Donald Harcourt De Lue was an American sculptor, best known for his public monuments.
De Lue studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and later served as an assistant to sculptors Richard Henry Recchia and Robert P. Baker. This was followed by five years in Paris where he continued his study, while working as an assistant to various French artists. He returned to the United States where he was engaged by Bryant Baker. In 1940 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1943.
In 1941, De Lue won a competition to create sculpture for the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse Building in Philadelphia, and from then on he stopped being an assistant for other artists and only worked on his own commissions and creations.
De Lue's works can be found in many museums across America. Like many other sculptors of his generation, he executed architectural works. He was also a prolific designer of medals and medallions.
De Lue taught at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York City during the early 1940s. In 1960, he won two Henry Hering Awards, given by the National Sculpture Society for outstanding collaboration between a sculptor and an architect, for the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, and for the Stations of the Cross at the Loyola Jesuit Seminary in Shrub Oak, New York.
In 1967, De Lue won the American Numismatic Society's J. Sanford Saltus Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Art of the Medal, known as the Saltus Award.
Beginning in 1964, for many years De Lue was a Trustee of Brookgreen Gardens, as well as Chairman of the Art Committee. In 1962 Donald De Lue meets artist Kenneth Hari (15 years old ) who would work on his own art alongside Delue in his studio.
In his later years, De Lue and his wife Naomi (who served as a model for many of his statues) lived in the Leonardo section of Middletown Township, New Jersey, a small shore town with a bayside beach and long-distance view of lower Manhattan. De Lue cited the 23rd Psalm and the words "He leadeth me beside the still waters..." as the inspiration by which he arrived in Leonardo from New York City. Although he continued to maintain his NYC apartment, it was in his Leonardo studio that many of his largest statues were made. One of the last was a commission by a private individual intended for the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. The bigger-than-life statue of Bowie, Travis and Crockett was considered "too violent" by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas for placement in a sacred chapel. A compromise was sought, that the statue be installed outside the building in the large courtyard rather than inside. DeLue and his patron, a wealthy Texan, preferred the statue be installed in the interior space for which it was made. Unfortunately, the impasse was never resolved in De Lue's lifetime.
Donald and Naomi De Lue are buried in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey.
The Alchemist (1940), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Justice (1941), Robert N. C. Nix, Sr., Federal Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Law (1941), Robert N. C. Nix, Sr., Federal Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
George Washington as Master Mason (1959–60), New Orleans Public Library.
Boy Scout Memorial (1963), President's Park, Washington D.C.
Rocket Thrower (1964), Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, New York City.
The Mountaineer (1971), West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia
Mississippi State Monument (1973), Gettysburg Battlefield.
Unisphere reflecting pool,(1963) The Rocketman, as the park workers call him. Bronze,Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
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