Walker Hancock papers, 1911-1995

Collection Information

Size: 21.1 Linear feet

Summary: Correspondence with artists including Cecilia Beaux, Timothy Crouse, Carl Paul Jennewein, Henry Kreis, Paul Manship, Booth Tarkington, William Zorach, and others; project and commission files including the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial in Georgia among others; committee files; personal business records; writings; sketches; photographs and negatives of Hancock, works of art, and political figures taken in preparation of portrait busts; printed material; and an interview transcript relating to Hancock's career as a sculptor.

Biographical/Historical Note

Walker Hancock (1901-1998) was a sculptor from Gloucester, Massachusetts. Hancock was born in 1901 in St. Louis, Missouri. He studied at Washington University for one year before moving on to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he studied under Charles Grafly. He taught at PAFA from 1929 to 1967. During his career, he produced hundreds of realistic works, ranging from a 39 foot bronze angel in the 30th St. Station in Philadelphia, to a bust of former President Geroge H.W. Bush in the Capitol, to a monumental statue of James Madison in the Library of Congress, to a Christ figure in the central altar in the National Cathedral in Washington. Hancock first visited Gloucester in 1921, built a studio there, and later moved there permanently. He died at home at age 97.

Provenance

Donated 1974-1996 by Walker Hancock and in 2017 by Deane French Hancock, Hancock's daughter and executor.

Alternative Forms Available

35mm microfilm reels 3946, 1718-1726, 1818 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.

Restrictions on Access

Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.

How to Cite This Collection

Walker Hancock papers, 1911-1995. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.