her work ranks right up there with Anna Hyatt Huntington, Katherine Lane Weems, Sally Farnham, and Laura Gardin Fraser.

Select any Image below to see a description and more information about that Bronze


Click this image to view the Madeleine Park Hackney Horse bronze sculpture

Click this image to view the Madeleine Park Elephant bronze sculpture

Click this image to view the Madeleine Park Percheron Horse bronze sculpture

Click this image to view the Madeleine Park Elephant (miniature) bronze sculpture