The painters preceded the sculptors in the art development of New York. There were here several painters of considerable name before native talent began to exercise itself in the more difficult plastic medium. Nor did New York take the lead in this direction, although foreign sculptors, like Houdon and Ceracchi were early with it, and it has since harbored many sculptors of fame.

It was Philadelphia that gave birth to William Rush, a carver of figure heads for ships who, in his vigorously modeled busts of wood and clay, gave the first indication of the latent possibilities to be expected in native sculpture.

One of the earliest sculptors in New York was an Irishman, John Dixey, who arrived in 1789. He modeled some ideal statuary, such as his "Hercules and Hydra" and "Ganymede," and executed also a figure of Justice for the top of the City Hall. Sculpture, however, hardly became a recognized factor in the progress of native art until about the beginning of the nineteenth century. Even as late as 1816 Trumbull told John Frazee, who had applied to him for advice, that sculpture would not be wanted here for another hundred years. This same Frazee, however, who was originally a stone cutter, produced a number of creditable portrait busts, including those of John Marshall, Daniel Webster, Andrew Jackson and John Jay.

 His bust of John Wells, the noted lawyer (1824), was, it was said, the first one executed in marble of an American. A year or so before Frazee came to New York there was born here one who was destined to step into the front rank of American sculptors. Thomas Crawford, a pupil of Frazee, of Robert E. Launitz, and later of Thorwaldsen, produced a spirited equestrian statue of Washington for Richmond, Virginia, and the impressive figure of Beethoven in the Boston Music Hall, both of which aroused the greatest enthusiasm in Munich, where they were cast, as well as in this country. His style, as exemplified in these works, as well as in his "Orpheus and Cerberus" and the "Indian Chief" was marked by great earnestness of purpose, while his versatility and industry appear to have been equally great. His "Flora" and eighty-seven plaster casts of his works were placed in the chapel at Mount St. Vincent in Central Park.

Henry K Brown is known to New Yorkers by his statues of Washington and Lincoln in Union Square. The first is an impressive piece of work, but the Lincoln figure is not quite so successful. Perhaps his best work is the equestrian statue of General Scott in Washington, District of Columbia, made for the United States Government. He also produced another Lincoln, placed in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, and various portrait busts, his work generally being marked by dignity and earnestness. It is noteworthy that Brown's life almost covers the period of American sculpture from its beginnings to its decided success.

During 1849-57 a young man was working and studying in Brown's studio, who subsequently developed into one of the most vigorous individual and national of our sculptors. Long resident in New York, John Q.A. Ward is represented in this city by seven examples of his work, illustrating several periods of his artistic development. They are "The Indian Hunter" (1864), Shakespeare (1872), Seventh Regiment Memorial (1874), Washington (1883), "The Pilgrim" (1885), William E. Dodge (1885), and Horace Greeley (1890). Emma Stebbins is one of the few women artists represented in this country by public statuary. She designed the large fountain, "The Angel of the Waters," in Central Park, which latter owns also her statue of Columbus. J.W. MacDonald is known by his statue of Fitz-Greene Halleck in Central Park, and the works of Ernst Plassmann are all to be found in the city. The statues of Benjamin Franklin, on printing House Square, of Franklin and Gutenberg on the "Staats-Zeitung building, of Tammany on Tammany Hall, and others, are by him.

The Beethoven bust in Central Park is by Henry Baerer. A Sculptor who chose a very original specialty was John Rogers, whose popularity rests on his statuette groups, executed in an unconventional spirit and illustrating everyday life in both its humorous and pathetic aspects. The statue of Admiral Farragut in Madison Square is by Augustus St. Gaudens, and this, like his ideal figure of Robert R. Randall on Staten Island, and his Lincoln in Chicago, afford evidence of the realistic spirit popular at the time among the new generation of sculptors and expressing itself with simplicity and a thorough command of technical methods.

Olin N. Warner, noted for his ideal subjects, designed the small fountain in Union Square, New York, while the "Still Hunt," in Central Park, is by Edward Kemeys. The portrait busts of Edwin Booth and Lawrence Barrett in the "Players' Club" were designed by Jonathan Scott Hartley. The vigorously modeled and characteristic bust of William Page in the National Academy, was designed by William Rudolph O'Donovan. Launt Thompson is represented by his statue of Napoleon and his busts of Charles L. Elliott and William C. Bryant, in the Metropolitan Museum.

In the decade preceding the close of the century Daniel C. French, F. Edwin Elwell, James E. Kelly, Alexander Doyle, and some others were representative of the "younger element" in the world of sculpture, paralleling the similar element in the world of painting and the allied arts, working in New York with more or less success and showing in their work a strong sympathy with the modern tendencies that had come from abroad. It was in this decade also that successful bronze foundries were established in New York. Before that time all American statuary had to be cast in Paris, Munich, or Rome, but in the closing decades of the last century that necessity became obviated by the notable progress in the art made by firms not only in New York, but in other large cities of the country.

As in painting, so in sculpture, annual exhibitions became the vogue in New York and did a great deal to make known to the public the work of men of talent who would otherwise have remained largely unknown. To take a recent year that was fairly representative of other years, Gertrude V. Whitney's "Paganism Immortal," the nude figure of a man and woman in the style of Rodin, was conspicuous in the Academy exhibition of 1910. Robert I. Aitken's portrait of George Bellows; Augustus Lukeman's "Genius of the Forest"; Victor D. Brenner's portrait of Theodore Roosevelt, and one of Henry Irving by Courtenay Pollock, were among other contributions that attracted attention. In the winter Academy exhibition of the same year D.C. French's memorial to Alice Freeman Palmer, former president of Wellesley College, held the place of honor.

 It represented a woman of noble mien guiding a young girl who held the lamp of knowledge. A fountain figure by S.E. Fry; Robert I. Aitken's portrait of Henry R. Wolcott; Karl Bitter's portraits of Dr. Angell, of the University of Michigan, and of Mrs. Edwin Emerson; J. Scott Hartley's "Fisherman's Luck"; "Bondage," the strong figure of a woman, by C.A. Heber; some small pieces in figurine style, delightful in their grace, by Bessie Potter Vonnoh, and the study of a small girl by Edward Berge, were, perhaps, the best things shown. A special exhibition of sculpture by women showed some clever pieces. Gertrude V. Whitney's "Astor Fountain" for Washington; "A Victory," by Sallie James Farnham/ Janet Scudder's "Sun Goddess" for the Brooklyn Institute and Helen F Mear's portrait heads were among the important contributions. In the same year were unveiled Gutzon Borglum's heroic Lincoln, a seated figure made for Newark; "The White Woman of the Genesee," a woman's figure in Indian dress, for Portage, New York, by Henry K Bush-Brown; and Paul W. Bartlett's figure of "Philosophy" for the New York Public Library facade, who designed also the three other noted figures that look on the passing throngs of Fifth Avenue.

In 1918 a representative exhibition of American sculpture, in content and artistic arrangement the most satisfactory up to that time placed before the public was held at the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Among sculptors represented were J.Q.A. Ward, Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, Frederick MacMonnies, Frank Duveneck, Herbert Adams, Hermon McNeill, Gutzon Borglum, Edward McCarten, Edith Burroughs, Malvina Hoffman, Isidore Konti, Paul Manship, Sherry Fry, Charles Rumsey, Cyrus Dallin, Harry B. Thrasher. An exhibition of the sculptures, drawings and paintings of Mahonri Young gave opportunity for the study of the work of this versatile artist.