US UCLA Library Special Collections, A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575. Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu. Phone: (310) 825-2442
Description
Access to this collection is generously supported by Arcadia funds. Born in Hilo, Hawaii on Aug. 16, 1899. Ada May Sharpless was raised in Santa Ana, CA and graduated from USC. Her art studies began in Los Angeles at Otis Art Institute and continued in Paris in the late 1920s with Antoine Bourdelle. She was active in Los Angeles until the early 1940s. Sharpless' work can also be found at General Hospital (L.A. County-USC Medical Center) and at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. Ada May Sharpless standing next to her Art Deco style sculpture "Nuestra Reina de Los Angeles" (or, Queen of the Angels, or popularly known as Lady of the Lake). The completed work is 14 feet high and is made of cast stone. It was funded through the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) in 1934. The statue was originally located at the tip of the peninsula that juts into the north end of Echo Lake (now the site of pumping station). The Lady of the Lake now stands on the eastside of the lake near the Boathouse. The sculpture was negatively reviewed by Arthur Miller in the Los Angeles Times, January 13, 1935, pg. A6. Miller quotes from Sharpless's letter written in response, defending her work, in the Los Angeles Times, January 27, 1935, pg. A8. Text from negative sleeve: Sharpless, Ada May. Artist, 1935
Type
Image
Format
b&w nitrate negative
Identifier
uclamss_1429_2881 ark:/21198/zz002ckt7g
Language
No linguistic content
Subject
Arts Sculpture--California--Los Angeles People Public sculpture--California--Los Angeles Public Works of Art Project (U.S.) Sharpless, Ada May, 1899-1988
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