Albert Stewart

Who was Albert Stewart?

Albert Stewart was an American sculptor born in Kensington, England.

He arrived in America in 1908 and was orphaned shortly thereafter. Through the intervention of a wealthy benefactor, Edwin T. Bechtel, Stewart was allowed to pursue his art studies at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design and the Art Students League of New York, staples for young and impoverished sculptors of the day. Upon completing his studies, Bechtel helped him obtain some needed commissions.

Dr. George Frederick Kunz, vice-president of Tiffany & Co., also assisted him, and after his death in 1932, in his will, he bequeathed to "Albert T. Stewart, a friend and sculptor," five shares of non-par capital stock in Tiffany & Co.

During World War I, he went to Canada and joined the Royal Air Force. When he returned after the war, he worked as an assistant to both Frederick MacMonnies and Paul Manship.

During the 1930s he worked as a Works Progress Administration artist. Throughout his career Stewart frequently was employed to create architectural sculptures. In 1939, he was appointed head of the sculpture program at Scripps College in Claremont, California at the invitation of Millard Sheets.