Marian Brackenridge

Marian Brackenridge (April 16, 1903, Buffalo, New York – March 17, 1999, Sonoma, California) was an American sculptor known for her portrait busts, bas-reliefs and religious works.

Biography Brackenridge was born in Buffalo, New York, the eldest of the three daughters of William A. and Margaret Brackenridge. Her father was a hydroelectric engineer, who moved the family to Pasadena, California when Marian was six. She assisted him on his bronze sculpture of Junípero Serra (1930), for the National Statuary Hall Collection at the U.S. Capitol. She later modeled the portrait relief of Cadorin that marks his grave. Her work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.

Brackenridge exhibited two pieces at the National Sculpture Society's 1929 Contemporary American Sculpture exhibition in San Francisco. She exhibited a terra cotta figure of Proserpine at the 1940 National Sculpture Society exhibition in New York City.

Between 1956 and 1976, Brackenridge modeled a series of half-life-sized niche figures for Washington National Cathedral. These were carved in limestone by the Cathedral's master carver, Roger Morigi. They included the figures of Saint Andrew of Scotland and John Calvin that flank the sarcophagus of President Woodrow Wilson. Her Saint Francis of Assisi figure leans forward in his niche, releasing the bird on his palm, a reference to the saint buying caged birds and returning them to the wild. Rather than the traditional armor, her Joan of Arc figure is dressed in peasant clothes, hearing the voice of God for the first time. Her Robert Hunt figure depicts him in simple robes and holding a chalice, giving communion to the settlers at Jamestown.

Brackenridge's most familiar works may be the bronze markers that she modeled for the 1960 centennial of the Pony Express. Large rectangular markers were installed at the 8 stops on its mail route—east to west: St. Joseph, Missouri; Marysville, Kansas; Fort Kearny, Nebraska; Julesburg, Colorado; Fort Laramie, Wyoming; Salt Lake City, Utah; Friday's Station, Nevada; and Sacramento, California. Arched markers were customized to tell the history of a particular site. A portrait relief of Brackenridge marks her grave in Sonoma's Mountain Cemetery.

Selected works Portrait relief of Ettore Cadorin (1952), Cadorin grave monument, Mountain Cemetery, Sonoma, California. John Calvin (limestone, 1956), Woodrow Wilson Bay. Saint Joan of Arc (limestone, 1957), Mellon Bay. Saint Patrick of Ireland (limestone, 1959), Mellon Bay. Saint Francis of Assisi (limestone, 1959), Humanitarian Bay. Isabella Thoburn (limestone, 1966), N.C.A. Bay. Robert Hunt (limestone, 1976), outside Bethlehem Chapel. Pony Express Centennial Markers (bronze, 1960), rectangular, arched, round. George Koltanowski Award (bronze, 1961), given annually by the United States Chess Federation, the medallion features a portrait relief of Koltanowski. Portrait relief of Francis Scott Key (bronze, 1962), University of North Texas. Captain William Smith memorial plaque (1965), Mountain Cemetery, Sonoma, California. Portrait relief of Henry Lobdell (painted plaster, 1967), Mead Art Museum, Amherst College.