Solon Borglum | |
|---|---|
 (ca. 1900) | |
| Born | (1868-12-22)December 22, 1868 Ogden, Utah, US |
| Died | January 31, 1922(1922-01-31) (aged 53) |
| Known for | Sculpture |
Solon Hannibal de la Mothe Borglum (December 22, 1868 – January 31, 1922)[1] was an Americansculptor. He is most noted for his depiction of frontier life, and especially his experience with cowboys and native Americans.
He was awarded theCroix de Guerre by France[2] for his work withLes Foyers du Soldat service clubs duringWorld War I.[3]
Born inOgden, Utah, Borglum was the younger brother ofGutzon Borglum and uncle ofLincoln Borglum, the two men most responsible for the creation of the carvings atMount Rushmore. Solon'sDanish immigrant father James Borglum was aMormon polygamist, being married to two sisters, Ida and Christina Mikkelsen. When the family – each wife had two children – moved to Nebraska they could no longer openly be husband and wives, so Solon and Gutzon's mother Christina was listed as the family servant. When the father moved the family again toSt. Louis in 1871, so that he could attend medical school, the decision was made to leave Christina behind. The children were told to never talk about her again. Solon was about three years old at the time.[4] Solon grew up inFremont, Nebraska andOmaha[5] and spent his early years as arancher in westernNebraska.[6]
Solon’s father was a physician but had worked as a wood-carver, which almost certainly influenced Solon’s older brother, Gutzon, to pursue a career as an artist. Having shown little interest in formal schooling, the younger son spent his teens working on his father’s ranch near Fremont, Nebraska. He showed a talent for drawing horses, and his careful studies of their movements prompted Gutzon to encourage Solon to pursue art as a profession.
In 1893 Solon went to Omaha to study withJ. Laurie Wallace, a former pupil ofThomas Eakins. Following this early, and evidently brief, formal training, he joined his brother Gutzon at his home in the Sierra Madre mountains. A personality clash with Gutzon’s first wife Lisa however, forced Solon to move on; he went to Los Angeles, where he painted portraits and toSanta Ana, California, where he taught art privately. He had little success, however, and in November 1895 he traveled toCincinnati, Ohio, where he entered the Cincinnati Art Academy. One of his instructors, the sculptorLouis Rebisso, encouraged him to try sculpting. His first effort was a sculpture of a group of horses based on observations and drawings he had made at the U.S. Mail stables in Cincinnati.[7]
In 1898 the Art Academy awarded Borglum a scholarship that allowed him to go to Paris, where he matriculated at theAcadémie Julian as a student ofDenys Puech. He met leading sculptorsEmmanuel Fremiet andAugustus Saint-Gaudens, who gave him further encouragement. Borglum received a silver medal at theExposition Universelle (1900) and another at thePan-American Exposition inBuffalo, NY[8]
In 1898, Borglum married, and Solon and his wife, Emma (née Vignal),[9] spent the summer of 1899 at theCrow Creek Reservation inSouth Dakota. Though he later lived inParis andNew York City and achieved a reputation as one of America's notable sculptors, it was his depictions offrontier life, and especially his experience withcowboys andNative American peoples, which was the basis of his reputation.[10]
In 1901, Solon and his wife, Emma had a son, Paul Arnold Borglum.[11][12]
On 9 December 1903, Solon and his wife, Emma had a daughter, Monica (née Borglum) Davies.[13][14]
In 1906, Borglum moved to theSilvermine neighborhood ofNew Canaan, Connecticut, where he helped found the "Knockers Club" of artists. His brother, Gutzon, lived in nearbyStamford, Connecticut from 1910 to 1920.[15]
In 1911, Borglum was elected into theNational Academy of Design as an Associate member.[16]
DuringWorld War I, Borglum was in France, serving as secretary of the YMCA, and then taught sculpture at theAmerican Expeditionary Forces Art Training Center inBellevue (Hauts-de-Seine) [fr],Seine-et-Oise,[17] outside Paris.[18]
Circa 1918, in New York City, he opened a second[19] studio[20] and established theAmerican School of Sculpture.[21] He ran the school and gave many lectures on art until his death after anappendectomy complicated by his war wounds[22] in January 1922.[23] His legacy was carried on by his wife Emma until her death in 1934, at which point his daughter Monica and her husband, A. Mervyn Davies,[24] oversaw the exhibition of his artwork. In 1974 they published his biographySolon H. Borglum: A Man Who Stands Alone.
Borglum's papers are held at theArchives of American Art,[25] and the Library of Congress.[26]
Borglum created several animal groups while in Paris, includingLassoing Wild Horses andThe Stampede of Wild Horses, which were shown at theParis Salon in 1898 and 1899, respectively.
The year 1903 was a banner one for the artist. He had a one-man show of thirty-two small sculptures at the Keppel Gallery, New York. In his ground-breakingHistory of American Sculpture published that year,Lorado Taft devoted several pages to Borglum,[27] and he was the subject of an entire chapter inCharles Caffin’s 1903 bookAmerican Masters of Sculpture.[28] In 1904 Borglum won the gold medal at theLouisiana Purchase Exposition held inSt. Louis.
Borglum received several major public commissions, including an equestrian monument of GeneralJohn Brown Gordon for the grounds of theGeorgia State Capitol inAtlanta (1907), one ofRough RiderBuckey O'Neill for the plaza in front of the courthouse inPrescott, Arizona (1907), andThe Pioneer, which was erected in the Court of Honor at thePanama–Pacific International Exposition inSan Francisco (1915).
Two of his works are located inJersey City, New Jersey. His sculptureBuffalo and Bears is in Leonard Gordon Park in the city's Heights section[29]
In 1974 a group of the sculptor's descendants gave twenty bronzes, marbles, original plasters, portfolios of drawings and paintings to theNew Britain Museum of American Art. Today the Museum houses the largest repository of Borglum's works.
Borglum sculpted a larger than life bronzeequestrian statue for theBucky O'Neill Monument, Rough Rider at theYavapai County Court House Plaza in Prescott, Arizona.[30]Teddy Roosevelt had persuaded Buckey O'Neill to join the Rough Riders and he was killed at theBattle of San Juan Hill. Borglum's statueCowboy at Rest is also located on the grounds of the Yavapai County Court House in Prescott, Arizona.[31]
Borglum's pieces can be found at theBuffalo Bill Museum inCody, Wyoming, includingEvening, a depiction of a cowboy leaning against his unsaddled horse at the end of the day.
Two of Borglum's sculptures,Inspiration andAspiration, which depict Native American men, stand in the front courtyard ofSt. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, in theEast Village neighborhood ofManhattan inNew York City, flanking the front gate.
Black and white photos ofCowboy Mounting,Lost in a Blizzard (in marble), andTamed can be found in Caffin's book.[32]
List of works[33]
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Notes
The Complete Archive
Bibliography
Further reading
