3rd Sculpture International

Ellen Phillips Samuel was a member of the Fairmount Park Art Association and a supporter of many cultural activities in Philadelphia.

When she died in 1913, she left the bulk of her estate in trust to the Art Association, specifying that the income be used to create a series of sculptural monuments “emblematic of the history of America.” When these funds became available upon the death of her husband in 1929, the Art Association appointed a planning committee, which decided that the Samuel Memorial should express major ideas and spiritual forces as well as chronological developments in American history.

To identify sculptors, the committee organized three international exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The exhibitions contributed not only to the Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial but also to the general awareness of contemporary sculpture throughout the Philadelphia area.

It showed 70 of the sculptors seated on the staircase of the museum's Great Hall and surrounded by a number of their works.