Bessie Callender

Bessie Callender (; – June 26, 1951) was an American sculptor most well known for her sculptures of wildlife in the style of the French animaliers.

Biography Bessie Stough was born near Wichita, Kansas around 1889 and spent most of her childhood on a farm, where her interest in animals originated. She moved to New York in the early 1920s after marrying The New York Times journalist Harold Callender. Here, she studied drawing under George Bridgman, at the Art Students League, and the Cooper Union. She also modeled from life. When she and her husband were transferred to Paris in 1926, she studied under Antoine Bourdelle, and later under the important animalier, Georges Hilbert. After her death at the age of 62, in 1951, her husband donated seven of her sculptures to the Smithsonian American Art Museum.