Joseph Davidson [commonly known as Jo Davidson] was born in New York City on 30 March 1883. In the early 1900s he studied at the Art Students League in New York City and took lessons with Hermon Atkins MacNeil (1866-1947) before moving to Paris where he attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1907. Following his return to New York he met the sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875-1942 who was to become one of his patrons. In 1911 Davidson began holding solo exhibitions of his work, mainly of his portrait busts. In addition to his busts he also completed commissions for statues and memorials. his preferred medium was terra-cotta, bronze and marble. Among individuals whom Davidson created busts or statues were Charlie Chaplin, Joseph Conrad, Arthur Conan Doyle, Albert Einstein, Dwight D.
Davidson was awarded the National Academy of Design's Maynard Prize in 1934, and in 1944 was elected an Associate of the National Academy of Design. He died in Tours, France on 2 January 1952.
Text source: Arts + Architecture Profiles from Art History Research net (AHRnet) https://www.arthistoryresearch.net/
