By Bruce Kamerling

1999 Hord Exhibit 

Donal Hord Chronology

1902   February 26 – born Donald Albert Horr at Prentice, Wisconsin, son of Riley Merton Horr and Laraire “Laura” Beaudin Horr

1909   parents separate, taken by mother to Victor, Montana, and later to Seattle, Washington; spelling of last name changed

1915   studies watercolor in Seattle

1916   Winter – develops rheumatic fever, permanently damaging heart; Summer – arrives in San Diego on steamship Congress

1917   studies sculpture under Anna Valentien, San Diego Evening High School

1920   meets Homer Dana

1926   September through June 1928 – studies bronze casting at the Santa Barbara School of the Arts with Archibald Dawson and Amory Simons

1928   September through June 1929 – Gould scholarship allows eleven months study in Mexico

1929   Summer – becomes youngest member of the Contemporary Artists of San Diego; Fall – Gould scholarship allows one semester study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts with Walker Hancock and others

1930   Winter – Gould scholarship allows one semester study at the Beaux Arts Institute, New York returning from New York visits father in Lemmon, South Dakota, who gives money to build Pascoe St. studio

1931   Culua receives merit award at the Los Angeles County Museum annual exhibit; Young Maize receives purchase award at the Southern California Art Exhibit of the San Diego Fine Arts Gallery

1932   June 19 – marries Dorr Bothwell in San Diego; makes three month trip to Mexico with Francis Cooke

1933   April – first one-man show, Dalzell Hatfield Gallery, Los Angeles

1934   does first work for government art programs; October 23 – separated from Dorr Bothwell

1935   completes fountain figure for California Pacific Exposition and exhibits Mayan Mask, Tropic Cycle, Young Maize, Man with a Sheaf of Wheat; awarded gold medal for “Sculptural Excellence” at California Pacific International Exposition; July – moves into new studio in Pacific Beach; October – begins writing “Art & Artists” column for the San Diego Sun

1936   August 20 – final divorce from Dorr Bothwell

1939   December 16 – marries Florence Silberhorn Norse in Salome, Arizona

1942   elected Associate of the National Sculpture Society; exhibits five pieces in the “Americans 1942” show at the Museum of Modern Art, New York

1943   February 15 – named Associate of the National Academy of Design; suffers heart attack, urged by doctors to stop sculpture work

1945   receives Guggenheim fellowship to further his work in hard sculpture

1947   Summer – begins teaching at the Coronado School of Fine Arts; receives second Guggenheim fellowship

1948   May 21 – receives Award of Merit Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters

1949   exhibits Spring Stirring at the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Third Sculpture International

1950   May 26 – named member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters

1951   April 25 – named full Academician of the National Academy Design; Fall – begins teaching at the Art Center in La Jolla; December through February 1952 – Thunder exhibited at the National Sculpture Show, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1952   January 21 – elected honorary member of the San Diego Chapter of the American Institute of Architects

1953   June 16 – receives Fine Arts Medal of the American Institute of Architects; October 17 – receives Fine Arts Award of the California Council of Architects

1954   Fall through July 1955 – first trip abroad (London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Egypt, Istanbul, Athens)

1956   commissioned by the American Battle Monuments Commission to a figure for the American Cemetery at Henri-Chapelle, Belgium

1957   May – leaves for Italy to model figure for Battle Monument

1958   January 9 – named Fellow of the National Sculpture Society

1959   designs Industrial Arts Medal for the American Institute of Architects; finishes last stone sculpture Mourning Woman

1960   concrete replica of Guardian of Water sent to Yokohama, Japan, as part of the Sister Cities program, sculptor not consulted about replica idea and disapproves

1962   one of three finalists in the competition for the Stone Mountain Memorial, Georgia Walker Hancock gets commission

1964   receives commission for large trophy figure for the Swedish Swimming Federation – returns to Italy in Spring to supervise casting of figure

1965   finishes last wooden figure Daybreak

1966   June 29 – suffers fatal heart attack before final work, enlarged version of Summer Rain, is cast in bronze

1968   Dana returns to Italy to supervise casting of Summer Rain