John Insley Blair

Olin Levi Warner

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

John Insley Blair (1802–1899) was an American financier and railroad developer who served as director of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad system from its inception in 1852 until his death. The likeness is one of the sculptor’s most successful in the sure modeling, rich textural variation, and powerful evocation of character. The artist faithfully recorded Blair’s physical traits: balding forehead, large-lobed ears, narrow-set eyes, and weathered skin. This bust was one of eleven works by Warner given to the museum by the National Sculpture Society after the sculptor’s untimely death in 1896; the bronzes were cast by Tiffany and Company from his original plasters.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art