Laura Swing Kemeys

Laura Swing Kemeys (November 3, 1864 – November 5, 1934) was a noted American sculptor animalier. She was the wife of fellow sculptor Edward Kemeys, with whom she collaborated.

Early life Born as Laura Sparks Swing in Cumberland County, New Jersey on November 3, 1864, Kemeys was the youngest of five children of Simon Sparks Swing and his second wife, Judith L. Tomlinson. She was the last of fourteen children that Simon Sparks Swing had fathered, also having nine half-sibling that were each between 21 and 30 years her elder. The most recent United States Census preceding her birth, the 1860 Census, listed her father as a farmer. Simon Sparks Swing died at age 58, shortly after she was conceived and prior to her birth.

The 1870 United States census shows her, her mother mother, and her three living full-siblings as residing in Bridgeton, New Jersey, a thriving industry town at the time. The 1880 United States census indicates that at 16 years of age, she was attending an art school. Coming to share an appreciation for artistic realism and a fascination wild animals with her husband, she would join him annually on hunting expeditions in the Western United States where they would observe, dissect, and draw animals that would later be put to use as models for sculptures. In 1886, the two had a son, William. Kemeys considered both her husband Edward Kemeys and sculptor Lorado Taft to have been her mentors as an artist. She was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, alongside her husband who was a veteran of the American Civil War.