Wikipedia

Gutzon Borglum

John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum(March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an Americansculptorbest known for his work onMount Rushmore.He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., includingStone Mountainin Georgia, statues of Union GeneralPhilip Sheridanin Washington D.C.andin Chicago,as well asa bust of Abraham Lincolnexhibited in theWhite HousebyTheodore Roosevelt[6]and now held in theUnited States Capitol cryptin Washington, D.C.[7]

Gutzon Borglum
Borglum in 1919
Born
John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum

(1867-03-25)March 25, 1867
St. Charles,Idaho Territory,U.S.
DiedMarch 6, 1941(1941-03-06)(aged 73)
Chicago,Illinois,U.S.
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park,Glendale, California
EducationMark Hopkins
Institute of Art[1][2]
Académie Julian[3]
École des Beaux-Arts[2]
California School of Design[4]
Known forSculpture,painting
MovementBull Moose Party[5]
Spouse
Mary Williams
​
(m.1909)​
Children3, includingLincoln

Early life

edit

The son ofDanish immigrants,John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum was born in 1867 inSt. Charles,in what was then thought to be in Utah but was later determined to be inIdaho Territory.Borglum was a child ofMormon polygamy.His father, Jens Møller Haugaard Børglum (1839–1909), came from the village ofBørglumin northwestern Denmark. He had two wives when he lived in Idaho: Gutzon's mother, Christina Mikkelsen Børglum (1847–1871), and her sister Ida, who was Jens's first wife.[8]Jens Borglum decided to leave the LDS church and moved toOmaha, Nebraskawhere polygamy was both illegal and taboo.[9]Jens Borglum had worked mainly as a woodcarver before his decision to attend theSaint Louis Homeopathic Medical College[10]inSt. Louis,Missouri. At this point "Jens and Christina divorced, the family left the LDS church, and Jens, Ida, their children, and Christina's two sons, Gutzon and Solon, moved to St. Louis, where Jens earned a medical degree." Upon his graduation from the Missouri Medical College in 1874, Dr. Borglum moved the family to Fremont, Nebraska, where he established a medical practice.[11][12]Gutzon Borglum remained in Fremont until 1882, when his father enrolled him inSt. Mary's College, Kansas.[13]

After a brief stint at Saint Mary's College, Gutzon Borglum moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where he apprenticed in a machine shop and graduated fromCreighton Preparatory School.

New York City

edit

In New York City, he sculpted saints and apostles for the newCathedral of St. John the Divinein 1901; in 1906 he had a group sculpture accepted by theMetropolitan Museum of Art[14]— the first sculpture by a living American the museum had ever purchased—and made his presence further felt with some portraits. He also won theLogan Medal of the Arts.His reputation soon surpassed that of his younger brotherSolon Borglum,already an established sculptor.

Family

edit

In 1889, Borglum married his painting instructor, Elizabeth Jaynes Putnam, who was 18 years his senior.[15]After divorcing his first wife, Borglum married Mary Montgomery Williams, on May 20, 1909, with whom he had three children,[8]including a son,Lincoln,and a daughter, Mary Ellis (Mel) Borglum Vhay.

Public life

edit

Borglum was active in the committee that organized the New YorkArmory Showof 1913, the birthplace ofmodernismin American art. By the time the show was ready to open, however, Borglum had resigned from the committee, feeling that the emphasis on avant-garde works had co-opted the original premise of the show and made traditional artists like himself look provincial. He moved into an estate inStamford, Connecticut[16]in 1914 and lived there for 10 years. He shelteredCzechoslovak Legionmembers on his land at Stamford in 1917.[17]

Borglum was an active member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (theFreemasons), raised in Howard Lodge #35, New York City, on June 10, 1904, and serving as its Worshipful Master 1910–11. In 1915, he was appointed Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of Denmark near the Grand Lodge of New York. He received his Scottish Rite Degrees in the New York City Consistory on October 25, 1907.[18]He was friends withTheodore Rooseveltfor many years[19][20]and during the1912 United States presidential electionBorglum was a very active campaign organizer and member[21]of theBull Moose Party.[22][23]

While it has been claimed that Borglum was a member of theKu Klux Klan,[7]an article in theSmithsonian Magazinedenies that there is proof that he officially joined the KKK.[24]That said, he became "deeply involved in Klan politics", attending Klan rallies and serving on Klan committees.[25]In 1925, having only completed the head of Robert E. Lee, Borglum was dismissed from the Stone Mountain project, with some holding that it came about due to infighting within the KKK, with Borglum involved in the strife.[26]Later, he stated "I am not a member of the Kloncilium, nor a knight of the KKK," but Howard Shaff and Audrey Karl Shaff claim that "that was for public consumption."[27]The museum at Mount Rushmore displays a letter to Borglum fromD. C. Stephenson,the infamous Klan Grand Dragon who later was convicted of the rape and murder ofMadge Oberholtzer.The 8x10 foot portrait contains the inscription "To my good friend Gutzon Borglum, with the greatest respect." Correspondence from Borglum to Stephenson during the 1920s detailed a deepracistconviction inNordicmoral superiority and strict immigration policies.[28]

Monuments

edit
General Philip Sheridan,sculpted by Borglum in 1908, inWashington, D.C.

A fascination with gigantic scale and themes of heroic nationalism suited his extroverted personality. HisheadofAbraham Lincoln,carved from a six-ton block of marble, was exhibited inTheodore Roosevelt'sWhite Houseand can be found in theUnited States Capitol CryptinWashington, D.C.A "patriot," believing that the "monuments we have built are not our own," he looked to create art that was "American, drawn from American sources, memorializing American achievement," according to a 1908 interview.[citation needed]Borglum was highly suited to the competitive environment surrounding the contracts for public buildings and monuments, and his public sculptures are found all around the United States.

In 1908, Borglum won a competition for anequestrian statueof the Civil War GeneralPhilip Sheridanto be placed inSheridan Circlein Washington, D.C. A second version ofGeneral Philip Sheridanwas erected inChicago,Illinois,in 1923. Winning this competition was a personal triumph for him because he won out over sculptorJ.Q.A. Ward,a much older and more established artist and one whom Borglum had clashed with earlier in regard to theNational Sculpture Society.At the unveiling of the Sheridan statue, one observer, President Theodore Roosevelt (whom Borglum was later to include in the Mount Rushmore portrait group), declared that it was "first rate"; a critic wrote that "as a sculptor Gutzon Borglum was no longer a rumor, he was a fact." (Smith:see References)[full citation needed]

PresidentFranklin D. Rooseveltdelivered an address on May 3, 1934, dedicating a statue ofWilliam Jennings Bryancreated by Borglum. This Bryan statue by Borglum originally stood inWashington, D.C.but was later displaced by highway construction and moved by an Act of Congress in 1961 toSalem, Illinois,Bryan's birthplace.[29][30]

In 1925, the sculptor moved to Texas to work on the monument to trail drivers commissioned by the Trail Drivers Association. He completed the model in 1925, but due to lack of funds it was not cast until 1940, and then was only a fourth its originally planned size. It stands in front of the Texas Pioneer and Trail Drivers Memorial Hall next to theWitte MuseuminSan Antonio.Borglum lived at the historicMenger Hotel,which in the 1920s was the residence of a number of artists. He subsequently planned the redevelopment of the Corpus Christi waterfront; the plan failed,[why?]although a model for a statue of Christ intended for it was later modified by his son and erected on a mountaintop in South Dakota. While living and working in Texas, Borglum took an interest in local beautification. He promoted change and modernity, although he was berated by academicians.[31]

Stone Mountain

edit
Main articles:Stone Mountain § Confederate Memorial Carving,andStone Mountain Memorial half dollar
Stone Mountain Memorial half dollar,1925 (design by Borglum)

Borglum was initially involved in the carving ofStone MountaininGeorgia.Borglum'snativist stancesmade him seem an ideologically sympathetic choice to carve a memorial to heroes of theConfederate States of America,planned forStone Mountain,Georgia. In 1915, coinciding with the Klan-glorifying, highly successfulThe Birth of a Nation,he was approached by theUnited Daughters of the Confederacywith a project for sculpting a 20-foot (6 m) high bust of GeneralRobert E. Leeon the mountain's 800-foot (240 m) rockface. Borglum accepted, but told the committee, "Ladies, a twenty-foot head of Lee on that mountainside would look like a postage stamp on a barn door."[32]

Borglum's ideas eventually evolved into a high relieffriezeof Lee,Jefferson Davis,andStonewall Jacksonriding around the mountain, followed by a legion of artillery troops. Borglum agreed to include aKu Klux Klanaltar in his plans for the memorial to acknowledge a request of Helen Plane in 1915, who wrote to him: "I feel it is due to the KKK that saved us from Negro domination andcarpetbag rule,that it be immortalized on Stone Mountain ".[26]

After a delay caused byWorld War I,Borglum and the newly chartered Stone Mountain Confederate Monumental Association set to work on this monument, the largest ever attempted. Many difficulties slowed progress, some because of the sheer scale involved. After finishing the detailed model of the carving, Borglum was unable to trace the figures onto the massive area on which he was working, until he developed a giganticmagic lanternto project the image onto the side of the mountain.

Carving officially began on June 23, 1923, with Borglum making the first cut. At Stone Mountain he developed sympathetic connections with the reorganized Ku Klux Klan, who were major financial backers of the monument. Lee's head was unveiled on Lee's birthday January 19, 1924, to a large crowd, but soon thereafter Borglum was increasingly at odds with the officials of the organization. His domineering, perfectionist, authoritarian manner brought tensions to such a point that in March 1925 Borglum smashed his clay and plaster models. He left Georgia permanently, his tenure with the organization over. None of his work remains, as it was all blasted off the mountain's face for the work of Borglum's replacementHenry Augustus Lukeman.In his abortive attempt, however, Borglum had developed the necessary techniques for sculpting on a gigantic scale that made Mount Rushmore possible.[33]

Mount Rushmore

edit
Main article:Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore,located in theBlack HillsofSouth Dakota

His Mount Rushmore project, 1927–1941, was the brainchild of South Dakota state historianDoane Robinson.[34]His first attempt with the face ofThomas Jeffersonhad to be redone when it was determined that there was not enough stone to complete it.[35]Dynamite was used to remove large areas of rock from under Washington's brow. The initial pair of presidents,George Washingtonand Thomas Jefferson, was soon joined byAbraham LincolnandTheodore Roosevelt.[36]

Ivan Houser, father ofJohn Sherrill Houser,was assistant sculptor to Gutzon Borglum in the early years of carving; he began working with Borglum shortly after the inception of the monument and was with Borglum for a total of seven years. When Houser left Gutzon to devote his talents to his own work, Gutzon's son, Lincoln, took over as Assistant-Sculptor to his father.[37]

Borglum alternated exhausting on-site supervising with world tours, raising money, polishing his personal legend, sculpting aThomas Painememorial for Paris and aWoodrow Wilsonmemorial forPoznań,Poland (1931).[38]In his absence, work at Mount Rushmore was overseen by Bill Tallman[39]and later his son,Lincoln Borglum.[40]During the Rushmore project, father and son were residents of Beeville, Texas. When he died in Chicago, following complications of surgery, his son finished another season at Rushmore, but left the monument largely in the state of completion it had reached under his father's direction.[41]

Other works

edit
Statue ofComstock Lodesilver baronJohn William Mackay(1831–1902),Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering,University of Nevada, Reno(1908).
Aviator,Borglum, 1919,University of Virginia
William Dempster Hoard SculptureinHenry Mallin front ofAgriculture Hall,University of Wisconsin-Madison(1922)
North Carolinian soldiers at theBattle of Gettysburg

In 1909, the sculptureRabboniwas created as a grave site for the Ffoulke Family in Washington, D.C. atRock Creek Cemetery.[42]

Four public works by Borglum are inNewark, New Jersey:Seated Lincoln(1911),Indian and the Puritan(1916),Wars of America(1926), and astelewith bas-relief,First Landing Party of the Founders of Newark(1916). No other U.S. city holds as many public displays by Borglum.[43][44]

In 1912, theNathaniel Wheeler Memorial Fountainwas dedicated inBridgeport, Connecticut.

Memorial toRobert Louis Stevensonat Baker Cottage,Saranac Lake, New York.Unveiled in 1915.

In 1916, he overhauled the design of the torch for the Statue of Liberty in New York City.[45]

In 1918, he was one of the drafters of theCzechoslovak declaration of independence.[46]

One of Borglum's more unusual pieces is theAviatorcompleted in 1919 as a memorial forJames Rogers McConnell,who was killed in World War I while flying for theLafayette Escadrille.It is located on the grounds of theUniversity of VirginiainCharlottesville, Virginia.[47]

In 1922, he crafted theWilliam Dempster Hoard Sculpturein the north end what is now theHenry Mall Historic Districtat theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison.[48]

His statue of Collis P. Huntington was completed in 1924 and stands at the entrance of the CSX Huntington headquarters building located in the 900 block of Seventh AvenueHuntington, West Virginia.

Hisstatue of Harvey W. Scottwas completed in 1933 and stood at the peak ofMount Tabor, Portland, Oregonuntil it was toppled by protestors in 2020.

Borglum sculpted theMemorial to the "Start Westward of the United States",which is located inMuskingum Park,Marietta, Ohio(1938).[49]The work was featured on a 1938 3¢ US postage stamp.[50]

He built the statue ofDaniel ButterfieldatSakura Parkin Manhattan (1918).[51]

He created a memorial toSacco and Vanzetti(1928), a plaster cast of which is now in the Boston Public Library.[52][53][54][55][56]

Another Borglum design is theNorth Carolina MonumentonSeminary Ridgeat theGettysburg Battlefieldin south-centralPennsylvania.The cast bronze sculpture depicts a woundedConfederateofficer encouraging his men to push forward duringPickett's Charge.Borglum had also made arrangements for an airplane to fly over the monument during the dedication ceremony on July 3, 1929. During the sculpture's unveiling, the plane scattered roses across the field as a salute to those North Carolinians who had fought and died at Gettysburg.[citation needed]

In 1939 when German troops marched into Poland, they destroyed Borglum's statue ofWoodrow Wilsonlocated inPoznań.[57]

Death

edit

Borglum died in 1941 of aheart attackand is interred atForest Lawn Memorial Parkin Glendale, California.[58]

edit
  • HistorianSimon Schama,in hisLandscape and Memory,discusses Borglum's life and work.[59]

Publications

edit
  • Borglum, Gutzon(June 1914)."Art That Is Real And American: Why We Should Create Our Own Art out Of Our Own National History Instead Of Imitating The Work That Properly Expressed The Triumphs Of Greece And Rome".The World's Work: A History of Our Time.XLIV(2): 200–215.
edit

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^Harte, Bret (August 31, 2017)."The Overland Monthly".Samuel Carson – via Google Books.
  2. ^ab"Gutzon Borglum".Marriott Library – The University of Utah.Archivedfrom the original on January 7, 2021.
  3. ^Dimmick, Lauretta; Hassler, Donna J. (August 31, 1999).American Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: A catalogue of works by artists born between 1865 and 1885.Metropolitan Museum of Art.ISBN978-0-87099-923-9– via Google Books.
  4. ^"John Borglum".Galerie Gabrie.Archivedfrom the original on January 7, 2021.
  5. ^Cullinane, Michael Patrick (December 11, 2017).Theodore Roosevelt's Ghost: The History and Memory of an American Icon.LSU Press.ISBN978-0-8071-6673-4.RetrievedMay 6,2024.
  6. ^"Abraham Lincoln Bust".aoc.gov.Archivedfrom the original on January 7, 2021.
  7. ^abHoward Shaff and Audrey Karl Shaff,Six Wars at a Time; The Life and Times of Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of Mount Rushmore,Center for Western Studies, St. Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota 1985, p. 197
  8. ^abPaller, Orvill (October 1990)."I Have a Question: Artists James T. Harwood, Gutzon and Solon Borglum, and Cyrus Dallin are said by some to be associated with the Church. Were they members?".Ensign:52–54.Archivedfrom the original on January 7, 2021.
  9. ^"Borglum biography".American Experience.PBS.Archivedfrom the original on May 28, 2013.
  10. ^Price, Willadene,Gutzon Borglum: Artist and Patriot,copyright Willadene Price, 1961, 1972 edition p. 10
  11. ^Swisher, Kaija (February 20, 2015)."The lesser-known Borglum brother?".bhpioneer.com.Archivedfrom the original on January 7, 2021.
  12. ^Howard Shaff and Audrey Karl Shaff,Six Wars at a Time: The Life and Times of Gutzon Borglum, Sculptor of Mount Rushmore,The Center for Western Studies, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 1985, p. 18
  13. ^Smith RA. (1985). The carving of Mount Rushmore. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers
  14. ^"Gives a Borglum Group: James Stillman presents" The Mares of Diomedes "to the Metropolitan".The New York Times.February 12, 1906.Archivedfrom the original on January 7, 2021.Mr. Borglum is the sculptor who shattered several angels that he had intended for St. John's Cathedral a month or so ago because some critics held that his angels were feminine, not masculine.
  15. ^Senie, Harriet (2023).Monumental Controversies.Potomac Books. p. 20.ISBN978-1-64012-499-8.
  16. ^Jeff Morganteen, 'The Dart: Artists Drawn to Stamford Home', Stamford Advocate, December 18, 2011,[1]ArchivedJanuary 7, 2021, at theWayback Machine.
  17. ^Preclík, Vratislav. Masaryk a legie (Masaryk and legions), váz. kniha, 219 str., vydalo nakladatelství Paris Karviná, Žižkova 2379 (734 01 Karviná) ve spolupráci s Masarykovým demokratickým hnutím (Masaryk Democratic Movement, Prague), 2019,ISBN978-80-87173-47-3,pages 101-102, 124–125, 128, 129, 132, 140–148, 184–190.
  18. ^Let's do some carvingArchivedJanuary 13, 2008, at theWayback Machine;Gary Leazer, KCCH
  19. ^Theodore Roosevelt's Ghost
  20. ^History not carved in stone
  21. ^The Rating Game in American Politics,page 350
  22. ^Great White Fathers – The Story of the Obsessive Quest to Create Mount Rushmore
  23. ^Gutzon Borglum(?) with group of men on and around open bus at Bull Moose Convention(?)
  24. ^Shear, Matthew (October 2016)."The Sordid History of Mount Rushmore".Smithsonian Magazine.RetrievedFebruary 16,2022.
  25. ^Tagliaferro, John (2004).Great White Fathers.New York, NY: PublicAffairs. p. 186.ISBN978-1-58648-205-3.
  26. ^abMichael J. Hyde (2004). "The Ethos of Rhetoric". p. 161. University of South Carolina Press
  27. ^Howard Shaff and Audrey Karl Shaff,Six Wars at a Time; The Life and Times of Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of Mount Rushmore,Center for Western Studies, St. Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota 1985, p.203
  28. ^Harriet Senie (2014). "Critical Issues in Public Art: Content, Context, and Controversy". Smithsonian Institution,
  29. ^http://moses.law.umn.edu/darrow/documents/Address_President_Dedication_Bryan_Memorial_05_03_1934.pdf"Address of the President at the Dedication of the Bryan Memorial".
  30. ^http://moses.law.umn.edu/darrow/trials.php?tid=7ArchivedJuly 12, 2017, at theWayback Machine"Government Documents: Address of the President at the Dedication of the Bryan Memorial May, 1934".
  31. ^"Borglum, John Gutzon de la Mothe (1867–1941)".Texas State Historical Society: Handbook of Texas Online. June 12, 2010.Archivedfrom the original on January 7, 2021.
  32. ^Smith, Rex Allen (1985).The Carving of Mount Rushmore.New York:Abbeville Press.p.62.ISBN1-55859-665-8.
  33. ^"The Carving of Stone Mountain".American Experience.Archived fromthe originalon March 1, 2017.RetrievedAugust 29,2017.
  34. ^Price, Waldine, Gutzon Borglum: The Man Who Carved a Mountain, Waldine Price, 1961 p. 136
  35. ^Smith, Rex Alan, The Carving of Mount Rushmore, Abbeville Press Publishers, New York, 1985 pp. 221-23
  36. ^Smith, Rex Alan, The Carving of Mount Rushmore, Abbeville Press Publishers, New York, 1985
  37. ^Smith 1985,p. 327-29.
  38. ^"Poznań – Pomnik Woodrowa Wilsona. Atrakcje turystyczne Poznania. Ciekawe miejsca Poznania".www.polskaniezwykla.pl.Archivedfrom the original on January 7, 2021.
  39. ^Shaff, Audrey Karl, Six Wars at a Time: The Life and Times of Gutzon Borglum, Sculptor of Mount Rushmore, The Center for Western Studies, Augustana College, Sioux City, South Dakota, 1985, p. 277
  40. ^Smith 1985,p. 230-234.
  41. ^Price, Waldine, Gutzon Borglum: Artist and Patriot, Waldine Price, 1961 p. 211-213
  42. ^Rabboni(Smithsonian Institution)
  43. ^""The Public Sculpture of John de la Mothe Gutzon Borglum, 1911-1926." The National Register of Historic Places, April 27, 1994 "(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on October 12, 2016.RetrievedApril 20,2019.
  44. ^Thurlow, Fearn, "Newark's Sculpture: A survey of public monuments and memorial statuary" The Newark Museum Quarterly, Winter 1975, vol. 6, no. 1,
  45. ^Katz, Brigit (November 20, 2018)."The Statue of Liberty's Original Torch Gets a New Home".Smithsonian Magazine.RetrievedSeptember 13,2024.
  46. ^"The Contagion of Sovereignty: Declarations of Independence since 1776"(PDF).harvard.edu.Archived(PDF)from the original on September 16, 2012.
  47. ^Bruce, Philip Alexander (1922).History of the University of Virginia: The Lengthening Shadow of One Man.Vol. V. New York:Macmillan.p. 408.
  48. ^"National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Henry Mall Historic District".National Park Service.RetrievedJuly 14,2023.
  49. ^Patterson, Janelle."Start Westward monument to be placed under shelter".Marietta Times.
  50. ^"3c Northwest Territory Sesquicentennial" Colonization of the West "single".National Postal Museum.RetrievedNovember 12,2022.
  51. ^"General Daniel Butterfield".The City of New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.Archivedfrom the original on January 7, 2021.
  52. ^Bold, Christine (August 31, 2017).Writers, Plumbers, and Anarchists: The WPA Writers' Project in Massachusetts.Univ of Massachusetts Press.ISBN978-1-55849-539-5– via Google Books.
  53. ^"Put Sacco & Vanzetti sculpture on display – The Boston Globe".bostonglobe.com.Archivedfrom the original on January 7, 2021.
  54. ^"Menino, the mayor who welcomed Sacco and Vanzetti – The Boston Globe".bostonglobe.com.Archivedfrom the original on January 7, 2021.
  55. ^"90 years on, legacy of Sacco and Vanzetti executions lingers".Washington Post.Archived fromthe originalon August 23, 2017.
  56. ^"Aldino Felicani Sacco-Vanzetti Collection, 1915–1977 – Boston Public Library Archival and Manuscript Finding Aid Database".archon.bpl.org.Archivedfrom the original on January 7, 2021.
  57. ^Price, Waldine, Gutzon Borglum: The Man Who Carved a Mountain, Waldine Price, 1961 p. 181
  58. ^Bahn, Paul (April 14, 2014).The Archaeology of Hollywood.Rowman & Littlefield.ISBN978-0-7591-2379-3.
  59. ^Schama, Simon,Landscape and Memory,Random House, New York 1995, chapter 7.
Other sources
edit
Wikimedia Commons has media related toGutzon Borglum.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gutzon_Borglum&oldid=1252934920"