Vincent Schofield Wickham

Vincent Schofield Wickham is recorded as having studied at Massachusetts College of Art and Design and Bayard Rustin Educational Complex.

As a sculptor, Wickham was sought out and commissioned for projects. He struck the die for plaster casts commemorating the 160th anniversary of the American Whig Society, and the 50th anniversary of the graduation of Woodrow Wilson from Princeton University. These casts were unveiled at the Whig-Wilson Anniversary Celebration, held at Princeton by the American Whig–Cliosophic Society, on December 11, 1929. George Washington Ochs-Oakes (George Oakes), founder of Current History Magazine (and brother of New York Times founder Adolph Ochs), attended the unveiling. In a letter dated December 13, 1929, Ochs-Oakes congratulates Wickham "on the enthusiasm with which your medal was received at Princeton. I was down there the other night and everybody admired it very much." Following the commemoration, Wickham sent several plaster replicas of the medallion to Whig Society members who attended Princeton during Wilson's tenure as professor, and president of the University. These recipients include: George S. Cunningham, of Mission Hospital, Dumaguete, Philippine Islands; Zeph. Chas. Felt (graduated Princeton 1879), a real estate and loan magnate in Denver, CO; Sumner Walters (graduated 1919), of Church of the Redeemer, St. Louis, MO; Dr. Jose Romero (had Wilson as a professor in 1892 and 1895) of Washington, DC; John L. Porter, Pittsburgh businessman, philanthropist and arts advocate; H.C. Adler, Manager of the Chattanooga Times. In a letter dated Jan. 20, 1930, poet Rev. Seth Russell Downie, chaplain of the Pennsylvania State Fireman's Association, writes an especially prosaic letter to Wickham, about finding the "wee hangerhook" of the medallion "too much below rim to admit of use over nail or hook. But, my good sir, this merely gave me chance to use a nifty orange and black ribbonbow to neatly carry out the atmosphere of Old Nassau 'gainst the nooky spot on the homey wall of the living room." In closing, Rev. Downie praises Woodrow Wilson in heroic fashion: "At this very time, our beloved idealist will command the world's acknowledgement as one who clearly envisaged the great society of Nations among whom Justice should reign & peace prevail. In every corner of the earth — our idol will be blessed. The excoriated will be exalted. That will be glory enough for us — My dear sir — glory and good news." 1929 was a busy year for Wickham, as he was also commissioned by the American Geographical Society for a medallion commemorating aviator and Antarctic explorer Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd. Six years later, in 1935, Wickham sent the original model of this medallion to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Inspired by words as well as images, Wickham's poem, "A Bookplate Speaks," originally published in the New York Times, anthropomorphizes steel engraving printmaking, and showcases the artist's facility with language: • Although begot of polished, graven steel, • Entombed within thy lines do I conceal • A soul; 'twere better were I ruby red, • Perhaps, instead of black, so dead, • For then, his every heartbeat I might feel • And breathe and speak and tell the ardent zeal • With which he studied, mastered every line • Embodied in my quaint, beloved design. • Thus now you well might look and long review • Your bookplate; for the master's hand that drew • This something which is me, for you to hold • He, too, regarded me far more than gold • Search long and well for him whose spirit lies • Within my lines, in raven black disguise.