Background
George Bissell was born on February 16, 1839, at New Preston, Connecticut, United States, to Hiram Bissell, a quarryman, and his wife, Isabella Jones.
George Bissell was born on February 16, 1839, at New Preston, Connecticut, United States, to Hiram Bissell, a quarryman, and his wife, Isabella Jones.
Bissell's education was received partly at the Northville Academy and partly at the Gunnery, Washington, Connecticut. The latter school he entered when he came of age, intending to prepare for college. In 1876 he was a pupil at the English Academy in Rome.
After teaching in a district school for a few months, he enlisted as a private in the 23rd Regiment of the Connecticut Volunteers, in which he served 1862-1863. When his company was mustered out he became a paymaster in the United States Navy (1863 - 1865). After the war he joined his father and brother in the marble business in Poughkeepsie, New York. Without any previous training he took to making designs and models for monuments. His first commission (1871) was a life-size marble figure of a fireman for the Fire Department of Poughkeepsie. In 1875 he went to Europe, studying in Paris, Florence, and Rome. At Paris, either at this time or later, he worked under Aimé Millet and Tabar. On his return to Poughkeepsie he did a number of portrait busts. From 1878 dates the colossal granite figure for the John C. Booth family monument.
From 1883 to 1896 his time was largely divided between Paris and Poughkeepsie. Among his works dating from this period are: "Soldiers' Monument" (1883 - 1884) and "Col. John L. Chatfield" (1887), both in Waterbury; "Gen. Gates" on the Saratoga Battle Monument at Schuylerville, New York; "Lincoln" (1893), Edinburgh, Scotland; "Standard Bearer, " Winsted, Connecticut; "Union, " Salisbury, Connecticut; "Chancellor John Watts, " Trinity Churchyard, New York; "James Kent, " in the Congressional Library. All these works show his realistic tendency, though in non-portrait figures, such as those on the Waterbury monument, his realism is somewhat tempered. In 1896 he settled in Mt. Vernon, New York, and in the same year did the "Abraham de Peyster" for New York City, a much reduced variant of which is in the Metropolitan Museum, where also is a marble bust of Mary Justina de Peyster.
Though continuing to live at Mt. Vernon until his death, he kept a studio in Florence from 1903 to 1905 and from 1907 to 1909. In 1898 he made the "President Arthur, " in New York; in 1899 the navy group on the colonnade of the arch temporarily erected on the occasion of Admiral Dewey's return; and in 1900 "Lycurgus" on the Appellate Court building. For the Pan-American Exposition he made "Hospitality, " and for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition "Science" and "Music. " At this latter exposition he received a silver medal. The Elton Memorial Vase in Waterbury at the entrance of Riverside Cemetery, where are a number of other monuments by him, was made in 1905. Among his remaining works many are widely scattered: "Lincoln" at Clermont, Iowa; "Burns and Highland Mary" (a relief) at Ayr, Scotland; a colossal bust of Admiral Dahlgren on the Civil War Memorial in Philadelphia; "Samuel Sloan" in Hoboken, New Jersey; and "John Starin" in Fultonville, New York.
Though George Bissell turned to sculpture somewhat late, his output, during his long life, was considerable. During his career he won many commissions, especially of historical figures from the early years of America’s independence. His best known works are a bust and a larger statue of President Abraham Lincoln.
Bissell was a charter member of the National Sculpture Society.
A genial, kindly person, in temperament and appearance, George was affectionately termed "Père Bissell" by the younger sculptors who knew him, and in his family the same traits made him beloved.
Bissell married, on August 16, 1865, Mary E. Welton of Waterbury.
