Jess
by Alan LeQuire
Life-size half figure, Bronze, Edition of 12
Alan LeQuire: Miniature to Monumental
Alan LeQuire is one of the nation’s premiere sculptors. His works adorn the walls of institutions like Vanderbilt University and the Country Music Hall of Fame, as well as private collections around the world. His monumental works, Musica, the largest bronze figure group in the United States, and Athena Parthenos, the largest indoor statue in the western world, enrich the visual landscape of Nashville.
Author, Madison Bell describes LeQuire as a “strikingly accurate and extremely popular portrait artist. His portrait heads combine the energy, expressiveness and apparent mobility of a quick sketch with the permanence of bronze.”
Included in the many portraits to date are busts of the British Poet, Donald Davie, Chancellor Harvey Branscomb of Vanderbilt University, and Chancellor Ike Robinson of the University of Oklahoma. Other busts and life-size portraits have been commissioned by and are on display at Vanderbilt Medical Center and Belmont University.
A larger-than-life standing figure portrait of Dr. Thomas Frist, Sr. with two small children can be found at Skyline Medical Center in Nashville as well as Bayonet Point Medical Center in Naples, Florida. Life-size standing portraits have also been done of Sam Davis at Montgomery Bell Academy and Jack Daniel at the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, TN.
Of special interest in 2020 are LeQuire’s five public monuments commemorating woman suffrage, each with larger-than-life portraits of heroes and heroines like Anne Dallas Dudley, Carrie Chapman Catt, Harry T. Burn and his mother “Febb”, and Ida B. Wells to name a few. On the road in 2020 are LeQuire’s colossal portrait heads of cultural icons Bessie Smith, Leadbelly, Paul Robeson, Billie Holiday, Marian Anderson, and Woody Guthrie. These Cultural Heroes will be on exhibit at The Music Hall & Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame, Boston, MA through December.
As a contemporary sculptor, LeQuire relishes the process of portraiture — experimenting with various ways of handling the material (clay), always with the intent in mind to make the material and its treatment at least as important as the subject matter. He prefers to sculpt real people in realistic circumstances opposed to the classical sculptors of Greece who idealized the figure, believing that the human figure is the single artistic subject to which all viewers inevitably respond.
Monumental, miniature, or life-size, LeQuire’s sculptures manage to achieve a living quality, which contributes to a long-standing career of public commissions and a consistent demand for private collections.
Purchases & Commissions: [email protected] or 615.298.4611
https://alanlequire.com
https://www.lequiregallery.com/portraiture/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAEuMBI3ngY
