Edmond Romulus Amateis

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Edmond Romulus Amateis (27 February 1897; Rome, Italy – 1 May 1981; Clermont, Florida) was an American sculptor and educator. He is known for garden-figure sculptures, colossal architectural sculptures for public buildings and portrait busts.

Life

Amateis was the son of Louis (Luigi) Amateis (1855−1913), who had immigrated from Italy in 1883 and became founder of the School of Architecture at George Washington University in Washington D.C. and himself a noted sculptor. Edmond Amateis received his early education in Washington and took up studies of art at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York City, in 1915 [1], which were interrupted during World War I by service in the United States Army .

While in Europe, he spent four months in Paris at the Academie Julian with François Boucher and Paul Landowski as his teachers. Back in the USA he resumed his studies at the Beaux-Arts Institute combined with work in the studios of Henry Shrady and John Clements Gregory (1979-1958). In 1921 Amateis won the fellowship of the American Academy in Rome for the next three years. From 1942 to 1944 he was the fifteenth president of the National Sculpture Society. In his later years Amateis lived in Florida and was also instrumental in flower breeding. One rhododendron type is named for him.[2]
pediment of the Buffalo Historical Society building

Important works

After his return to the United States he was commissioned with a number of important works of architectural sculpture, such as

* two aquatic war horses for the Baltimore War Memorial [3]
* a pediment and twelve metopes for the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society Building
* a colossal relief for the Rochester Times-Union Building,
* the Great Frieze on the north wall of the Kansas City Liberty Memorial finished in 1935,[4]
* a pair of griffins for the Acacia Life Insurance Company Building,
* a relief and spandrels for the Department of Labor and Interstate Commerce Building, Washington, D.C.

Bronze busts in the POlio Hall of Fame

In 1956 Amateis was commissioned to design the bronze busts of 15 polio experts plus President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Basil O'Connor for the Polio Hall of Fame in Warm Springs, Georgia, which was dedicated in 1958

He is the author of a relief for the Kerckhoff Mausoleum, Los Angeles, and a memorial to William M. Davidson at Pittsburgh. He designed many fountain and garden figures and also modelled numerous portrait busts and small bronzes.
The Great Frieze on the north wall of the Kansas City Liberty Memorial finished in 1935.[5] Main inscription reads "These have dared bear the torches of sacrifice and service. Their bodies return to dust but their work liveth evermore. Let us strive on to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

Awards

In 1929 Summer won the Avery Prize given by the Architectural League, and in 1933, Circe the McClees Prize at the Pennsylvania Academy. He was for a time Associate in Sculpture at Columbia University. He was also a member of the National Sculpture Society and the Architectural League and an associate of the National Academy of Design.