Bronzes by Arthur Putnam, Gift of Mrs. Alma Spreckels Awl, July 1-[August] 1943

Arthur Putnam was born on September 6, 1873 in Waveland, Mississippi, the son of Oramel Hinckley Putnam and Mary M. Gibson. As a child, the family moved to Omaha, Nebraska, but moved again to California when his father’s health began to fail. After his death in 1880, Arthur’s mother moved the family back to Omaha. At barely nine years old, Arthur Putnam had an accident which may have been the cause of health consequences and brain tumor later in life. Mrs. Putnam again returned to California in 1891, while Arthur headed to New Orleans and worked in an iron foundry, before joining his mother and sister in La Mesa, California.

At 20 years old, Putnam took a homestead and began a ranch in southern California, about forty miles from San Diego. On a nearby ranch lived Gutzon Borglum, an old friend from Omaha, with whom he often worked. Borglum is known for creating Mount Rushmore. After his ranch business failed, Putnam returned to La Mesa and took up land surveying.

In August 1894, Putnam came to San Francisco to become an artist. He attended the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894. He came to the Art Students League, where he met Julie Heyneman, who helped him gain an assistantship under sculptor Rupert Schmidt. Julie was the author of the biography whose publication was celebrated in this 1932 exhibition at the Legion of Honor. Sadly, Putnam spent much of his early time in San Francisco on the verge of semi-starvation. Finally, he found a job in a slaughter house in South San Francisco. It was through this job that he first learned about animal anatomy.

He returned to his mother in 1895, but spent his spare time drawing animals. On occasional trips to San Diego, he made friends with Alice Klauber and Alice McMullins. It was through McMullins that he met his wife Grace Choate Storey whom he married in 1899. After their marriage in Sacramento and living briefly in Lincoln, they moved to Berkeley and then to San Francisco in 1900 where Putnam finally found success in art. In 1903, Putnam received his first bronze commission from E.W. Scripps, the newspaper publisher, who asked for a series of allegorical sculptures of California’s history.

In San Francisco, Putnam was first with a number of well-known California artists, including stained glass designer Bruce Porter, tonalist painter Gottardo Piazzoni (who created commissioned murals for permanent installation at the de Young), sculptor Earl Cummings, authors Jack London and George Sterling, painters Maynard Dixon, Matteo Sandona, and Xavier Martinez, all of whom formed the California Society of Artists with Putnam.

He went to Rome and Paris in 1905, where his work was accepted for exhibition in the spring salon. Putnam had a bout of illness in 1909, which led to the removal of a brain tumor in 1911. As a result of this operation, Putnan was paralyzed on his left side and formal perceptions were impaired. He exhibited a mermaid sculpture at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, as well as a selection of his bronzes. His Puma and the Snake sculpture gained positive reviews.

In addition to animal sculpture, Putnam also produced figures and mythological creatures. He received an honorable mention at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1917, the Barnett Prize at the National Academy of Design, the Widener Medal from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1923, and the Avery Prize of the Architectural League of New York in 1924. Putnam divorced his wife in 1917 and married Marion Pearson the same year. He stayed in France, busy with work, until his death on May 27, 1930 at Ville d’Avray, France.

Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, co-founder of the Legion of Honor, was an acquaintance and patron of Putnam’s, purchasing many of his animal sculptures and donating them to the museum.

Sources:
San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California), July 27, 1930: 39. NewsBank: San Francisco Chronicle Historical Archive. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.ezproxy.sfpl.org/apps/news/document-view?p=EANX-NB&docref=image/v2%3A142051F45F422A02%40EANX-NB-14FA4F50B6511D0E%402426185-14FA4DCCC977D961%4038.
San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California), August 3, 1930: 37. NewsBank: San Francisco Chronicle Historical Archive. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.ezproxy.sfpl.org/apps/news/document-view?p=EANX-NB&docref=image/v2%3A142051F45F422A02%40EANX-NB-14FA8DF1CC4FE872%402426192-14FA5051CEAC4B3F%4036.
“Arthur Putnam.” California Art Research Archive, July 10, 2014. https://bancroftlibrarycara.wordpress.com/putnam-mermaid-i0016728a/.