Abraham Wolfe Davidson (1903-1981) was born in the province of Vitebsk in Russia. His parents were Chaim Meyer and Chasia Davidson. As a child, Davidson became interested in clay modeling, stone cutting and carving. When he was eleven, his parents planned to escape increasing oppression against Jews in Russia by joining his four older brothers who already had immigrated to the United States. Their departure was delayed by World War I and the Russian Revolution.

During the years of war and revolution, Davidson’s father disappeared and the family suffered through famine and other hardships. However, through the assistance of a sympathetic Army officer, Davidson was able to study at the Russian National Art School in Vitebsk for a short while in 1919. In 1922, a brother smuggled Davidson and his mother out of Russia. They arrived in New York on the ship “Homeric” and joined his brothers in Greenville, South Carolina.

Davidson continued his sculpture and studied English while living in Greenville. He moved to Atlanta and worked briefly at the Atlanta Terra Cotta Company as a clay modeler until the clay irritated his skin. He also worked for a while in Savannah, Georgia before moving to New York City to work and study art from 1924 to 1926.

Davidson returned to Greenville in 1926. Shortly afterward he became seriously ill with a kidney disease from delayed effects of the famine he had experienced in Russia. During the several years it took to recover, he worked at a variety of jobs and continued his sculpture work in Greenville. He completed the five-year process of becoming an American citizen in 1928.

In 1934, as Clemson student George Chaplin posed for a bust by Davidson, they discussed the possibility of Davidson creating a statue of College founder Thomas Green Clemson in exchange for room, board and tuition. Clemson administrators agreed and allowed Davidson to enroll as a special student. He lived at the Y.M.C.A and attended a few classes. College officials gave him a studio and materials to work on the statue. Funds weren’t available to cast the statue in bronze as originally planned so it was cast in stone in 1939 and dedicated in 1941. In 1966, University administrators asked Davidson to come back to campus to complete a plaster model that was cast in bronze and re-installed in front of Tillman Hall. The original statue was destroyed.

While working on the Clemson statue in the 1930s, Davidson also worked on commissions for other public and private patrons and designed a commemorative half dollar for the sesquicentennial celebration of the city of Columbia, South Carolina. He completed two busts for the WPA Federal Art Project. At Clemson he completed busts of Thomas Clemson and President E.W. Sikes. Davidson helped organize the Greenville Art Association and taught the first art classes at Greenville High School.

Davidson married (Mary) Katherine Harbin (c1906 -1974) a teacher in Greenville, South Carolina on June 3, 1936. They had two children: Ivy Dorothy and Edith. After his marriage, Davidson moved back to Greenville where he worked for the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), teaching art classes, working with the public schools and helping to organize a gallery that eventually developed into the Greenville County Museum of Art.

From late 1940 to early 1942, A. Wolfe Davidson took a leave of absence from his teaching position to study at the Art Students League in New York City until World War II interrupted his studies. He returned briefly to his teaching job in Greenville and then moved his family to Marietta, Georgia where he worked as a designer at Bell Aircraft. After the war work ended, Davidson traveled in the Southeast looking for work, briefly carving ice statues for a hotel in Florida.

In 1948, Katherine took a position teaching English at Brenau College in Gainesville, Georgia and Davidson joined the Art Department, eventually becoming Director. Davidson taught at Brenau College until he retired in 1966. He continued to receive commissions for sculptures, mostly in Georgia and South Carolina. He worked to develop techniques that would reduce the cost of casting and firing his work to make it more affordable. In the 1950s, he began painting in addition to sculpting. Davidson also owned and managed several properties in Gainesville, Georgia where he continued to live until his death in 1981.

Davidson continued his association with Clemson through the rest of his life. He created the cast stone relief of the 1940 Cotton Bowl for the front of the Field House (now Fike Recreation Center), busts of Clemson presidents Robert F. Poole and Robert C. Edwards, Business Manager James C. Littlejohn, Architecture professor Rudolph E. Lee, Athletic Director Frank Howard and trustee James F. Byrnes. In 1969, Tiger Brotherhood commissioned Davidson to create the cast aluminum tiger in front of Littlejohn Coliseum. Shortly before Davidson’s death in 1981, he designed the Clemson Medallion, the highest public honor conferred by the University.