Hunting for Huntington, and staying close to home
ancing on a ball and aiming her bow at the sky. It is displayed with a selection of Weems’ vivid animal sculptures offering a contrast in subject and scale. A full- length oil portrait of Huntington at work in her studio ( painted by Marion Boyd Allen) is paired with an intimate painting of Weems ( by Charles Hopkinson).
But Connecticut residents don’t have to travel all the way to the North Shore of Massachusetts to view Huntington’s artwork. In fact, two animal sculptures made by Huntington can be found just a few miles up the road from Putnam Memorial State Park.
Up at the road on the BethelRedding border, at Collis P. Huntington State Park, “Mother Bear and Cubs” and “Sculpture of Wolves,” welcome visitors to the more than 800- acre park. The massive sculptures, with their green patina, majestically flank the entrance and offer a glimpse of the wildlife that might be found in miles of wooded trails stretching down the hill.
As the park’s name suggests, the site was important to Huntington. In fact, it was her home.
Huntington was born in Cambridge, Mass., on March 10, 1876. Her father, Alpheus Hyatt, a professor of paleontology and zoology at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, encouraged her interest in animals and animal anatomy. Her mother, Audella Beebe Hyatt, was a watercolorist.
The Hyatts had a summer house in Gloucester, and for many years, Anna maintained a summer sculpture studio on the property.
While she would study for a time under Henry H. Kitson in Boston, and later with Hermon A. MacNeil at the Art Students’ League in New York, Anna thought of herself as a selftaught artist. She followed in the footsteps of her older sister, Harriet, who was also a sculptor.
In 1902, Anna moved to New York City to pursue her career, traveling to France in 1907. By the 1910s, she had established herself as one of the country’s most respected sculptors, attracting commissions for such works as her well- known depiction of “Joan of Arc” ( 1915- 1918), versions of which are installed in Blois, France; Québec City; San Francisco; New York City; and Gloucester.
In 1923, Anna married Archer Milton Huntington, the adopted son of railroad magnate, industrialist and multimillionaire philanthropist Collis P. Huntington.
In her lifetime, Huntington worked in New York City, at her home in Connecticut and at Brookgreen Gardens, which she and her husband founded near Myrtle Beach, S. C., and which is filled with her works.
To this day, more works by Huntington can be seen in Redding: “Fighting Stallions” is at the entrance to Redding Elementary School; “A Tribute to the Workhorse” is at the entrance to John Read Middle School and a small, 64- inch version of the “Torch Bearers” is mounted near the entrance to the Mark Twain Library.
Her piece titled “Young Abe Lincoln on Horseback,” is located in front of the Bethel Public Library.
And in Danbury, her sculpture of “Sybil Ludington,” is placed near the entrance to the public library. The statue commemorates another story from the Revolutionary War — the story of a brave 16- year- old girl who rode 40 miles through the darkness to warn the local militia of approaching British troops after the burning of Danbury in 1777. The story of Sybil Ludington is legendary in Danbury, and she is dubbed “the female Paul Revere.”
The exhibit at the Cape Ann Museum is a modern endorsement of Huntington’s work, and the work of Weems, her fellow female sculptor featured in the show.
“The Cape Ann Museum is fortunate to have a strong collection of artwork and artifacts in its holdings related to women, now and in the past,” says Martha Oaks, curator at the Cape Ann Museum. “While many of these items are typically on display throughout the museum, this year as people across the country recognize the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, we’re enjoying calling them out to our visitors and exploring the myriad of stories they can tell us about women’s abilities and achievements.
“Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington and Katharine Lane Weems were two extraordinary artists who excelled at a time that wasn’t always welcoming of women,” she says. “We’re very proud to be showcasing their work and sharing it with museum visitors.”
After a long career as an artist, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington died Oct. 4, 1973, in Redding. She is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, the Bronx, next to her husband, Archer Milton Huntington, who died on Dec. 11, 1955.
Upon their deaths, Anna and Archer gifted their home to the state of Connecticut. It is now Collis P. Huntington State Park, named for his father. And it’s still home to two of her beloved animal statues, which still watch over the land.