Harry Edward Stinson

Who was Harry Edward Stinson?

Harry Edward Stinson was a noted 20th century sculptor.

He grew up in Winfield, Iowa. In 1918 he enlisted in the US Army and was discharged in 1919. In 1920 he attended the University of Iowa, Iowa City and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1921. He studied art at the Cummings School of Art, Des Moines, Iowa, and then at the National Academy of Design, and Art Students League of New York between 1926-28. In 1923, he was a resident painter member of The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation at Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York.

He traveled throughout Europe to study art in 1930 and then returned to the University of Iowa, where he was the first in the nation to receive a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1940. While he was working toward this degree he participated in several WPA projects, which included a statue honoring Chief Blackhawk in 1934 at Crescent Park, Blackhawk Lake, Lakeside, Iowa; a memorial to Lewis and Clark, in 1936, in Council Bluffs, Iowa; and sculptured walls in the Iowa Union Building of the University of Iowa in 1940, honoring the sons and daughters of Iowa who served their country in military service. A model of the statue of Chief Blackhawk was exhibited in a place of honor in the Iowa Building at the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition. While in Iowa he worked with artists Grant Wood and Jean Charlot.