War Memorial Auditorium Statues and Belle Kinney

An art protégé, Belle Kinney was only seven when she won first prize in the youth sculpting competition at the Tennessee Centennial Exposition in 1897. At the age of fifteen, she received a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago. When Kinney completed her schooling, she moved to New York and set up a studio in Greenwich Village. There she met and married the Austrian-born sculptor Leopold Scholz in 1921. The pair sculpted many famous works, often times working together. Two of them are here on Tennessee’s War Memorial Plaza.

The first is immediately on your left, near the Tennessee Military Museum entrance. This statue was commissioned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), which was founded in Nashville. Kinney completed the statue in 1926, but its design was not her first choice. Originally, she planned to sculpt a woman standing triumphantly and holding a sword in one hand and a flag in the other with an inscription, “Uphold Our States’ Rights!” But the UDC preferred a more traditional setting for honoring the wartime work of women. So instead, Kinney sculpted this statue with Fame as its center. On one side, she provides comfort to a wounded Confederate soldier with a palm branch—the symbol of triumph and eternal life. On the other, Fame places a wreath on the head of a southern woman. Women played a key role in the wartime South, from assisting with wounded soldiers on battlefields to keeping the farms and plantations running when the men went off to fight. 

Belle Kinney’s second statue was a co-creation with her husband. After World War I ended in 1918, the General Assembly passed legislation for a monument to honor the memory of the more than 3000 Tennessee soldiers who died in the Great War. The north end of the building is used for state offices that is connected to an auditorium on the south end. The large atrium in the middle holds a statue called “Victory” that features Mars, the Greek god of war holding Nike. Completed by Kinney and Scholz, this masterpiece was dedicated in 1933.

Before we leave War Memorial Plaza, here is a fun fact that includes another famous woman. From 1939 to 1943, the Grand Ole Opry was broadcast from the War Memorial Auditorium. Comedian and entertainer, Nashville’s Minnie Pearl joined the Opry right here in 1940, and was a regular performer when the Opry moved to the Ryman Auditorium. 

Continue walking across the plaza toward the State Capitol. Stop before you exit the plaza, and look toward the capitol at the Carmack Statue, your next stop.