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1. Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Col

   1. My Mother

      Charles Grafly

      My Mother, 1892

      Cast bronze

      
      

      Gift of Dorothy Grafly Drummond and Charles H. Drummond

      
      

      Pennsylvanian sculptor Charles Grafly received much admiration in his time. He rose to artistic prominence from humble beginnings. The son of a Quaker farmer, he developed an early appreciation for art and apprenticed himself to a stone carver at age 17. From there, he began taking classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts before studying in Paris. He returned to the United States, teaching at his alma mater.
      
      While studying in France, he established his mature style. Grafly looked at Classical, Greek and Roman, sculpture for inspiration, and often used literary or mythological subject matter. Grafly’s contemporaries particularly admired his portraits for their expressive and lifelike qualities. Wichita State University was fortunate enough to receive the contents of Grafly’s studio from his daughter in 1971. WSU owns more than 300 works, including the original plasters from which his sculptures were made. The University continues to expand its Grafly collection, and WSU sculpture students benefit from helping to cast the works.