Did you know that this was the studio of renowned sculptor, Anna Hyatt Huntington, who created the World War I Memorial in Legion Square featuring the impressive sculpture of 
Joan of Arc on horseback? The horse was modeled after a magnificent Percheron that was part of the team at the East Gloucester fire station. Huntington’s niece posed astride a barrel, as she modeled the figure of Joan, first nude, then in costume. Anna Hyatt Huntington (1876-1973) became one of the best-known and most prolific sculptors of the 20th century. The studio is the first house on the left after you cross the causeway on Washington Street heading toward Annisquam Village.
Anna Hyatt Huntington
Good Morning Gloucester 
I Asked Joey this morning who the hell is EJ Khan? No introduction on the blog. But so far the posts have been great and informative! keep up the great work EJ! Whoever you are. 🙂
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Hi Paul,
I’m happy to know that you are enjoying my posts. If you look at my little “About E.J.” bio thing, I say “Hi everyone out there in GMG land. My name is Ellen “E.J.” Lefavour (a/k/a “Ejay Khan” – the pseudonym I used during my years as a political activist artist, while married to spoken word poet, Joda Khan).” I am known by people around the country and the world from my website, as Ejay Khan. I am equally well known by my given name, Ellen J. Lefavour. During my years as a political activist artist, I visually and poetically spoke out very strongly against the political system that I felt was not working for the benefit of Americans and humankind. I did so under my pseudonym to have a shield of protection out there on the worldwide web against those who might take strong offense at what I had to say. These days, since moving to Cape Ann, I have returned to my original state as an artist, that of wishing to spread only beauty, peace and a positive message, so have returned to using my given name and nickname, “E.J.” If you want more info about me, you can go to http://www.khanstudiointernational.com/aboutus.htm. Hope to have a chance to meet you one of these days soon. I also enjoy your work and your posts.
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More fun facts about that house and the older one further out on the point. Alpheus Hyatt who was Anna’s father bought the house in 1880. It was already a very old house. I think the plaque on the side of the house was put there in 1830 or so saying it was a really old house. Alpheus Hyatt started a marine biological lab in the house but then 8 years later was convinced by some Harvard faculty to move it to Woods Hole. It is now named the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory. One of his other kids was art historian A. Hyatt Mayor. A Mayor still owned the house in 1986 and was editor of Antique Magazine. (The house was full of antiques by then.) It has now been sold out of the family but the 2 plus acres is not to be divided.
Behind the house was the biggest Beech Nut tree I have ever seen. Not sure if it is still there anymore.
Anna also made another identical statue to the one in Gloucester. It is along the Hudson on the upper west side in Manhattan.
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Hi Paul,
Thanks for the additional history. I wondered about that house on the point, but it is clearly marked “no trespassing”, so I didn’t wander in. Fascinating info about her father and Woods Hole Marine Biological Lab. The Joan of Arc statue in Gloucester is actually a replica, of the original, that I believe is the one in NY. I see you work at Harvard, do you by any chance know my sister, Judy Wilburn, who works at the Press?
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Don’t know her. I am over at Harvard Med School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. My brother and I rented that house in the summer of 86. Found a lot of Alpheus stuff in the attic and got the MBL to contact them before their 1988 anniversary. It’s now all down at the Woods Hole Historical Society.
I’ve wanted to sneak in and take a photo of the plaque on the house. Maybe if I flash my GMG Press pass they wont’ have me arrested.
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I want a GMG press pass! That would get me into all sorts of places! I suppose if I can get a GMG bumpersticker, that might suffice. I went by the pier one day to try to get one, but Joey was gone.
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Great that there is so much interest in Anna and our “Joannie-on-the-Pony.” There are a few facts that I’d like to share as well. The house pictured with this post was a painter’s studio before Anna took it over as her own studio. It had a porch facing the cove and a northern skylight. It has been significantly remodeled and enlarged by the current owners. The house across from it was the family home, known as Seven Acres. The plaque behind the house was designed by Anna’s sister Harriet and was placed there in the 20th century, can’t remember the date off hand. A. Hyatt Mayor was the son of Harriet and it was his son, so that would be Alpheus Hyatt’s great-grandson, who was an editor at Antiques Magazine and who inherited the house. The family homestead is considered a historical landmark and fortunately has restrictions on what can happen to it. The Marine Biological Laboratories, where a summer school and research was conducted was housed in a separate building than the family home for most of its existence on Cape Ann. The statue on NYC’s Riverside Drive was the first of five monumental versions of Joan, the second being Gloucester’s own. The others are located in the Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; the Field of Abraham, Quebec; and Blois, France.
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Great additional info on Anna and family, and I just love, “Joannie-on-the-ponie”! Any idea who the painter might have been that had the studio before Anna? What a great spot for a studio.
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Great info on Alpheus Hyatt. Because he was a neo-lamarkian he has been sort of forgotten. Not like he thought Darwin was awful just did not believe in randomness causing the inheritable feature. Up in the attic was a signed copy of Darwin’s origin of the Species which was sent to the Woods Hole Historical Society. The book had Alpheus’s notes written in the margins. None of them said “this sucks!” I met A. Hyatt Mayor when we rented it in 1985. (I was off a year.)
Do you know where the other building stood that actually housed the laboratory? I’ve read it was on “River Rd” but there don’t know where that road is. [edit] Must be dense. River Road is on the other side where the Market Restaurant is. The sloop that went out for specimens was docked on the side of the building supposedly. I have edited his wikipedia page and would like to fill in some gaps. Anyone know which building on River Road? Is it still there?
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LOL! I was hoping you’d show up, Rebecca. You are the expert!
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GMG PRESS PASS!? I plan on pulling mine, the press pass that is on New Years Eve, at the “LIU” To see Doc vincent play. I hope it works. If not I’ll be bummin’.
Goodluck EJ! Getting one out of Joey.
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What is the LIU?
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The new Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport. A nickname is still being worked out and I do not think “the Liu” as in a british bathroom, is going to cut it. Others have said proper pronunciation is Shoo in Loo, as in footwear in the toilet. That might not make it either.
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Hi Paul,
Thanks. Actually I have been there and it is a beautiful performance space. I saw the last of the Gloucester Film Festival series, Metropolis (a really cool B&W film from 1927) accompanied by the Alloy Orchestra, in October. I can see where a nickname for the space that everyone can grab onto could be a little challenging. Any time I’ve mentioned the Shalin Liu Performance Center to someone, they look at me blankly (unless they’ve been there), until I expand it by saying “the new performance space in Rockport”, then they light up with recognition. You’re right – telling someone that you’re going to the Liu or the shoo in loo does sound a little odd, and having to say the whole name is too much of a mouthfull.
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Love the expression “going to the Liu” for the record.
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I’m new to this year-old discussion. I tripped over it when researching possible activities for a group (members of the Gaskell Society) coming to the greater Boston area next September. I am a retired librarian who, when I was working on my MA in Art History, wrote a paper comparing Huntington’s equestrian figures of Joan of Arc and her El Cid Capeador. There are actually five castings of Joan – the one on Riverside Drive and 93rd Street in New York, one in front of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, one in Quebec on the Plains of Abraham, one in Blois, France and, most relevant to this list, the oneGloucester. Each has a unique base. It is really an exceptional sculpture. In addition to these five heroic-size treatments, she has smaller versions – one of which is at Brookgreen Gardens. A WONDERFUL place to visit. Check it out on the Web (http://www.brookgreen.org/brookgreen_overview.cfm) .
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I looked in vain for the original Hyatt-Huntington statue of Joan of Arc in Riverside Park NYC. Finally I found it. It is at the foot of W 93rd St. on a little trangle called Joan of Arc island. It is beautifully sited and placed on a nice neogothic plinth. Take the subway #1,2,or 3 to 96th Station on Broadway to get there. RDP
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If you get back there again, it would be great if you could take a photo of it and send it so we could put up a comparison of the two. Would be interesting to see them side by side.
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I responded to this line of communication almost four years ago. The five castings are, themselves, identical. The difference is in the base. Each is different. I have photographs of three of the five which I would gladly share if you contact me directly. A copy of the miniature recently went up for sale via auction last year. The projected low was $8,000 and the projected high was $12,000. It went for $23,000!
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A feature of the 93rd St. statue is that the pedestal includes stones from the tower in Rouen where Jeanne D’Arc was imprisoned. Not that this adds to Huntington’s wonderful and impressive sculpture, but still a touching tribute to the statue’s subject.
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I am trying to find any relatives of anny hyatt for a documentary I am making on her
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