Meet three famous sculptors

Ivan Mestrovic

Works: Supplicant Persephone, Job, Croatian Rhapsody, Moses, Socrates and his Disciples, Bust Study for Mother and Child

Mestrovic has more statues on the SU campus than any other artist with six. Many of his sketches, letters and photos are held in SU Archives. Mestrovic, a Croatian artist, came to Syracuse in 1947 and stayed until 1955 as professor and sculptor-in-residence. He played an integral role in forming the Department of Sculpture at Syracuse. While here, Mestrovic worked out of a former barn turned studio on Marshall Street, according to historical documents.

Photo: SU Archives

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Stories of SU statues

Photos & map for 30 statues

Before coming to SU, Mestrovic was imprisoned for three and a half months by the Croatian Revolutionary Movement. He kept sketching in prison and moved to the United States in 1947 for his position at Syracuse. Mestrovic was the first living artist to have a one-man show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He won the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award of Merit in 1953 and is known in the art field as the greatest sculptor of religious subjects since the Renaissance. 

Anne Hyatt Huntington

Works: Lincoln on Horseback, Diana

Huntington was an American sculptor born in Cambridge Massachusetts in 1876. She exhibited work from 1906-1910 throughout Europe and the United States, gaining notoriety for her large equestrian statues and animal pieces. She married Archer Milton Huntington, whose father founded the Southern Pacific Railroad and the two used their wealth in many philanthropic pursuits. One of these directly benefited the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The Huntington's purchased and donated 15,000 acres in the central Adirondacks to ESF. Huntington’s "Young Abe Lincoln on Horseback" has been on the campus since 1963. Her Diana sculpture is on the third floor of Bird Library. Legend has it any student who rubs the paw of the dog in the statue will do well on their upcoming test.

Rodger Mack

Works: Delta Gama, Winter, Fall, Syra I, and The Oracle’s Tears

Mack was the first director of SU’s School of Art and Design from 1982-1991. He died in 2002 of Melanoma at age 63, leaving behind a legend on campus and in more than five large-scale works, most cast in bronze. Mack told the New Times “{Bronze} can be obstinate, it can fight you all the way, and it can dare you to do certain things. That’s why I appreciate working with it. It has been my most favorite material for several years.” He described his sculpture as drawings come to life, although bronze traditionally commemorates the dead. Mack helped create the Comstock Art Facility and continued working even as he battled cancer.