Henry Bradley Plant

Henry Bradley Plant

Olin Levi Warner

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

After studying in Paris, Warner returned to New York in 1872, and had difficulty earning a living as a sculptor. He decided to reapply for his old job as a telephone operator at the Southern Express Company in Augusta, Georgia. Upon hearing the artist's reasons for wanting employment, Henry Bradley Plant (1819-1899), the president of the company, commissioned Warner to execute this bust. The lively treatment of the face and hair, as well as the textured surface of the clothing reflect the sculptor's Beaux-Arts training.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.