National sculpture society

The oldest organization of professional sculptors in the United States, the NSS is composed of master sculptors and architects dedicated to excellence in idealized figurative sculpture in classical realist or Beaux-Arts style.Daniel Chester French, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Richard Morris Hunt, and Stanford White founded the NSS in 1893, the same year as the Chicago Exposition. The first president of the National Sculpture Society was John Quincy Adams Ward.The Chicago Exposition was a turning point in collaboration between architects and sculptors and launched the success of many NSS members. The purpose of the organization was and remains to open public and private markets. Members were quite successful in dominating public commissions as long as they had architectural work and a nation that wanted to honor heroic individuals with their style of work. However members were not very successful with the private market because most homes did not have space for large sculptural works.Credit:Donald Martin Reynolds, "Masters of American Sculpture" www.nationalsculpture.org