Julius Theodor Melchers

Julius Theodor (e) Melchers (* 1829 in Soest , Westphalia province , † January 14, 1908 in Detroit , United States ) was a German-American sculptor and art teacher.

Life

At the age of fifteen Melchers trained as a picture carver . He later went to Paris , where he attended the École des Beaux-Arts and the studios of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux and Antoine Étex . After the German Revolution of 1848/1849 Melchers went to London . There he worked as a modeler in the Crystal Palace and as a carver of figureheads . In 1852 Melchers emigrated to the United States. In 1855 he settled in Detroit ( Michigan ), where his wife Marie, née Bangetor, gave birth to a son in 1860, who later became the painter Gari Melchers . Since his nickname Gari goes back to the family name of the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi , it is assumed that Julius Theodor Melchers was close to the democratic movement in Germany and - like many other Forty-Eighters - had left the Kingdom of Prussia because of the failure of the revolution of 1848/1849. The Melchers also had a daughter, Hettie, who married Julius Stroh in 1883, the second eldest son of Bernhard Stroh , founder of Detroit's Lion's Head Brewery . The third child of the couple was named Julia Melchers. During the " Gilded Age " Melchers rose to a recognized artistic personality in the Detroit area. At the end of the 19th century he was so wealthy that he could afford the Julius T. Melchers House in Detroit's Indian Village, built in 1897 in the Colonial Revival style by the architects Donaldson & Meier . Melcher's grave is in Elmwood Cemetery (Detroit) in the grave complex of the Stroh family.

Work (selection)

Melchers is known as "Detroit's first sculptor" and one of the most important wood sculptors in the United States. His "tobacconist figures", carved from a piece of wood, polychrome painted Indian figures with tobacco motifs, which were used as advertising media in tobacco shops and can now be found in museums, are best known. Statues made of natural stone, which characterize his later sculptural work, are also significant in terms of art history.

• Cigar Store Indian figurine , probably 1850s
• Carved Indian Tobacconist Figure , around 1870
• Attributed to Indian Chief with Rifle , Melchers or his workshop
• Various statues as sculptures of the Detroit City Hall, which opened in 1871, include allegories of justice, art, trade and industry, today Fort Wayne (Detroit); also larger-than-life statues of the Detroit pioneers Jacques Marquette , Robert Cavelier de La Salle , Antoine Cadillac and Gabriel Richard , created in 1871 on behalf of the timber merchant Bela Hubbard, erected in 1874 (according to other information, 1884) in the cones of the facade of the Detroit City Hall, after the same was demolished 1961 Saint Andrew's Memorial Episcopal Church, on the campus of Wayne State University translocated
• Cigar Store Indian , around 1885, attributed to Melchers or his workshop

Honor

In 1910, Melchers was honored by students and friends with a memorial relief by Adolph A. Weinman , which is now owned by the Detroit Institute of Arts and bears the following inscription under his portrait: “Julius Theodore Melchers, sculptor, born in Soest MDCCCXXIX, died in Detroit MCMVIII, dedicated to his memory by his pupils and friends. MCMX " .

literature

• W. Hawkins Ferry: The Buildings of Detroit: A History . Wayne State University Press, Detroit 1968, pp. 78 f., New edition 2012, ISBN 978-0-8143-1665-8
• Arthur Hopkin Gibson, Beverly Bassett: Artists of Early Michigan. A Biographical Dictionary of Artists Native to or Active in Michigan. 1701-1900 . Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1975, ISBN 978-0-8143-1528-6
• Dennis Alan Nawrocki, Thomas J. Holleman: Art in Detroit Public Places . Wayne State University Press, Detroit 1980, ISBN 978-0-8143-1653-5 , p. 114
• Peter C. Merrill: German Immigrant Artists in America. A Bibliographical Dictionary . Scarecrow Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8108-3266-4 , p. 178

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Diane Lesko, Esther Persson: Gari Melchers. A retrospective exhibition . New edition, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg / Florida 1990, ISBN 978-1-878390-00-4 , p. 53
2. ↑ The family ties with the Stroh brewing dynasty are probably the reason why Melchers later held the post of Vice President of the Lion's Head Brewery . - See Peter H. Blum: Brewed in Detroit: Beers and Breweries since 1830 . Wayne State University Press, Detroit 1999, ISBN 0-8143-2661-7 , p. 63
3. ↑ See photo in Visiting Elmwood Cemetery ( memento of the original dated June 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Website on the detroitfunk.com portal , accessed on June 19, 2015 
4. ↑ Dennis Alan Nawrocki, Thomas J. Holleman
5. ^ Frederick Fried: Artists in Wood. American Carvers of Cigar-store Indians, Show Figures, and Circus Wagons . CN Potter, 1970, p. 137
6. ↑ Cigar Store Indian Figur , website at 1stdibs.com , accessed on June 19, 2015
7. ↑ Julius Theodore Melchers (1829–1909) American, Detroit, Michigan (active 1852–1909) , website in the tilloantiques.com portal , accessed on June 19, 2015
8. ↑ Elizabeth W. Russell: The "Vanished American" . In: Expedition , Volume 8, Issue 4, Penn Museum , Philadelphia / Pennsylvania, July 1966 ( online )
9. ↑ Old City Hall - Old Photos , website on historicdetroit.org , accessed June 19, 2015
10. ↑ See illustration in Èric Thierry: Father Marquette Monument in Laon: Commemorating an North American Historical Figure on French soil . Website on the ameriquefrancaise.org portal , accessed on June 19, 2015
11. ↑ Photos of the stills of Marquette, La Salle, Cadillac and Richard at their current location ( Memento of the original from June 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from the detroitfunk.com portal , accessed on June 19, 2015 
12. ^ Cigar Store Indian , website in the portal antiquesandfineart.com , accessed on June 19, 2015
13. ^ Julius Theodore Melchers plaque , website in the portal digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org , accessed on June 19, 2015