Biography of Sculptor Edmond Shumpert
Statue of Olympic champion Jim Thorpe as football player by Eupora sculptor. Photo by Nancy Jacobs
Artist Edmond Shumpert was born in West Point, Mississippi, in 1942. For most of his career he worked in California. In 2000, Shumpert moved to Eupora, Mississippi, where he lives with his Russian-born wife.
Shumpert produces about fifteen to twenty life-sized sculptures and smaller pieces a year in his studio, which is a 20 by 50 metal building with a foundry.
After studying at the Art Center in Pasadena, California, Shumpert spent four years as a medical illustrator at UCLA’s Brain Research Institute, studying the structure of muscles and learning about human anatomy while preparing himself for his profession as a sculptor
Some of his most famous works include Sitting Bull, Johnny Weissmuller (the two-time Olympic swimming champion who was later Tarzan in twelve movies), Jim Thorpe (the Native American athlete who won Olympic awards which were later stripped from him), Duke Kahanamoku (another Olympic gold medal winner).
The Kahanamoku statue is in the public lounge of Honolulu International Airport. Shumpert has also done another well-known surfer known as the Ultimate Challenge statue in Huntington Beach, California, 1976.
In Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, there is a statue of Thorpe created in 2007. The statue depicts Thorpe as a football player. A second statue, dedicated in 2011, shows Thorpe throwing a discus. The Thorpe memorial also includes an abstract sculpture, The Spirit of Thunder and Lightning, that was dedicated in 1998.
Sculpture of Jim Thorpe as discus thrower by Edmond Shumpert. Photo by Nancy Jacobs
Shumpert created a bronze sculpture of Mississippi State’s mascot bulldog named TaTonka. That statue was done in 2008 and is on display at the university’s campus. It is a favorite place for many fans to take photos.
Shumpert has won many awards and his sculptures are displayed at Disney World in Huntington, California; Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania; Honolulu, Hawaii; Mississippi State, and many other places.
Shumpert’s hobbies include surfing in California, making archery bows from bodark trees, and restoring old cars.
Plaque at Jim Thorpe, PA, listing Edmond Schumpert as sculptor in third line. Photo by Nancy Jacobs.
Related Websites
- http://www.stockteam.com/hb_ultimate.html has a photograph of the Utimate Challenge.
- https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-05-12-1994132206-story.html explains the controversy over the memorial surfer statue for Mike Chester.
- https://www.msstate.edu/state-spotlight/2008/05/edmond-shumpert-worky-tatonka-sculpture/ has a photograph and information about the sculpture of TaTonka, the Mississippi State mascot by Edmond Shumpert in 2008.
- http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMDT7J_AE_Toots_Minvielle__Honolulu_HI has photo of Minvielle at Honolulu International Airport.
- https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jim-thorpe-monument
- http://ctmonuments.net/2012/04/jim-thorpe-memorial-jim-thorpe-pa/
- http://www.stockteam.com/hb_
ultimate.html has a photograph of the Utimate Challenge. - https://www.baltimoresun.com/
news/bs-xpm-1994-05-12- 1994132206-story.html explains the controversy over the memorial surfer statue for Mike Chester. - https://www.msstate.edu/state-
spotlight/2008/05/edmond- shumpert-worky-tatonka- sculpture/ has a photograph and information about the sculpture of TaTonka, the Mississippi State mascot by Edmond Shumpert in 2008. - http://www.waymarking.com/
waymarks/WMDT7J_AE_Toots_ Minvielle__Honolulu_HI has photo of Minvielle at Honolulu International Airport. - https://www.atlasobscura.com/
places/jim-thorpe-monument - http://ctmonuments.net/2012/
04/jim-thorpe-memorial-jim- thorpe-pa/