24 Facts About Walker Hancock

Walker Kirtland Hancock was an American sculptor and teacher.

Walker Hancock created notable monumental sculptures, including the Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, and the World War I Soldiers' Memorial in St Louis, Missouri.

Walker Hancock made major additions to the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, including Christ in Majesty, the bas relief over the High Altar.

Walker Hancock was born in St Louis, Missouri, the son of Walter Scott Hancock, a lawyer, and wife Anna Spencer.

Walker Hancock attended St Louis public schools and Central High School.

Walker Hancock enrolled at Washington University in the fall, and the following summer worked as an assistant to his teacher, Victor Holm, helping to complete the sculpture program for the Missouri State Monument at Vicksburg National Military Park.

Walker Hancock won the 1925 Rome Prize, and spent the next 3 years studying at the American Academy in Rome.

On his deathbed, he asked Walker Hancock to succeed him as PAFA's Instructor of Sculpture.

Walker Hancock held that position from 1929 to 1967, with interruptions for his war service and two years as sculptor-in-residence at the American Academy in Rome.

Walker Hancock served in the US Army during World War II, and became one of the "Monuments Men", recovering art looted by the Nazis.

Walker Hancock was posted in London in early 1944, where he researched and wrote reports on monuments and art works in occupied France.

Immediately following the May 8,1945 German surrender, Walker Hancock set up the first so-called Central Collecting Point, in the city of Marburg.

Lindberg deeded the collection to the historical society in 1935, and in 1941 commissioned Walker Hancock to create a work honoring those who had sponsored and built The Spirit of St Louis.

In 1964, Walker Hancock took over supervision of the Confederate Memorial at Stone Mountain, Georgia.

Walker Hancock simplified Lukeman's model, eliminating the horses' lower bodies and legs, and made design adjustments as problems arose with the carving or stone.

Walker Hancock modeled towers to flank the carving, but they were never executed due to lack of money.

Walker Hancock created an immersive sculpture group, The Garden of Gethsemane, for Trinity Episcopal Church, Topsfield, Massachusetts.

Walker Hancock served as a member of the Smithsonian Institution's National Collection of Fine Arts Commission.

Walker Hancock was elected an Associate member of the National Academy of Design in 1936, and an Academician in 1939.

Walker Hancock was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1941.

In 1971, Walker Hancock received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

Walker Hancock's work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.

Walker Hancock endowed Massachusetts's Walker Hancock Prize, given for excellence in the arts.

Walker Hancock's papers are at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, and in the Hancock Family Archives in Gloucester, Massachusetts.