Katharine Lane Weems, circa 1915 / unidentified photographer.
Sculptor Katharine Lane Weems was born into a wealthy Bostonian family on February 22, 1899. After studying art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts from 1918 to 1922, Weems became one of the most highly-recognized animal sculptors of her era.
Katharine Weems with ‘Dolphins of the Sea’, ca. 1975 / unidentified photographer.
Her observations of animals, as seen through her meticulous sketches, underscore her dedication to representing an animal’s biological makeup. In doing so, she conveyed their physicality in stunning reality.
Sketchbook, 1913-1915
Weems’s work can be viewed throughout the Boston area, from the Lotta Crabtree Fountain on the Charles River Esplanade to the Dolphins of the Sea at the New England Aquarium. She donated a collection of 30 bronze animal sculptures to Boston’s Museum of Science, demonstrating the connections between sciences and the arts.
Elephant frieze on the biology lab at Harvard, not before 1933 / Paul J. Weber, photographer.
Her largest project was a commission for the Biological Laboratories at Harvard University, now the Harvard University Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB). The project included carved bronze doors at the lab entrance, a series of wildlife friezes, and two large bronze rhinoceros scultpures standing guard on either side of the doors of the lab.
Katharine Lane Weems at work on ‘Rhinoceros’, circa 1935 / unidentified photographer.
Named Bessie and Victoria, these rhinoceros sculptures were modeled after two female rhinoceri Weems studied at the Bronx Zoo. Both are composed of bronze and weigh 3 tons each. After years of work, Bessie and Victoria were unveiled on May 12, 1937. Despite this great accomplishment, Weems’s work was given little local fanfare.
Katharine Weems being introduced at the unveiling ceremony for her rhino sculptures at Harvard, 1937 May 12 / Harvard Film Service, photographer.
Weems continued to sculpt and create art throughout her long life. She later married her longtime friend Fontaine Carrington “Canny” Weems in 1947. Katharine Lane Weems died in Rockport Massachusetts on February 11, 1989.
Katharine Ward Lane Weems seated with a dog, circa 1935 / unidentified photographer.
Images and captions come from the collection Katharine Lane Weems papers, 1865-1989. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Since the 1970s, summer evenings in Harvard Square have featured a vibrant street theater scene. In 1985, a major subway construction project that extended the Red Line subway to Alewife was completed, resulting in major changes above ground, including wider sidewalks and small plazas, that created even more opportunities for busking (Lotman, Harvard Square, An Illustrated History Since 1950, 2009). Performers ranged from jugglers, mimes, tightrope walkers, and fire eaters, to musicians and singers. This dynamic street performance culture continues today.
In the early 1990s, one performer stood out as a unique and remarkably gifted entertainer. From 1993 to 1996, Igor Fokin enchanted people with his life-like marionettes that mesmerized young and old alike as they danced, played, and interacted with the audience. Igor hand-carved his wooden puppets who ranged from dancing skeletons, a witch sweeping up the sidewalk, to a puppet named Doo-Doo with a fluted nose, and Satchmo playing his trumpet to the song Mack the Knife. Each puppet, measuring less than 12 inches, was elaborately detailed and truly came to life under Igor’s nimble handling, when climbing up someone’s leg, petting someone’s nose, or sitting on a child’s lap.
Born in Russia and a graduate of St. Petersburg Theatrical Institute, Igor moved to Cambridge in the summer of 1993 with his collection of puppets, and by the end of the summer he was one of the most popular performers. Igor put on several shows a day, including passers-by in the late afternoon and culminating in the evening with a large audience who purposely came out to see his show. He was always refining his craft and developing new characters for his street performances which he referred to as the “most democratic art form” (Schmidt, The Puppeteer, 2003).
Igor performed in Harvard Square until his untimely death in 1996 at the age of 36. Today, at the corner of One Brattle Square, where Igor enjoyed performing the most, a bronze replica of Doo-Doo by sculptor Konstantin Simun is perched on a bollard, a permanent reminder of Igor’s joyful imagination and the delight he brought to everyone lucky enough to experience his magical world.
Sources
Lotman, Mo. Harvard Square, An Illustrated History Since 1950. Abrahms, 2009.
October might be almost over, but it’s still American Archives Month — and in celebration of all things archive-y, we will be highlighting some of our fabulous archives volunteers. This week we would like you to meet Kathleen Fox.
Kathleen organizing correspondence from the Ellis and Andrews Real Estate Collection
Kathleen began volunteering at the Historical Commission in October 2017, and says she is “driven by curiosity.” We asked Kathleen a few questions to learn more about her volunteer work, and her life outside of the Historical Commission.
What collections have you worked on at the Commission? Tell us about them.
I began with processing a very large collection of maps and plans in the E.F. Bowker Collection, creating a spreadsheet listing each map or plan, the streets it pertained to, the owner, the surveyor, the date, etc. Bowker was a mainstream and very successful civil engineer/surveyor in Cambridge. This was interesting work because of the light it shed on real estate development in the city, and because it was the first collection I had processed.
Plan of St. Mary’s Parochial School, E.F. Bowker CollectionBow and Arrow Streets, E.F. Bowker Collection
What is your academic and career background?
I received my B.F.A. in 1967, and went to work as a secretary in the Mabel Brady Garvan Collection of American Art at the Yale University Art Gallery. After two years in New Haven I moved to Boston where I worked briefly for an architecture firm, and then as an administrative assistant in the Department of Humanities at MIT. Following that, after two years at a private research commission I spent the remainder of my working life at the Harvard School of Government (1980-2009), ending up as Assistant Dean for Teaching Support.
At the same time as I was working in academe I was a practicing artist, and taught watercolor painting at Brookline Adult Education. In about 1970 I was co-founder of an art studio in Boston next to Symphony Hall – – the Kaji Aso Studio. The studio gave classes in watercolor and oil painting, calligraphy and ceramics. It also had a poetry program and a music program. The Studio continues to this day. I drifted away in the mid-80’s , but continued my work as an artist while I worked in academe to support myself.
Somewhere along the line in the late 1990s I drifted once again – this time away from making art as I got more and more interested in history.
Do you volunteer anywhere else?
I volunteer in the Historical Collections at the Mount Auburn Cemetery and also at the Massachusetts Historical Society. I do whatever needs doing – – mostly background research and elementary preservation work.
What do you like to do in your free time?
After researching the history of my own 1893 house I got interested in researching the history of equally old houses on my block in Arlington. This haphazardly expanded – – and now people commission me to research the history of their homes. I am now working on my 29th history . Most have been in Arlington, but I have done two in Cambridge and a couple in surrounding suburbs. In the spring and summer I am also in the garden as much as possible.
What is the best (or your favorite) thing you’ve found in an archive?
At the CHC right now I am processing the papers from the real estate firm of Ellis and Andrews [old finding aid here; new one in progress]. The collection spans the period from c. 1893 to c. 1935. These real estate transactions provide a very interesting and enlightening view of the cultural and financial values of the time, not to mention the growth of the city of Cambridge in the late 19th and early 20th century . This and the Bowker collection together have completely changed the way I view the cityscape as I walk around Cambridge.
Correspondence to Mr. Melledge, Ellis and Andrews Collection
At the Massachusetts Historical Society there have been many memorable moments – – finding a flyer for a slave auction, listing the slaves by name; holding a book printed in 1504 (the oldest thing I have ever held); and a letter from a local Massachusetts businessman to President James Garfield offering to send him the water bed he had developed for good health – – in 1881!! At Mount Auburn there have been more interesting finds than I could possibly list.
Thank you, Kathleen!
Stayed tuned for another installment of our Focus On: CHC Volunteers series.
