James Novelli
American sculptor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Salvatore John Novelli (October 18, 1885 - May 31, 1940) was an Italian American sculptor known for his funeral and war memorials.[1]
Biography
Novelli was born in 1885 in Sulmona, Italy. His family settled in lower Manhattan in New York, and he was raised in a tenement house on Mulberry Street in the Five Points, which became the heart of Little Italy.[2]
In 1903, Novelli returned to Italy to study and graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Rome in 1908.[2] As a student, he earned an honorable mention for his work submitted to the 1906 International Exposition in Paris.[2][3] He participated in the New York competition about "conceptions of war" in 1915.[4]
He later lived in Chelsea and received numerous commissions. After marrying, he lived in Queens, with his wife, Lillian, and son.[2]
His career foundering during the Depression, he worked with the city's monument crew. Novelli committed suicide in 1940.[2][5]
Works
- America Triumphant (1922), Pershing Field, Jersey City Heights, Jersey City[6][7]
- Clayton Point World War I Monument (1928) Clason Point, Bronx[8][9]
- Memorial door DeSalvio mausoleum (1938), Calvary Cemetery, Queens[10]
- Memorial door LaGioia mausoleum (1923), Calvary Cemetery, Queens[11]
- Memorial door Latorraca mausoleum (1938), Calvary Cemetery, Queens[12]
- Rockingham War Memorial (1927-1928), Bellows Falls, Vermont
- Saratoga Monument (1920) Saratoga Park, Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn[5][13][14]
- The Spirit of Flight (1928), Fort Wayne, Indiana[15]
- Victory Memorial Fountain (1929), William F. Moore Park, Corona, Queens (fountain removed, tablet remains)[16][17]
- Winfield War Memorial and Victorious America. (1926) Winfield Plaza, Woodside, Queens[18][19][20]
- Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York), memorials