.|left De Lue was born in
Boston, Massachusetts. He studied at the
Boston Museum of Fine Arts and later served as an assistant to sculptors
Richard Henry Recchia and
Robert P. Baker. This was followed by five years in
Paris where he continued his study, while working as an assistant to various French artists. He returned to the United States where he was engaged by
Bryant Baker. In 1940 he was elected into the
National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1943. In 1941, De Lue won a competition to create sculpture for the
U.S. Post Office and Courthouse Building in Philadelphia, and from then on he stopped being an assistant for other artists and only worked on his own commissions and creations. De Lue's works can be found in many museums across America. Like many other sculptors of his generation, he executed architectural works. He was also a prolific designer of
medals and
medallions. De Lue taught at the
Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in
New York City during the early 1940s. In 1960, he won two
Henry Hering Awards, given by the
National Sculpture Society for outstanding collaboration between a sculptor and an architect, for the
Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in
Colleville-sur-Mer, France, and for the
Stations of the Cross at the Loyola Jesuit Seminary in
Shrub Oak, New York. In 1967, De Lue won the
American Numismatic Society's
J. Sanford Saltus Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Art of the Medal, known as the
Saltus Award. Beginning in 1964, for many years De Lue was a Trustee of
Brookgreen Gardens, as well as Chairman of the Art Committee. In his later years, De Lue and his wife Naomi (who served as a model for many of his statues) lived in the
Leonardo section of
Middletown Township, New Jersey, a small shore town with a bayside beach and long-distance view of lower Manhattan. De Lue cited the
23rd Psalm and the words "He leadeth me beside the still waters..." as the inspiration by which he arrived in Leonardo from New York City. Although he continued to maintain his NYC apartment, it was in his Leonardo studio that many of his largest statues were made. One of the last was a commission by a private individual intended for the
Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. The bigger-than-life statue of
James Bowie,
William B. Travis, and
Davy Crockett was considered "too violent" by the
Daughters of the Republic of Texas for placement in a sacred chapel. A compromise was sought, that the statue be installed outside the building in the large courtyard rather than inside. DeLue and his patron, a wealthy Texan, preferred the statue be installed in the interior space for which it was made. Unfortunately, the impasse was never resolved in De Lue's lifetime. Donald and Naomi De Lue are buried in
Manalapan Township, New Jersey at the cemetery at Old Tennent Presbyterian Church. ==Selected works==