Born: 29 January 1871, United States
Died: 29 October 29 1932
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Tho. A. R. Kitson
The following is republished from the National Park Service. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Theo Ruggles Kitson, one of the most prolific female bronze sculptors in America, was born in 1876 in Brookline and showed an early aptitude for sculpture. In her teens, she became the protégé of Henry Hudson Kitson, a well-known American sculptor from England. He had studied in Paris and encouraged the young Ruggles to do the same. The two were married in Paris in 1893.
In 1899, Ruggles Kitson won honorable mention at the Salon des Artistes Francais. She went on to win a bronze medal at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. The Kitsons separated in 1909, and Ruggles Kitson moved to Farmington, where she maintained a studio until her death in 1932.
Attributing sculptures to Ruggles Kitson and her husband becomes very confusing because of a similarity in their styles. Part of the difficulty also lies in the fact that the Gorham Foundry in Rhode Island continued to cast reproductions from the molds after Ruggles Kitson’s death. Two Massachusetts examples of Ruggles Kitson’s sculptures are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The first, pictured here, is a likeness of Thaddeus Kosciuszko in the Boston Public Gardens.
Erected in 1927, the sculpture portrays the Polish hero of the American Revolution holding the plans for the future West Point. The second is one of a series of “Hikers” commemorating Spanish-American War veterans that are found throughout the United States. Erected in the 1920s in the Waltham Town Common and Statuary, the second example of Ruggles Kitson’s work featured in this itinerary is a fine bronze-cast of these familiar foot soldiers. Ruggles Kitson’s allegorical and equestrian figures are found in many communities in Massachusetts.
The following is excerpted from Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company.
Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson, an American sculptor, the wife and most talented pupil of Henry Hudson Kitson. Later she studied with Dagnan-Bouveret in Paris, became one of the few women members of the National Sculpture Society, and at the time she received honors at the Paris salon, was the only American woman to have gained such distinction.
The monumental statues which are her chief productions are spirited, robust, and simple both in conception and execution. Among the best are the Massachusetts State Monument at Vicksburg; The Minute Man of ’76 at Framingham, and various soldiers’ monuments.
The following is excerpted from A Woman of the Century, edited by Frances E. Willard and Mary A Livermore, published in 1893 by Charles Wells Moulton.
RUGGLES, Miss Theo Alice, sculptor, born in Brookline, Mass., 27th January, 1871. As a child she took delight in modeling in clay, expressing an admiration for form and beauty that attracted the attention of her parents to her talent. At the age of fourteen she modeled a “Reclining Horse” in snow in the door-yard of her home, and crowds of visitors went out to Brookline from Boston to see the wonderful work of the little girl. In 1886 she was placed under the instruction of Henry Hudson Kitson, the sculptor. In the autumn of 1887 she went to Paris, France, with her mother, where she remained during the following three years, working and studying under the guidance of Mr. Kitson, pursuing at the same time the study of drawing under Dagnan-Bouveret, Blanc and Courtois. Her first work, a bust of an Italian child, made in Boston, was exhibited, together with a bust of “A Shepherd Lad,” in the Paris Salon of 1888, where each succeeding year during her stay her work was readily accepted. In the International Exposition of 1889 she received honorable mention for a life-sized statue of a boy, entitled “Aux Bords de l’Oise,” and the same honor was accorded to her in the Paris Salon of 1890 for her ” Young Orpheus.” She had the distinction of being the youngest sculptor to whom any award had ever been granted. She has won two medals from the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics’ Exposition of Boston, in which city she continues her art work. She is the daughter of C. W. Ruggles, a well-known business man of Boston, and she lives with her parents in the Back Bay. She is descended from an old English family, who settled in America in the seventeenth century. An industrious, unpretentious worker, quiet, swift, modest, she has the character of a true artist
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