Sculptor and artist John S. Conway was born 21 February 1852 in Dayton, Ohio. Conway
studied under Conrad Diehl at the Art Institute in Chicago, working there until
approximately 1871 when the Chicago fire destroyed his studio and his prospects. He
also studied at the Ecole Julien and at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, France.
During the 1870s and early 1880s, Conway resided in Milwaukee and became known for
his portraiture, exhibiting his work in New York. In 1880, he created a mural for
the Chamber of Commerce building (now the Mackie Building) entitled “Agriculture and
the Industries Bringing Their Tribute to Milwaukee.” The canvas mural hangs above
the trading room’s entrance and depicts and allegorical scene of industry,
agriculture, and commerce with mythological figures harvesting grain, forging iron,
and gathered around a stock-ticker. This mural is the only original artwork in that
room.
Conway traveled throughout Europe in the 1880s and 1890s. In the early 1880s he
settled in Rome and married Agata Meloni. They had four children: George (1885 –
1967), Etheldreda (1887 – 1900), Mario (1889 – 1962), and Robert (1899 – 1962).
While living in Italy, he received the commission for the Milwaukee Soldiers’
Monument. This bronze sculpture, titled “Victorious Charge” was a tribute to those
who had fought for the Union in the Civil War. The piece was created in Rome and
shipped to Milwaukee in 1898.
He returned to the United States with his family in 1902. In 1904, Conway completed
“Oklahoma,” for the St. Louis Exposition as part of the Colonnade of States.
Sculptors were commissioned to create 20 foot high draped seated figures symbolic of
one of the states or territories of the Louisiana Purchase, which was the theme of
the exhibition, and suggesting something of its history or industrial achievement.
Conway died 25 December 1925 in Tenafly, New Jersey.
