Rogers, John

Rogers, John (b Salem, Mass., 30 Oct. 1829; d New Canaan, Conn., 26 July 1904). American sculptor. Trained as a machinist and self-taught as an artist, he became highly successful with a novel type of sculpture he made his own. His ‘Rogers Groups’, as they came to be called, were mass-produced plaster pieces, mainly showing sentimental scenes of rural or small-town life—characteristic titles are The Checker Players (1859; his first major group) and Weighing the Baby (1876). His subjects also covered topical events, including the Civil War, so his parlour ornaments were a kind of three-dimensional equivalent of Currier & Ives prints. They were produced in a studio-cum-factory that he established in New York in 1859 and could be bought in general stores or by mail order. He made about 80 groups in all (he always designed and modelled them himself), and produced an average of about 1,000 copies of each. Several imitators marketed similar products, but none of them matched his success. Rogers also did a few portrait busts and more ambitious pieces, notably the equestrian statue of Major-General Reynolds (1883) in front of the city hall in Philadelphia.