 At 21, he studied at the Académie Julian and Académie Delécluse in Paris and focused on sculpture, the medium in which he would achieve the most artistic success.After returning to the United States, Perry received a commission to sculpt a series of bas-reliefs for the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. in 1894.The following year, he was commissioned to create the Court of Neptune Fountain in front of the Library's main building, now known as the Thomas Jefferson Building.