John Gregory

John Gregory was born in England and came to America as a youth. He was president of the National Sculpture Society in New York and a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome. Gregory believed that sculpture should be integrated with architecture, and that cities should be filled with public art for everyone to enjoy. In one lecture to the American Institute of Architects, he predicted that the “streets will lose their present character and become canyons of brass and color.” In the 1930s he carved large relief panels for the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington that show scenes from nine different plays.