Thomas Eakins and Anshutz, then an assistant instructor, included the most precise anatomical research and inculcated a truthful sincerity which later led to a proper assimilation of the teachings of the Academie Julian and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts where in Paris from 1888 to 1890 he worked.
It was in this latter year that he made his first Salon appearance with a "Dædalus," now in the permanent collection of his Alma Mater. In this early work is shown remarkable mastery of the medium and the beginnings of a poetry, sculptural rather than literary, since developed to a very high degree.
In the early nineties, Mr. Grafly returned to the Pennsylvania Academy as instructor in sculpture, a position which he still holds. His continuous teaching has made impress for good upon the rising generation of native sculptors and has served to preserve in his own work a bright hopefulness which comes always from association with youth and the beginnings of things. Indeed, his great success as teacher is due to his having remained always a student.
No full statement of his accomplished works is here possible. Since the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, where he was medalled, he has generally been a distinguished figure in all the major exhibitions of American sculpture.
To the enrichment of the Buffalo and St. Louis expositions he made notable contributions. Writing of the former in his "History of American Sculpture," Lorado Taft, a fellow-craftman, and a critic at once sympathic and discerning, says:
"While the sculptural decorations of that most charming of fairs were as a rule well suited to their purpose, and contributed much to its beauty, there were few features of striking originality. The one which stands out in memory as of permanent value, as a lasting contribution to the art of this country, is Mr. Grafly's 'Fountain of Man.'"
Of purely architectural work he has executed but little, yet his figures of France and Great Britain which do really adorn the façade of the New York Custom House, inspire the wish that he had done more. Here, again, comes craft to the aid of art. Knowledge early acquired, as we have seen, of the possibilities and limitations of stone, made possible figures which fit the requirements of their placing with placid dignity making no vain appeal, as do some of their companions, unfortunately, for individual pedestals from which to shed the lustre of their beauty.
It is by his smaller bronzes and more especially by his portrait busts that Mr. Grafly is most widely known. By these latter he has made secure his fame so long as marble and bronze shall endure. His busts of Joseph DeCamp, the painter,
