Evelyn Beatrice Longman (1874-1954)
By Audrey O’Rafferty
Evelyn Beatrice Longman, Spirit of Communication, 1914-16.
Image courtesy of Jackilometresan (Wikimedia Commons).
Evelyn Beatrice Longman was literally and figuratively a monumental sculptor. Not only were her public art commissions massive in scale, but her style distinguished her as a sculptor who respected Neoclassical tradition whilst simultaneously embracing the modern world around her.
Born 21 November 1874, in Winchester, Ohio, Longman came from a working-class family and left school aged fourteen to work in a dry goods store. She eventually saved enough money to enrol at Olivet College before transferring to the Chicago Institute of Art, where she would further develop her sculptural skills. Longman began her career as an assistant to renowned sculptor Daniel Chester French, who would often recommend her for commissions because of her talent. Though, Longman gained notoriety for winning anonymous commission competitions during a time when female sculptors were discouraged from pursuing large-scale statues and such competitions. After winning a competition to design the United States Naval Academy’s chapel doors, she was almost refused the project because of her gender. However, the commissioner’s regard for her design allowed her to complete the job that would jumpstart her career.
Her most famous piece, also from a competition that she won, was Spirit of Communication (1914-16), designed for AT&T’s twenty-nine story office building in Manhattan. The golden statue features a muscular young man standing triumphantly with lightning bolts in one hand, and an electric cable (wrapped around his body) in the other. The body of the figure, connoting the classical tradition of sculpture, is in harmony with the cables, demonstrating the power of modern invention and communication technology.
Longman similarly used classical tradition to enhance the dignity of working people. For instance, Industry (1931), her commission for the Hartford Trade School, shows a worker whose deep focus and grounded pose gives him the weight and gravitas of a ‘Michelangelo prophet’. This sculpture was especially significant as it was commissioned during a period marked by widespread strikes and growing labour union movements.
Her artworks, from Spirit of Communication to Industry, show the extent to which Longman was a sought after and respected sculptor of immense range. Her public regard would later lead to her becoming the first woman to become a full member of the National Academy of Design in New York.
Bibliography
Jackilometresan. CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Samu, Margaret. “Evelyn Beatrice Longman: Establishing a Career in Public Sculpture.” Woman’s Art Journal 25, no. 2 (Autumn 2004/Winter 2005): 8–15. https://doi.org/10.2307/3566511.
Thornton, Steve, “Evelyn Beatrice Longman Commemorates the Working Class.” ConnecticutHistory.org, September 27, 2021. https://connecticuthistory.org/evelyn-beatrice-longman-commemorates-the-working-class/