New York Custom House[edit]

Grafly modeled two of the colossal figures for the façade of the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom
House in Manhattan, New York City. His allegorical figure of England (1903–07) depicts a
young Queen Victoria dressed in armor, holding the wand of Hermes and accompanied by the
shield of St. George and a ship's wheel. [33] His allegorical figure of France (1904–07) depicts a
goddess crowned with a laurel wreath, holding a sceptre, a sheaf of wheat and a bronze
statuette representing the Fine Arts, and accompanied by a Gallic rooster and the ancient
god Dusios.[34] Both figures were carved in limestone by the Piccirilli Brothers.[35]
Meade Memorial[edit]

General  George Gordon Meade Memorial (1915-27), Washington, D.C.

The most prestigious commission of Grafly's career was the Major General George Gordon
Meade Memorial (1915–27), a monument for the National Mall in Washington, D.C.[36] General
Meade (1815–1872) had been commander of the decisive Union victory at Gettysburg, and the
memorial was the gift of Pennsylvania to the nation. [37] It was originally installed south
of Pennsylvania Avenue, between 2nd and 3rd Streets NW[37]—a site now mostly covered by
the Capitol Reflecting Pool.[38] This was opposite and slightly north of the Ulysses S. Grant
Memorial.
On January 21, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson signed a joint resolution of Congress creating
the federal commission for the Meade Memorial. [39]:43 On November 23, 1915, the commission
chose Grafly as the sculptor and Simon & Bassett (later Simon & Simon) as the architects for the
project.[39]:44 Grafly's sculpture program went through several iterations before it was granted
preliminary approval by the D.C. Commission of Fine Arts, three years later. [39]:44 His design mixed
the literal, the allegorical and the fantastical, and was granted final approval in January 1922. [39]:45
Preliminary model for the Meade Memorial (1915-25).

The memorial features eight figures grouped in a circle. [40] The primary figure of General Meade,
dressed in his Civil War uniform, faces south. He is flanked by six nude allegorical figures
– Loyalty, Fame and Energy on the west side; Chivalry, Progress and Military Courage on the
east side – representing qualities that Grafly "believed were necessary for the character of a
great general".[37] Facing north is the dark angel of War, "unchanged since war first ravaged the
world".[39]:8 He wears a helmet, breastplate and cape, and before him stands a knightly sword,
ready to be taken up when necessary. "War... holds in his grim clutch two memorial tablets [on
which are listed Meade's military battles]. His wings, in long sweeping curves, stretch toward the
standard which Loyalty holds... The side groups are thus outlined against the ominous shadow of
the wings of War."[39]:8 Loyalty and Chivalry remove General Meade's "cloak of battle".
"Loyalty also raises aloft over Meade's head a standard [ (Legion eagle) ] of wreaths and
garlands, in commemoration of great achievement." [39]:8
The Piccirilli Brothers carved the figures from white Tennessee marble. [37] The cylindrical base is
gray granite, and the stepped circular platform is Milford pink granite. [37] The memorial was
dedicated on October 19, 1927. [37]
The Meade Memorial was dismantled in 1969, to make way for excavation of the 3rd Street
Tunnel under the National Mall and construction of the Capitol Reflecting Pool. [37] Following
fourteen years in storage, the memorial was restored, and reinstalled on the entrance plaza of
the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse in 1983, one block northwest of its original
site.[37]
Pennypacker Memorial[edit]

Major General Galusha Pennypacker (1921-34), Philadelphia, completed by Albert Laessle

Grafly was commissioned to create a memorial to Major General Galusha

Pennypacker for Logan Square, Philadelphia. A courageous Civil War soldier, Pennypacker had
been promoted to general at age 22.[41] Grafly's concept was to depict him in the prime of his
manhood—as a burly, bare-chested Roman general, flanked by tigers and straddling a chariot-
like cannon. Grafly invited his former student Albert Laessle to model the tigers, and worked on
the project, 1921–26, before setting it aside to concentrate on the Meade Memorial. [2]:119 In 1934,
five years after Grafly's death, Laessle completed the Pennypacker Memorial based on his
designs.[2]:119

Other honors[edit]
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts awarded Grafly its 1899 Converse Gold Medal of
Honor "for distinguished services to art and to the Academy". [42] The National Sculpture Society
awarded him its 1905 J. Q. A. Ward Prize.[43] At its 1913 annual exhibition, PAFA awarded him
the first Widener Gold Medal for Sculpture for his portrait bust of Thomas Anshutz.[6]:220 The
Philadelphia Water Color Club awarded him its 1916 Lea First Prize (for drawing). [44] The National
Academy of Design awarded him its 1919 Watrous Gold Medal, for his portrait bust of Childe
Hassam.[45] The Chicago Art Institute awarded him its 1921 Potter Palmer Gold Medal[46] and the
Concord Art Association awarded him its 1922 Medal of Honor, both for his portrait bust of Frank
Duveneck.[47]
Grafly was a founding member of the National Sculpture Society (1893), served on its council,
and was later elected a Fellow.[48] He was elected an associate member of the National Academy
of Design in 1902, and an academician in 1905. [45] (Robert Henri painted Grafly's NAD diploma
portrait.)[45] He was a member of the Philadelphia Art Club, the Architectural League of New York,
the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and other arts organizations.[3]

Personal[edit]
Grafly married Frances Sekeles of Corinth, Mississippi, on June 7, 1895. They had one daughter,
Dorothy (1896–1980), born in Paris during his sabbatical from PAFA. The Graflys lived at 2140
N. 12th Street, Philadelphia, and he had a studio at 2200 Arch Street.
Except for his sabbatical in 1895–96, Grafly taught at PAFA from 1892 to his death in 1929.
Among his students were sculptors Eugene Castello, Nancy Coonsman, George
Demetrios, Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, Walker Hancock, Charles Harley, Albert Laessle, Paul
Manship, Eleanor Mary Mellon,[49] Louis Milione, Albin Polasek, Dudley Pratt, Lawrence Tenney
Stevens, and Katherine Lane Weems.
In 1905, Grafly bought property in Lanesville, Gloucester, Massachusetts, and built a house and
studio that he named "Fool's Paradise". [2]:119 Favored PAFA students were invited to visit and use
his studio. Following the 1917 death of sculptor Bela Pratt, Grafly taught (additionally) at
the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.[45] He made "Fool's Paradise" his residence year-
round, and commuted to Philadelphia or Boston by train. [50]
Grafly's protégé, Walker Hancock, considered him "the pre-eminent instructor of sculpture in this
country", and came to PAFA in 1920 specifically to study under him. [51]:21 Hancock won awards for
his work as a student, two traveling scholarships and, after graduation, the 1925 Prix de Rome in
sculpture. In April 1929, on the day he returned to Philadelphia from the American Academy in
Rome, Hancock heard the news—Grafly had been struck by a hit-and-run driver the night before.
[51]:68–69

During the ensuing days, even though he was gradually failing, we had the opportunity to talk
about things that concerned him. Two things were very much on his mind. He asked me to make
sure that the wreath behind the head of General Meade in the Meade Memorial in Washington
would be freshly gilded. His other worry was that the landscaping around his statue of James
Buchanan in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, had not been carried out. He wanted me to see that this
was done.
In the period of his hospitalization and suffering, Grafly told Mr. [John Andrew] Myers [Director of
PAFA] that he wanted me to take his place as instructor of sculpture at the Pennsylvania
Academy. He lived only two weeks after the accident. [51]:68–69
Hancock was among those who eulogized Grafly at his memorial service. [51]:68–69 The pall bearers
at his funeral included former students Albert Laessle and Albin Polasek; and artists Hugh
Breckenridge, Edward Redfield, Robert Henri and Albert Rosenthal. [2]:119
Dorothy Grafly became an art critic and author. Her 1929 biography of her father, The Sculptor's
Clay: Charles Grafly (1862–1929), was reissued by Wichita State University in 1996. [7]

Legacy[edit]
The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts's collection includes about twenty of Grafly's bronzes.
The Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University possesses more than two hundred of his
works, mostly plaster casts, a bequest of Dorothy Grafly Drummond (the artist's daughter).

Selected works[edit]

Vérité (1904), Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis.

 Aeneas and Anchises (1893), Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware.[52] The

sculpture depicts Aeneas carrying his aged father, Anchises, out of the burning city of Troy.
 The Vulture of War (1895–99), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.[53]
 The Symbol of Life (1897), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.[54] The young man leans on a scythe; the young woman holds an orb from
which grows a stalk of wheat.
 From Generation to Generation (1897–98), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [55] A youth and an old man walking side by side past a winged
zodiac clock.
 Smith Memorial Arch, West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
o Bust of Admiral David Dixon Porter (1898–1901)[56]
o Bust of John B. Gest (1901)[57]
o General John F. Reynolds (1901–02)[8]
 Fountain of Man (1901), Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, New York.
 In Much Wisdom (1902), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.[58] A nude, helmeted
goddess stands with a snake draped over her shoulders, looking into a hand mirror.
 Vérité (Truth) (1904), Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri.
 Mother and Child (1905, cast in bronze 1989), Charles Grafly Sculpture Garden, Wichita
State University.[59]
 Maidenhood (1906), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.[60] An anatomical study, it
was part of Grafly's exhibit at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. [2]:132
 U.S. Custom House, Manhattan, New York City, Cass Gilbert, architect.
o Allegorical figure of England (1903–07)[33]
o Allegorical figure of France (1904–07)[34]
 Ideal Head of a Woman (1908), Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University.[61]
 The Oarsman (1910), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.[62] Modeled at Grafly's
Lanesville studio, probably as an anatomical study, it was part of his exhibit at the 1915
Panama-Pacific Exposition.[2]:136
 Pioneer Mother Monument (1913–15), Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California.[63]
 James Buchanan (1924–28), Buchanan Park, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. [64]
 Major General George Gordon Meade Memorial (1927), E. Barrett Prettyman Federal
Courthouse, Washington, D.C.[37]
o Head of War (1921), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City. [65] Another
cast is at the Art Institute of Chicago.[66]
o Head of Chivalry (1927), Smithsonian American Art Museum. [67][68]
 Major General Galusha Pennypacker Memorial (1921–34), Logan Circle, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.[41] Albert Laessle completed the monument from Grafly's designs.