Karl Gerhardt (sculptor)

Karl Gerhardt (around 1879)

Karl Gerhardt (* 7. January 1853 in Boston , Massachusetts , † 7. May 1940 in Shreveport , Louisiana ) was an American sculptor German descent, primarily for his busts of Mark Twain and the death mask of Ulysses S. Grant announced has been.

Life

Gerhardt was born as a child of German immigrants in Boston. Little is known about his parents and his childhood. He first worked as a machinist at the JT Ames foundry in Chicopee . The Ames foundry switched its production of weapons for the American Civil War to the casting of bronze sculptures and became one of the first art foundries in the USA. Later Gerhardt worked in the engineering works Pratt & Whitney in Hartford ( Connecticut ) and began to be a sculptor working in his spare time.

In 1880 he married Harriet Josephine Gloyd (1863-1897). In February 1881 his wife went to see the writer Mark Twain, who lived in Hartford and who was known as a philanthropist , on her own initiative and made him aware of her husband's work. After Twain visited the Gerhardts, the author encouraged the sculptor's training. He first introduced Gerhardt with the well-known New York sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens and then financed Gerhardt's study stay in Paris from 1881. There Gerhardt attended the École des Beaux-Arts . His teachers there included Jouffroy , Falguière and Dubois . During this time Gerhardt was able to exhibit two works at the Salon de Paris .

After returning to the United States in 1884, he lived for some time in Mount Vernon ( New York ), but later again in Hartford. One of the first works after his return was a bust of Mark Twain, on the frontispiece of the first edition of Twain's " The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn " was displayed.

Gerhardt's creative period was short: it ranged from the early 1880s to the late 1890s. After the death of his wife in 1897, Gerhardt hardly appeared in public and soon moved to Louisiana, first to New Orleans and later to Blanchard (near Shreveport). During the years in Louisiana, Gerhardt is said to have worked as a postman , bartender , tailor and teacher .

Works (selection)

Gerhardt's statue of Governor Kemble Warren in Gettysburg

• Echo, marble , Salon de Paris, 1883
• Eva's lullaby, plaster , Salon de Paris, 1883
• Statue by Nathan Hale , bronze, Hartford, 1886
• Bust of Henry Ward Beecher , marble, Hartford, bronze, 1887
• Soldiers Monument, bronze, Hoboken , 1887
• Monument to Israel Putnam , bronze, Brooklyn , 1887
• Soldiers and Sailors Monument, bronze, Brooklyn, 1888
• Carrie Welton Fountain, bronze, Waterbury , 1888
• Stannards Vermont Brigade Monument, bronze, Gettysburg , 1889
• Statue of Governor Richard D. Hubbard , bronze, Hartford, bronze, 1890

literature

• Barbara Schmidt: Mark Twain & Karl Gerhardt. In: Mark Twain Quotations, Newspaper Collections & Related Resources ( online ). Retrieved September 24, 2009.
• NN. Noted Artist of Blanchard Dies Tuesday. Karl Gerhardt, 87, once Famous for Sculptures of Famous Persons. Shreveport Times, May 8, 1940, pp. 1 and 7 ( online ). Retrieved September 24, 2009.

Web links

Commons : Karl Gerhardt  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Works by Karl Gerhardt in the directory of the Smithsonian Institution