Everett DuPenAmerican Sculptor

The Studio

The Artist at Work

His daughter remembered the studio as his kingdom and sanctuary: “The smells are still vivid to me — pipe tobacco, wet clay, wood, stone dust. Serene classical music played in the background. So much to look at: hundreds of sketches, art postcards, beach stones, shells, maquettes.”

These photographs span six decades of work — from building armatures at Yale in the 1930s to the cluttered West Seattle studio where he sculpted into his nineties.

Early Career

1930s
Young Everett DuPen at USC, working on a standing figure in clay, circa 1933
c. 1933At the University of Southern California, working on a standing figure in clay.Courtesy Cascadia Art Museum
DuPen building the armature for The Eternal Struggle at Yale, circa 1936
c. 1936Building the armature for the enlargement of The Eternal Struggle at Yale. The small plaster maquette is visible on the stand beside him.

Mid-Career

1950s–60s
DuPen carving a walnut relief with hammer and chisel
c. 1950sCarving a walnut relief with hammer and chisel, a full row of carving tools laid out on the bench.
DuPen standing next to a tall carved wooden saint figure
c. 1950s–60sWith a carved wooden saint figure for one of his church commissions. The piece towers over him.
DuPen working on a large plaster relief of a seated figure
c. 1950sWorking on a large plaster relief panel of a seated figure.
DuPen on a ladder working on the plaster model for the Fountain of Creation
c. 1960–61On a ladder in the studio, working on the full-size plaster model for the Fountain of Creation before it was cast in bronze for the 1962 World’s Fair.

Later Years

1970s–90s
DuPen sculpting a small reclining form under a single desk lamp
c. 1960s–70sSculpting a small reclining form under a single lamp — the concentration and intimacy of solitary studio work.
Close-up of DuPen examining a small figurative bronze
c. 1970s–80sStudying a small figurative bronze, completely absorbed in the details.
DuPen with hands on a plaster figure in progress
c. 1970s–80sHands on a plaster figure in progress.
DuPen in his studio surrounded by bronzes and tools, holding a figure at arm's length
c. 1980s–90sIn the studio surrounded by small bronzes, tools, and the accumulated materials of a lifetime — holding a figure at arm’s length.