Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington (Anna Huntington)

Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington

Artist.  Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her father, Alpheus Hyatt, was a professor of paleontology and zoology at Harvard University and MIT, and served as a contributing factor to her early interest in animals and animal anatomy. She studied with sculptors Henry Hudson Kittleson in Boston and Hermon Atkins MacNeil at the Art Students League. She also worked for sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Anna made frequent trips to the Bronx Zoo where she modeled animals and was especially intrigued by the large cats. She married the philanthropist Archer Huntington in 1923. She and her husband founded Brookgreen Gardens near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. She was a member of the National Academy of Design and the National Sculpture Society and a donation of $100,000 from her and her husband made possible the NSS Exhibition of 1929. Because of her husband’s enormous wealth and the shared interests of the couple, the Huntingtons were responsible for founding fourteen museums and four wildlife preserves. They also gifted Collis P. Huntington State Park, consisting of approximately 800 acres of land in Redding, Connecticut, to the State of Connecticut.  In 1932, Anna became the first woman artist to be elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She was one of 250 sculptors who exhibited in the 3rd Sculpture International held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the summer of 1949. Anna received numerous awards, including the Chevalier Legion of Honor, the Purple Rosette from the French government, the Shaw Prize and the Watrous Gold Medal from the National Academy of Design, and gold medals from the Pennsylvania Academy and the Allied Artists of America. She was a member of the Associate National Academy, the National Academy of Design, the National Sculpture Society, the American Federation of Arts, National Institute of Arts and Letters, and the National Association of Women Artists. Her work is recognized in many private collections and museums, including the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Museum of New Mexico, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brookgreen Gardens, and the National Museum of Wildlife Art. (bio by: Shock)  Family links:  Parents:  Alpheus Hyatt (1838 – 1902)  Harriet R. Hyatt (____ – 1901)  Spouse:  Archer Milton Huntington (1870 – 1955)* *Calculated relationship

Born

  • March, 10, 1876
  • USA

Died

  • October, 10, 1973
  • USA

Cemetery

  • Woodlawn Cemetery
  • USA

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