# Bonnie MacLeary

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{{short description|American sculptor}}{{Infobox person
| name               = Bonnie MacLeary
| image              = BonnieMacLeary1924.png
| alt                = A white woman wearing a black beret and a black dress with a v-neckline
| caption            = Bonnie MacLeary, from a 1924 publication
| birth_date         = January 2, 1886
| birth_place        = San Antonio, Texas
| death_date         = February 2, 1971
| death_place        = Lakeland, Florida
| occupation         = Sculptor
}}

'''Bonnie MacLeary''' (sometimes '''McLeary,''' which is how she signed her work<ref>Hendricks, Patricia D. and Becky Duval Reese, A Century of Sculpture in Texas: 1889-1989, University of Texas, Austin,  1989 p. 68</ref>) (January 2, 1886<ref>{{Cite web |last=Curlee |first=Kendall |date=April 1, 1995 |title=MacLeary, Bonnie |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/macleary-bonnie |access-date=2022-08-23 |website=Texas State Historical Association}}</ref> – February 2, 1971) was an American sculptor.  Some sources give her date of birth as 1890, 1892,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=145I323CJ9839.7020&profile=ariall&uri=link=3100006~!202756~!3100001~!3100002&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ri=1&source=~!siartinventories&term=MacLeary%2C+Bonnie%2C+1892-1971%2C+sculptor.&index=AUTHOR|title=SIRIS – Smithsonian Institution Research Information System|publisher=|accessdate=7 March 2016}}</ref> or 1898.<ref>Opitz, Glenn B, Editor, Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Book, Poughkeepsie NY, 1986</ref>

== Early life ==
MacLeary was born in [San Antonio, Texas](/source/San_Antonio%2C_Texas), the youngest of four children of [James Harvey MacLeary](/source/James_Harvey_MacLeary) and his wife, Mary; at six she began creating sculptures with clay from the banks of the [San Antonio River](/source/San_Antonio_River). At her parents' divorce she was taken in by her grandparents, [Valentine](/source/Valentine_Overton_King) and Helen King, who took her to [New York City](/source/New_York_City) in 1901.<ref name="tshaonline.org">{{cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fmcdh|title=MACLEARY, BONNIE|publisher=|accessdate=6 March 2016}}</ref>  She began studies there with [William Merritt Chase](/source/William_Merritt_Chase)<ref name="Dearinger(U.S.)2004">{{cite book|author1=David Bernard Dearinger|author2=National Academy of Design (U.S.)|title=Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design: 1826–1925|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHH45aYubp4C&pg=PR20|year=2004|publisher=Hudson Hills|isbn=978-1-55595-029-3|pages=20–}}</ref> before traveling to Paris, where in 1903 she was studying with [William Adolphe Bouguereau](/source/William_Adolphe_Bouguereau) at the [Académie Julian](/source/Acad%C3%A9mie_Julian).  She also studied [miniature painting](/source/Portrait_miniature) in [Siena](/source/Siena) before returning to New York.  There she began studies with [James Earle Fraser](/source/James_Earle_Fraser_(sculptor)) at the [Art Students League of New York](/source/Art_Students_League_of_New_York) in 1912, choosing to pursue her career as a sculptor.  Around 1910 she met Ernest Kramer while visiting family in [Waco](/source/Waco%2C_Texas), and soon thereafter they married; they would live in Dallas, St. Louis, and New Mexico over the next few years, and visited her family in [Puerto Rico](/source/Puerto_Rico), where many of them had moved, many times. When Kramer went to fight in [World War I](/source/World_War_I), she established a studio in New York City.<ref name="tshaonline.org" />

== Career ==
[[File:Ben Milam statue - panoramio.jpg|thumb|MacLeary's statue of [Ben Milam](/source/Benjamin_Milam) in San Antonio, Texas was commissioned for the 1936 Texas Centennial.]]
The showing of two of her sculptures at the [National Academy of Design](/source/National_Academy_of_Design) in 1921 marked the beginning of MacLeary's career, and in 1924 her sculpture ''Aspiration'' was acquired by the [Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art).  She suffered a studio fire in 1927, which destroyed many pieces; at some point during this time in her life she also divorced her husband.  She quickly recovered from the loss of her workspace, and soon began winning prizes for her work.<ref name="tshaonline.org" /> She became an associate member of the National Academy of Design in 1930; her diploma portrait in the collection is by [Jerome Myers](/source/Jerome_Myers).<ref name="Dearinger(U.S.)2004" />  Other organizations to which she belonged include the [National Sculpture Society](/source/National_Sculpture_Society), the [National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors](/source/National_Association_of_Women_Painters_and_Sculptors), the [Allied Artists of America](/source/Allied_Artists_of_America), the [American Artists Professional League](/source/American_Artists_Professional_League), the [Society of Medalists](/source/Society_of_Medalists), and the [Southern States Art League](/source/Southern_States_Art_League).  During her career she would show at the [Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts](/source/Pennsylvania_Academy_of_the_Fine_Arts) and the [National Arts Club](/source/National_Arts_Club), among other places.  From the 1940s she focused on [ceramic](/source/ceramic) work.<ref name="tshaonline.org" /> She resettled in [Washington, New Jersey](/source/Washington%2C_New_Jersey) in 1955.<ref name="Dearinger(U.S.)2004" /> In 1964 she and her second husband, James McGahan, moved to Florida.

MacLeary's most popular works were statues of women and children, many designed to be displayed in gardens; so successful were they that she crafted small versions to be sold in stores.<ref name="tshaonline.org" /> [Molly Spotted Elk](/source/Molly_Spotted_Elk) served as the model for a number of her pieces.<ref name="McBride1997">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EtDwH7IGJF8C&pg=PA305|title=Molly Spotted Elk: A Penobscot in Paris|author=Bunny McBride|date=1 September 1997|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-2989-1|pages=305–}}</ref> MacLeary rarely depicted male figures, although she did create a few memorials to men during her career.  These include [Benjamin Rush Milam](/source/Benjamin_Rush_Milam) (for the [Texas Historical and Landmarks Association](/source/Texas_Historical_and_Landmarks_Association)), [A. Joseph Armstrong](/source/A._Joseph_Armstrong) (at [Baylor University](/source/Baylor_University)), and [Luis Muñoz Rivera](/source/Luis_Mu%C3%B1oz_Rivera) (at the [University of Puerto Rico](/source/University_of_Puerto_Rico)).  Also in Puerto Rico is a [World War I](/source/World_War_I) memorial, ''Victory''; other public commissions include ''Free Ireland'' (1923), in [Dublin](/source/Dublin), and the Rotan Memorial at the Antoinette Memorial Home.<ref name="tshaonline.org" /> Another memorial is in Brooklyn's [Green-wood Cemetery](/source/Green-wood_Cemetery), while a relief dedicated to the women of the [Confederacy](/source/Confederate_States_of_America) is in [Montgomery, Alabama](/source/Montgomery%2C_Alabama).<ref name="Dearinger(U.S.)2004" /> The [Witte Museum](/source/Witte_Museum) in her birth city contains examples of her work, as do numerous private collections;<ref name="tshaonline.org" /> the Metropolitan Museum of Art sold ''Aspiration'' in 2015 for $8,750.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://artsalesindex.artinfo.com/auctions/Bonnie-MacLeary-5796594/Aspiration-1921|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306094632/http://artsalesindex.artinfo.com/auctions/Bonnie-MacLeary-5796594/Aspiration-1921|url-status=usurped|archive-date=March 6, 2016|title=Aspiration by Bonnie MacLeary – Blouin Art Sales Index|publisher=|accessdate=6 March 2016}}</ref>  The [San Antonio Museum of Art](/source/San_Antonio_Museum_of_Art) is home to two of her works, ''Blessed Damozel'' and ''Fountain Figure of a Water Nymph.''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=14GM31925A620.6372&profile=ariall&uri=link=3100006~!202756~!3100001~!3100002&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ri=1&source=~!siartinventories&term=MacLeary%2C+Bonnie%2C+1892-1971%2C+sculptor.&index=AUTHOR|title=SIRIS – Smithsonian Institution Research Information System|publisher=|accessdate=7 March 2016}}</ref>

==Death==
She died at Lakeland General Hospital in [Lakeland](/source/Lakeland%2C_Florida) after a short illness. Her cremated remains were interred in Oakside Cemetery in [Zephyrhills](/source/Zephyrhills%2C_Florida).<ref name="tshaonline.org" />

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:MacLeary, Bonnie}}
Category:1971 deaths
Category:Artists from San Antonio
Category:Sculptors from Texas
Category:20th-century American sculptors
Category:Students of William Merritt Chase
Category:Académie Julian alumni
Category:Art Students League of New York alumni
Category:Sculptors from New York (state)
Category:1886 births
Category:20th-century American women sculptors

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bonnie MacLeary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_MacLeary) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_MacLeary?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.