Roger Noble Burnham

Roger Noble Burnham (August 10, 1876 – March 14, 1962) was an American sculptor and teacher. He is best remembered for creating The Trojan, the unofficial mascot of the University of Southern California. His father was an 1870 graduate of Harvard University, and a Boston banker. and opened his own sculpture studio in Boston, specializing in portrait works.

Burnham graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles in 1907, and made an extended 1908 tour of the South and Southwest in a production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals. He worked as an actor in early Hollywood films, and later performed Shakespeare, in Los Angeles.

He returned to Boston, and taught modeling at Harvard's School of Architecture from 1913 to 1917. and moved to Hawaii in June 1917, to establish Boy Scout troops in the U.S. territory.

Military monuments Burnham was living in Honolulu in April 1918, when the United States entered World War I, and joined the Hawaii National Guard. Soon after the armistice, he designed a war memorial for the entrance to the city's Kapiolani Park. "It consists of three figures, the central one typifying Liberty while beneath are a Hawaiian warrior and a Hawaiian maiden. The warrior offers his spear while the maiden extends in outstretched hands a lei." Instead of a formal monument with sculpture, the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial (1927) was built at Waikiki Beach.

He was commissioned to create a statue of Frank Luke, Jr. (1930), for the grounds of the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix. The monument was dedicated on Armistice Day, 1930. More than fifty years later, he created The Spirit of '98 (1950), the United Spanish War Veterans Memorial for the Sawtelle Veterans Home in Los Angeles County. and relocated to Los Angeles National Cemetery. The four goddess figures were cast in concrete and hollow (to reduce their weight). Even so, each figure weighed approximately 8 tons (7.26 metric tonnes), and needed to be hoisted more than up to the cornice. Burnham's figures were deemed unsafe, and destroyed in the process of removing them from the façade, in 1947. The city eventually relented, and approved the erection of a memorial fountain in Hollywood's De Longpre Park. Made of bronze and covered with gold-leaf, the streamlined figure looked skyward while standing upon a black marble globe.

The Astronomers Monument (1934), at Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, was built by the Public Works of Art Project of the New Deal. The dedication was November 23, 1935, and the bronze portrait plaque was unveiled by 7-year-old Shirley Temple, Rogers's intended co-star for their next movie.

Burnham created a number of medals for the Medallic Art Company in New York City, and figurines of his sculptures were mass produced by Roxor Studios in Chicago. One early figurine was Speed Demon (1919), which featured a threaded screw hole for mounting as an automobile hood ornament. The Spirit of Rotary (1920) was marketed to members of Rotary International, The centerpiece of Monsanto's Hall of Chemistry was the Chemitron (1955): a giant ring of eight, clear plastic test tubes—each about in height—that individually spun as the entire ring rotated. He modeled anthropomorphic figures representing the eight ingredients used to make plastics: Air, Coal, Limestone, Oil, Phosphate, Salt, Sulphur, and Water.

Honors, exhibitions and awards Burnham was a member of the Boston Architectural Club, and the Rotary Club of Los Angeles. The Copley Gallery in Boston hosted a one-man-show of his sculpture in early 1913. He exhibited at the 1913 Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in Paris, and the 1913 Exposition Internationale de Gand in Brussels. and he exhibited at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco. He exhibited the bust of his wife and a collection of medals at the 1914 exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in Philadelphia; and his door panels for the Forsyth Dental Infirmary at PAFA's 1917 exhibition. His work was part of the sculpture competition of the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Burnham created the Henry O. Avery Prize for Sculpture medal (1904) for the Architectural League of New York, His portrait bust of poet Alfred Noyes was awarded First Prize at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's 1944 annual exhibition.

He and his wife moved to Hawaii in June 1917. The couple left Hawaii in 1922, and lived in Berkeley, California for a couple years, before settling in Los Angeles. Burnham found the view from Griffith Park inspiring, and built a studio "in a little dead-end place, perched almost on the Observatory grounds."

Burnham was a religious man, and in 1951, "outlined a plan before his city's religious leaders in which he proposed to place a 150-ft. statue of the smiling Jesus upon a mountain towering over Hollywood." The project was never built.

Eleanor and Roger Burnham were married for 50 years, until her death in 1959. He died three years later, in Los Angeles, following an extended illness. Burnham's wife donated a cast to the Georgia Morgan Horse Club. Luther Burbank (bronze, 1923), Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois. The life size, half-length figure holds a Burbank Plum in one hand and a Shasta Daisy in the other. Burnham's full size clay model is at the Luther Burbank Home and Gardens, Santa Rosa, California. Proposed colossal sculpture for a Luther Burbank Memorial Park in Santa Rosa California. Unbuilt. The Trojan (bronze, 1930), height: , University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California. The concrete base features bronze relief plaques and inscriptions. Lieutenant Frank Luke, Jr. (bronze, 1930), Arizona State Capitol, Phoenix, Arizona. Aspiration (gold-leafed bronze, 1930), height: , Rudolph Valentino Memorial Fountain, De Longpre Park, Hollywood, California. John Herschel (cast concrete, 1934), Astronomers Monument, Griffith Observatory, Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California. One of six statues of astronomers, each modeled by a different sculptor. Burnham's marble statues were destroyed in a 1971 earthquake; sculptor David Wilkins created fiberglass replicas. 8 anthropomorphic figures (tinted plastic, 1955), Hall of Chemistry, Disneyland, Anaheim, California

Portrait busts William H. Crane as "David Harum" (medium, 1901). American comic actor in a famous role. Edward Perry Warren (bronze, 1911), Oxford University, United Kingdom. Charles Keeler (medium, 1922), Burnham's friend and neighbor in Berkeley, California W. I. Travers (medium, 1934), Phineas Banning High School, Los Angeles. Posthumous portrait of the school's principal Frances Whitesell (medium, 1935-1939) Senator Francis G. Newlands (medium, 1937), U.S. senator from Nevada Muriel Pulitzer (medium, 1938), sculptor of religious works Alfred Noyes (medium, 1944), British poet and playwright. Awarded First Prize at LACMA's 1944 exhibition

Relief works Bust of Margaret Howard Stockett Berkley (bronze, 1909), Maryland Center for History and Culture, Baltimore, Maryland. Portrait of a 9-year-old girl Bust of Fabian Fall (bronze, 1909), Harvard University Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts Justin Morgan Plaque (medium, 1911), a circular plaque of a Morgan horse nuzzling a young woman. Eleanor Waring Burnham wrote a historical novel about the Morgan horse. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts Exhibited at the 1911 Espoizione Internazionale d'arte in Rome. Burnham and his wife were both members of the Uncle Remus Memorial Association. Bust of Joel Chandler Harris (bronze, 1914), Joel Chandler Harris House, Atlanta, Georgia. Panel: Education (medium, 1913), Castle Hall, Punahou School, Honolulu, Hawaii Carrington Mason Memorial Plaque (medium, 1915), Cossitt Library, Memphis, Tennessee Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children, Boston, Massachusetts. Burnham also modeled the bronze bust of the building's donor, George Henry Forsyth, in the entrance hall. Panel: The Commonwealth: Giver of Health and Learning (bronze, 1916), main entrance doors Panel: Bre'r Rabbit and Bre'r Fox (bronze, 1916), children's entrance doors Relocated from Franklin Street to Coker Arboretum in 1956. Lowrey Memorial Fountain (Tennessee pink marble & bronze, 1919), Hawaiian Mission Children's Society, Honolulu, Hawaii. Beside the circular pool is a low-arched marble stele with an inset bronze relief panel, depicting Cherilla Storrs Lowrey and others "at work on plans for a City Beautiful." Hawaii Glee Club Tablet (bronze, 1924), Hamilton Library, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu A Greek athlete in skirt and helmet and a Hawaiian athlete in loincloth and helmet jointly holding up a laurel wreath. Trophy for annual singing contest among Hawaiian choirs Friendliness - Seal of the Pacific Northwest Exhibition (medium, 1928), Long Beach, California. "Circular seal with figure of Friendship, globe and exposition grounds. Lettering around edge." Rudolph Valentino Portrait Plaque (painted plaster, year), diameter: Bust of Albert Beck Wenzell (medium, 1931) Will Rogers Memorial Plaque (bronze, 1935), Will Rogers Sound Stage, 20th Century Fox Studios, Century City, Los Angeles, California. Alexander Hamilton - Scholar, Soldier, Statesman (bronze, 1935), Alexander Hamilton High School, Los Angeles, California Panel: The Way (medium, 1935), University of Southern California, Los Angeles Mural: San Pedro Harbor in 1850 (medium, 1949), San Pedro Branch Library (1948), Los Angeles County, California. A large painted relief on the library's façade, depicting a birds-eye view of the harbor a century earlier

Architectural sculpture Four colossal cornice figures, Boston City Hall Annex, 26 Court Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Burnham was the first recipient of the medal he designed. "Roger Noble Burnham of Massachusetts, winner in the recent National competition for a new design for the University Medal." Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts Exhibited at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. hood ornament Figurine: The Spirit of Rotary (medium, 1920). A hooded goddess holding a shield, wielding a sword, and standing upon the globe. Exhibited at the 1922 Rotary International Convention, held in Los Angeles. Figurine: Dedication to Service (patinated metal, 1921), height: . "Model of a male figure with arms outstretched, standing erect and looking up." Advertized to members of Kiwanis International. Plaque: California Faience (terra cotta, 1922), oval portrait bust of a young woman, height: Medal: Luther Burbank (bronze, 1923), Medallic Art Company, New York. "Jubilee Medal," portrait bust celebrating the horticulturalist's 75th birthday Medal: Pacific Northwest Exposition - Long Beach California 1928 (bronze, 1928), Medallic Art Company, New York, diameter: Figurine: The Trojan (bronze, 1930), height: Figurine: General Douglas MacArthur (bronze, 1952), height: