Melvin Cummings of Salt Lake City, was an active and talented wood-carver and sculptor who worked not only on furniture and animal and wildlife subjects but also portrait busts, statues, and monuments as well. He died in 1936.

In 1897 Cummings moved to San Francisco. He studied at the San Francisco school of Design; became a Paris student from 1899 to1903; and was noted for his collaboration with Arthur Putnam on various sculptural projects before he was through.

An apprentice wood-carver on the Salt Lake Temple project in the late nineteenth century, Cummings created other work on view locally during the same period. For example, the Salt Lake City firm of Allaway, Hoock and company exhibited a large furniture piece designed and executed by the young man to the order of W.H. Walker in 1897.

Biography adapted from Artists of Utah.

Melvin Cummings of Salt Lake City, was an active and talented wood-carver and sculptor who worked not only on furniture and animal and wildlife subjects but also portrait busts, statues, and monuments as well. An apprentice wood-carver on the Salt Lake Temple project in the late nineteenth century, Cummings created other work on view locally during the same period. For example, the Salt Lake City firm of Allaway, Hoock and company exhibited a large furniture piece designed and executed by the young man to the order of W.H. Walker in 1897. Then Cummings moved to San Francisco late in the same year. He studied at San Francisco late in the same year. He studied at the San Francisco school of Design; became a Paris student (1899-1903); and was noted for his collaboration with Arthur Putnam on various sculptural projects before he was through.

Biography courtesy Artists of Utah.

Newspaper Article

"Three-Dimensional Utah: Works By Artists Past And Present Offer A Visual And Tactile Treat At USU Museum." The Deseret News, August 25, 1996.

Books

Davenport, Ray. Davenport's Art Reference. Ventura, CA: Davenport's Art Reference, 2001.

Dunbier, Lonnie P. ed. The Artists Bluebook: 29,000 North American Artists. Scottsdale, AZ: AskART.com, 2003.

Falk, Peter Hastings. Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America. Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1999.

Falk, Peter Hastings. Who Was Who in American Art: Compiled from the Original Thirty-four Volumes of American Art Annual--Who's Who in Art, Biographies of American Artists Active from 1898-1947. Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1985.

Hughes, Edan Milton. Artists in California, 1786-1940. San Francisco, CA: Hughes Pub. Co., 2002.

Mallett, Daniel Trowbridge. Index of Artists, International-Biographical; Including Painters, Sculptors, Illustrators, Engravers and Etchers of the Past and the Present. New York, NY: Peregrine Smith, 1948.

Olpin, Robert S., William C. Seifrit, and Vern G. Swanson. Artists of Utah. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1999.

Opitz, Glenn B. ed. Dictionary of American Sculptors: "18th Century to the Present," Illustrated With over 200 Photographs. Poughkeepsie, NY: Apollo, 1984.