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Pompeo
Coppini, sculptor, was born in Italy in 1870, and grew up in Florence where he
was a student at the Academia di Belle Arte. He graduated in 1889 and in 1896
he immigrated to the United States. He had very little money and no knowledge
of English but these setbacks didn’t prevent him from getting married in 1898.
His wife was Elizabeth di Barbieri of Connecticut.
Coppini became a U.S. citizen in 1902.
Coppini
had heard of German Sculptor Frank Teich's search for an apprentice sculptor,
and so he moved to Texas in 1901. Teich needed help
filling orders for memorials to Confederate heroes. The political climate had
softened by that time and statues to Confederate heroes and common soldiers were
being erected at a near-furious pace. Coppini was commissioned to model a statue
of Jefferson Davis and four Confederate soldiers for a monument on the capitol
grounds. The monument won Coppini such praise that he knew he could make it on
his own without the .75 cents per hour he was making from Teich. The two men soon
parted company and occasionally bid against one another for commissions. |
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| “Firing
Line” c. 1912 DeLeon Plaza in Victoria.
Commissioned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. TE Photo. |
Littlefield
Fountain Memorial (1920-28)
TE photo, 2009 |
Other
commissions followed, one of them being the Littlefield Fountain Memorial (1920-28)
at the University of Texas.
Some of Coppini's other Texas works include
a statue of Rufus C. Burleson at Baylor University in Waco
(1903), the bas-relief monument at Sam Houston’s grave at Huntsville
(1910), a Texas Revolutionary monument at Gonzales
that same year, the unique Confederate soldier at Victoria
(1912) and busts of Generals Johnston, Lee, Jackson and President Jefferson Davis,
for the Confederate monument at Paris, Texas
(1903).
Another group statue called Victims of the Galveston Flood (1903-4)
was given to the University of Texas, Austin.
Coppini
also modeled the equestrian monument to Terry's Texas Rangers (the Eighth Texas
Cavalry) on the Capitol grounds (1905-07) and the Charles H. Noyes Memorial in
Ballinger (1918-19). See the
poignant story of The
Most Photographed Statue in Ballinger, Texas.
Other works include The
John H. Reagan Memorial
in Palestine (1911) and the
bronze doors of the Scottish Rite Temple in San
Antonio (dedicated 1926). |
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Coppini
lived and worked in his studio in San
Antonio until 1916, when he moved to Chicago. Three years later he moved to
New York City to oversee the casting of the Littlefield Fountain Memorial.
He was assisted on this and other projects by sculptor Waldine Tauch, who began
studying with Coppini in 1910 and continued to work with him as his colleague
and “foster daughter” until his death. |
Pompeo Coppini at work.
Photo Courtesy The Texas Collection, Baylor University
|
In
1937 Coppini established a studio at 115 Melrose Place in San
Antonio in order to work on “Spirit
of Sacrifice” cenotaph to the heroes of the Alamo (1937-39) which stands
on Alamo Plaza. One of the other
sculptors hoping to get this commission was Gutzon Borglum – the man (with son
Lincoln) who went on to carve the presidential faces at Mt. Rushmore.
Other
Centennial commissions awarded to Coppini were a U. S. commemorative half-dollar
in 1934 and the Hall of State bronze statues of Austin, Rusk, Travis, Fannin,
Lamar, and Houston (1935-36) in Dallas.
Coppini in 1941 was awarded an honorary doctor of fine arts degree by Baylor University
and even Italy acknowledged his work in America by decorating him a Commendatore"
of the Crown of Italy in 1931. |
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The carriage stone from Coppini's home was rescued and placed in San
Antonio's San Jose Burial Park. TE Photo |
Coppini’s
work in the United States consists of thirty-six public monuments, sixteen portrait
statues, and about seventy-five portrait busts. His attitude toward art and sculpture
was critical of modernism. He felt that sculpture in America could be saved by
carefully screening art students for talent.
He emphasized the importance
of individual instruction from experienced artists – a belief he put in practice
by mentoring Waldine Tauch.
Coppini was not without his critics.
Texas author J. Frank Dobie is quoted as saying: “As for Coppini – he has
littered up Texas with his monstrosities….”
It
is not known what Coppini thought of Dobie’s writing.
Coppini
was head of the art department of Trinity University in San
Antonio for two years during WWII
and in 1945 he and Tauch co-founded the Coppini Academy of Fine Arts in
1950.
Coppini died in San Antonio
in 1957, survived by his wife.
He was buried in a crypt of his own design
in San Antonio. Coppini and Tauch's
work is exhibited today in their former studio.
©
John Troesser
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Coppini’s Works
in Texas (listed chronologically)
1901 Confederate
Monument Capitol Grounds, Austin
1903 Confederate Monument Paris, Texas
1904 Woodmen of the World - Lakeview Cemetery, Galveston
1905 Burleson Memorial,
Baylor University Campus, Waco
1907 Terry’s
Texas Rangers Memorial Capitol Grounds, Austin
1910 Come
and Take It! Gonzales, Texas
1911 Sam Houston Memorial Oakwood Cemetery,
Huntsville Texas
1911 James
W. Throckmorton (former) McKinney Courthouse Lawn, McKinney Texas
1911
John H. Reagan Memorial
– Palestine, Texas
1912 Stephen F. Austin Texas State Cemetery, Austin
1912 Firing Line DeLeon Plaza, Victoria, Texas
1912 George O’Brien Millard
(Pipkin Park), Beaumont, Texas
1914 Queen
of the Sea - downtown Corpus Christi
1915 Joanna
Troutman - Texas State Cemetery, Austin
1919 Charles
Noyes Memorial, Courthouse lawn Ballinger, Texas
1919 Julius A. Wolters,
Shiner, Texas
1919 Lawrence Sullivan Ross Texas A & M University Campus
1922 Mr. and Mrs C.H. YOE, Cameron, Texas
1933 Littlefield Memorial Fountain
University of Texas Campus Including free standing statues of Jefferson Davis,
Robert E. Lee, James Hogg, Albert Sidney Johnston, John H. Reagan and Woodrow
Wilson
1936 Prospero Bernardi - Fair Park, Dallas
1938 R.E.B. Baylor Baylor
Campus, Waco
1939 “Spirit
of Sacrifice” (aka The Cenotaph), San Antonio
1946 Genius of Music
(w Waldine Tauch) Brackenridge Park San Antonio
1953 Coppini Memorial Sunset
Memorial Park (Coppini’s gravesite) 1955 George Washington - University of Texas
campus, Austin
1972 (posthumously installed) George W. Brackenridge 3501 Broadway
San Antonio*
*Sculpted
by Coppini in the 1930s, the statue was cast by Waldine Tauch and due to a bureaucratic
fiasco, it wasn’t installed until 1972 |
Coppini’s
Works in Texas
(by location)Austin:
Capitol Grounds: Texas Confederate Monument, Terry’s Texas Rangers
Texas
State Cemetery: Stephen F. Austin, Joanna
Troutman
University of Texas: George Washington Littlefield Fountain
(including statues of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, James Hogg, Albert Sidney
Johnston, John H. Reagan and Woodrow Wilson
Beaumont:
George O’Brien Millard Beaumont (Pipkin Park)
Ballinger:
Charles
Noyes Memorial
Cameron:
Mr. and Mrs C.H. YOE
College
Station: Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Burleson Memorial (Texas A & M Campus)
Corpus Christi:
Queen
of the Sea
Dallas: Prospero
Bernardi Fair Park
Galveston:
Woodmen of the World (Lakeview Cemetery)
Gonzales:
Come
and Take It!
Huntsville:
Sam
Houston Memorial Monument (Oakwood Cemetery)
McKinney:
James Throckmorton (former courthouse lawn)
Palestine:
John H. Reagan Memorial
Paris: Confederate Monument
(downtown) Paris
San Antonio:
“Spirit
of Sacrifice” (aka The
Cenotaph),
Genius of Music (w Waldine Tauch) Brackenridge Park San Antonio,
Coppini Memorial Sunset Memorial Park (Coppini’s gravesite),
George W. Brackenridge
3501 Broadway San Antonio*
Winn Family Gravesite, City Cemetery #1
Shiner:
Julius Wolters
Victoria:
Firing Line (DeLeon Plaza)
Waco:
(Baylor University Campus) R.E.B. Baylor Memorial and Burleson Memorial
|
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| Sam
Houston - Scottish Rite Temple Door |
| George
Washington - Scottish Rite Temple Door |
| Frieze
over the doorway of the San Antonio Express News Building in San
Antonio. | |
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