Shrady, Henry

“Head of Runaway Horse” ca. 1908, Bronze, 16 x 15 x 8 inches, Signed

“Head of Runaway Horse” ca. 1908, Bronze, 16 x 15 x 8 inches, Signed
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American, (1871-1922)

Henry Shrady was an American sculptor, best known for the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial on the west front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Shrady was born in New York City. His father, George Frederick Shrady, Sr., was one of the physicians who attended Ulysses S. Grant during the former president’s struggle with throat cancer.

Shrady graduated from Columbia University in 1894, and spent one year at Columbia’s law school. He left law school to join with his brother-in-law, Jay Gould (son of the financier Edwin Gould), at the Continental Match Company. The company failed, and Shrady contracted typhoid fever, which diverted him forever from the business world. His recuperation left spare time to pursue a growing interest in art.

Shrady’s wife, Harrie Moore, submitted some of his paintings to an exhibition of the National Academy of Design without his knowledge, and they sold quickly. He then began to teach himself sculpture using zoo animals and his pets as models.

He modeled a series of popular bronze statuettes, mostly of animals. His first major commission came in 1901, for George Washington at Valley Forge, an equestrian statue for Continental Army Plaza in Brooklyn, New York.

Statuettes

Bull Moose (1900).
Empty Saddle (1900).
Saving the Colors (c. 1900).
Elk Buffalo (“Monarch of the Plains”) (1901).
Buffalo (1903).
Fighting Buffalo (1903).
Cavalry Charge (1902–16, cast 1924), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. This is a miniature version of the sculpture group from the Grant Memorial.

Sculptures

George Washington at Valley Forge (1901–06), Continental Army Plaza, Brooklyn, New York.
A 1925 replica is in Washington Square Park, Kansas City, Missouri.
Ulysses S. Grant Memorial (1902–22), West Front, United States Capitol, Washington D.C.
General Alpheus S. Williams Memorial (1912–21), Belle Isle Park, Detroit, Michigan.
Robert Edward Lee Sculpture (1917–24), Lee Park, Charlottesville, Virginia. Completed by Leo Lentelli following Shrady’s 1922 death.
Jay Cooke Monument (1921), Jay Cooke Plaza, Duluth, Minnesota.