Wells, Charles S.

Charles S. Wells was born June 24, 1872 in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of James Wells and Jane McArthur Smith. Wells came to the United States in either 1886 or 1887 when he was 14 years old. He was educated at the Pratt Institute School of Art in Brooklyn, New York (1893), the Art Students League of New York (1893-1896 and 1900-1901), the National Academy of Design in New York (1897), and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris (1902-1903).

While studying in New York Wells was also employed as an assistant in the studios of a number of important late 19th and early 20th century American sculptors. From 1893 to 1898 he was employed as one of Karl Bitter's assistants. In Bitter's studio Wells worked on decorative elements for the Biltmore residence of George Vanderbilt, on exterior carvings for the Philadelphia railroad station, on the statues adorning the Triumphal Bridge at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, and on figures for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. From 1901 to 1902 Wells was employed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens where he assisted on the equestrian statue of General Sherman and on decorative features for the Boston public library building. After this time Wells enlarged sketches for Henry Merwin Shrady and created a number of scale models for the architectural firm of Carrere and Hastings. In 1909 Wells worked with George Julian Zolnay in St. Louis, Missouri on a commemorative relief of the 1904 World's Fair.

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