Rogers, John, 1829-1904

John Rogers (1829-1904) was born in Salem, Mass., and received his education in the Boston public schools. While employed in various jobs he began to model in clay during his leisure hours and in 1858-1859 spent time in Rome studying methods of reproducing clay groups in plaster form. On his return, he went to Chicago where he exhibited, for a charity fair, "The Checker Players," a group in clay that attracted much favorable attention. During the Civil War, he modeled small statuette groups, mostly of war subjects, and afterwards produced what are known as "Rogers Groups," statuary that told a story of immediate popular interest. His career was very successful and it is estimated that at least three thousand copies were sold of the more popular groups.

From the description of Papers, 1854; 1866-1869; 1930s. (American Antiquarian Society). WorldCat record id: 191259760

Sculptor, modeler; New York, N.Y. and New Canaan, Conn.

From the description of John Rogers letter, 1889 Nov. 12. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122553027

Sculptor John Rogers was particularly noted for his small genre and literary group statues. Born in Massachusetts in 1829, he spent most of his childhood in Massachusetts and Cincinnati, OH. Early on he worked as a draftsman and mechanic, but began modeling clay in 1849. In 1858, he went to Paris and Rome to study sculpture, but because he disliked the Neoclassical style, he returned to Massachusetts within a year. After a brief renunciation of art as a profession, Rogers moved to New York City and in 1859 opened a scuplture studio where he produced portrait busts, monumental statues, and humorous "groups" depicting scenes from everyday life in the mid 19th century. He created more than 80 plaster groups, and as many as 12,000 copies could be made from the mold of one group.

He sold approximately 80,000 items during the last 35 years of his career. Rogers was elected to the National Academy in 1863 and retired in 1894 to Connecticut where he lived with his family until his death in 1904.

From the description of Catalogs, advertisements, and photographs, 1863-1887. (Winterthur Library). WorldCat record id: 261227950