Skene Memorial, (sculpture).

Skene Memorial, (sculpture).

Rhind, John Massey, 1860-1936, sculptor.

Roman Bronze Works, founder.

M. L. & H. G. Emery, architectural firm.

Skene Memorial, (sculpture).

Alexander J. C. Skene Bust, (sculpture).

Cast 1905. Installed January 1906. Dedicated April 18, 1906.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: white marble or limestone.

Sculpture: approx. 3 x 2 x 2 ft.; Base: approx. 15 x 12 x 8 ft.

(On sculpture, lower proper right:) Massey Rhind/1905 (On sculpture, lower proper left:) Roman Bronze Works/1905 (On wall behind sculpture:) ALEXANDER J. C. SKEENE/M.D. L.L.D./PHYSICIAN AUTHOR (On wall, proper left side of sculpture:) PRESIDENT/DEAN AND /GYNECOLOGIST (On wall, proper right side of sculpture:) OF THE LONG/ISLAND COLLEGE/HOSPITAL (On front of base just below sculpture:) FYUIE/ABERDEENSHIRE/SCOTLAND /1838/ HIGHMOUNT /ULSTER CO. N. Y./1900 signed Founder's mark appears.

A portrait bust of Alexander Skene depicted with a beard and moustache. The bust rests atop a tall rectangular base installed in front of a wall containing a memorial inscription.

Portrait male -- Skene, Alexander J. C. -- Bust

Occupation -- Medicine -- Doctor

Outdoor Sculpture -- New York -- Brooklyn

Administered by City of New York, Department of Parks and Recreation, The Arsenal - Central Park, New York, New York 10021

Located Grand Army Plaza, Vanderbilt Avenue and Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, New York

Alexander J. C. Skene was a pioneering 19th century gynecologist at the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. He was also a Union Army surgeon during the Civil War and helped to establish the ambulance corps. This sculpture was a gift of the Skene Monument Committee and grateful patients. Related information can be found at the Brooklyn Historical Society in their clipping files and on microfiche. IAS files contain photocopies of Brooklyn Eagle newspaper articles from the files of the Brooklyn Historical Society. IAS files also contain a copy of the Art Commission of the City of New York's "Work of Art" form dated June 29, 1905, which notes that the sculpture was approved August 8, 1905. Photocopies of a scale model for the piece are also included. Related information can also be found in Huntington, Edna, "Historical Markers and Monuments in Brooklyn," Brooklyn: Long Island Historical Society, 1952. Two SOS surveys were submitted, one supplied limestone and one supplied white marble as the base medium. Attached newspaper articles note the base medium as marble. The sculpture was repaired in 1936.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985

The City of New York, Department of Parks, 1941.

Lederer, Joseph, "All Around the Town: A Walking Guide to Outdoor Sculpture in New York City," New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1975, Pg. 219.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, New York, New York survey, 1994.

Brooklyn Eagle, April 19, 1906.

Lederer, Joseph, "All Around the Town: A Walking Guide to Outdoor Sculpture in New York City," New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1975, pg. 219.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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