Gutzon Borglum
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Gutzon Borglum A Brief Sketch of His Life and Work Mount Rushmore Memorial Society Rapid Cit.y, South Dakota Gutzon Borglum * A Brief Sketch of His Life ancl Work * Mount Rushmore Memorial Society Rapid City, South Dakota Gutzon Borglum 1871-1941 GUTZON BORGLUl\'.I Gutzon Borglum was born in 1871 on the Ore gon Trail near a little frontier town called Bear Lake, Idaho. His father was a Danish physician and scholar, whose vigorous, adventurous spirit had brought him with his young Danish wife to the new world and the far west. Instead of proceeding to Oregon, however, Dr. Borglum returned to Nebraska and settled first in Fremont, where Gutzon's early boyhood and school memories were centered. His very first recollections were of pioneer life and In dians peeping in at windows; buffalo skins took the place of rugs on the floor. The father had a large country practice and the boy often accompanied him on long rides in a buggy to distant points in all sorts of weather, sometimes even being called upon to assist in operations. There were, all together, nine brothers and sisters. A younger brother Solon studied under Gutzon and became a famous sculptor. The family made a brief so1ourn in California, where -7-- Gutzon got his first art training, and afterwards settled in Omaha, where Dr. Borglum died in 1910. Gutzon showed his independence by running away from home several times, starting when he was very young, and took care of himself from his early 'teens. His artistic tendency manifested itself early. His school comrades remember that the margins of his lesson books were covered with drawings and in a Jesuit College (Saint Mary's), in which he was placed at one time, he was set to work painting saints and angels. In California he studied under Virgil Wil liams and a short time with Keith. By the time he was twenty he had sold enough pictures to enable him to go abroad, first to Paris and Spain and later to London. He attended the Julian Academy in Paris, exhibited his sculpture and painting at the Salon and was made a member. He was greatly attracted by Rodin, was a frequent visitor at his studio and formed a friendship which lasted until Rodin's death. In London he held a one-man exhibition of painting and sculpture; he was "summoned" to Osborn to show his work to Queen Victoria and received commissions to paint the portraits of various titled and other person ages. Borglum's free spirit felt stifled and cramped in -8- Europe; like his father before him he was seized by the imperative call of America, and in 1901, finding himself in Paris with sufficient money in his pocket, he followed a sudden impulse and caught the next boat at Cherbourg, leaving whatever possessions he had acquired in eleven years abroad to be sent after him. Ar.rived in New York, he threw himself into the fight for an independent American art, which should represent the life of America, instead of eternally copying the antique. He carved several marble master pieces at this time and also produced a bronze group of horses, called the "Mares of Diomedes," which was purchased for the Metropolitan Museum of New York by James Stillman. These horses were far from classic in design; they were really western horses and the rider was an Indian, but the Indian costume was dis turbing to the design so it was left off. A visitor at the studio suggested calling the group by the Greek name, after one of the labors of Hercules and Borglum adopted it. Artists are usually more interested in their work than its title. Other commissions followed and soon Borglum was giving all his time to sculpture, always hoping to get back to painting because he loved colo.r. He fin- -9- ished a group of panels and murals for which he had received the order before leaving England, and went back to place them, but with the exception of a few portraits and murals for an old friend he did no more painting in the United States. The very day after sell ing the "Mares," he was asked to make a statue of John W. Mackay for Nevada. Instead of representing him in a frock coat, Borglum depicted the colorful figure, who started as a miner and later laid the first cable across the Atlantic, with his sleeves .rolled up, holding a gold nugget in one hand and a pick in the other. On the University Campus at Reno, where the statue was placed, it is known as "The Man with the Upturned Face." Incidentally it is related at the uni versity that when Clarence Mackay came out to the unveiling and saw the poor building that housed the School of Mines, in front of which stood the statue of his father, he immediately wired to Stanford White and asked him to come out and design a new building. This cost nearly half a million and led to further dona tions to the university by Clarence Mackay until he had spent a million and a half to accompany his . original gift of the statue. About the same time Borglum accepted a com mission to do the sculpture work on the Belmont -10- Chapel, which was the first part of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine to be built. His work included nearly a hundred figures of early saints and church fathers on the inside of the chapel, life-size figures of the boy Christ and the Virgin, Saint Elizabeth and two angels on the outside of Belmont Chapel facing Morn ingside Avenue, and the twelve apostles around the very top. One of the clergymen attending a church conference and straying into the sculptor's work-shop at the Cathedral, felt that the face of the Angel of the Annunciation should have been sterner and distinctly masculine. This raised the question of the sex of angels and the press grabbed it with delight. To satis fy the clergyman Borglum cut out the face of the offending angel (it was still in the soft clay) and had it cast separately in silver. It can still be seen in a photographic collection of Borglum's work under the title "Mask of an Angel." He then modeled another face for the figure which is now carved in stone on the Chapel. Years after, when the controversy over Stone Mountain arose, the Confederate Memorial As sociation gave as an instance of "Borglum's ungovern able temper" that he had smashed his angels on the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. Canon Jones of the Cathedral, who was appealed to for verification of -11- the story, wired the Atlanta Constitution: "The angels still stand serene in their places where Gutzon Borg lum first placed them." In about the year 1907 Borglum began the eques trian statue of Gen. Phil Sheridan to be placed in Washington. The son, young Lieut. Sheridan used to come to the studio every day to pose for the figure, as he bore a marked resemblance to his father. Borglum selected as his subject the time when the General, re turning from a conference with Lincoln in Washington, to Winchester, where he had left his army, found that army in full retreat and completely demoralized. Sheridan rallied his troops and led them to victory. Borglum's figure shows Sheridan in the full vigour of his prime (although he actually lived to be an old man) reining in his horse, which still has his four feet on the ground. It was a departure from the conven tional equestrian statue, usually placed so high that the beholder finds himself looking up under the horse, which almost invariably has one foot .raised and bent at the knee. It was placed on Sheridan Circle in Wash ington and unveiled by President Theodore Roosevelt. The statue caused a storm of criticism and discussion on account of its departure from accepted standards. Sarah Bernhardt, herself something of a sculptor, when -12- being driven around Washington, caught sight of the monument, stopped the car and walked around the group, viewing it from every angle. She said it was the finest thing she had seen in America. Ten or fifteen years later Borglum made another equestrian statue of Sheridan for Chicago, which is totally different. It is placed at the head of Sheridan Road and Borglum considered the horse the best he had ever made. A more imaginative work made in 1912 is a charming fountain in Bridgeport, Conn., which shows a mermaid rising from a central granite bowl, lifting high a light which serves as a street lamp, while with the other hand she clutches a sprawling baby mermaid. From the rim of the bowl baby faces spout water, while on the three cornei"s of the space made by the intersection of streets, are three smaller granite drink ing bowls for horses, one with sea-horses, one with dolphins and the third with a young girl mermaid. The tails of these creatures all curve around to make a drinking place for dogs. Surrounding the whole is a chain held up by dolphins standing on their heads and balancing turtles on their tails. A bronze statue of Borglum's, which is not so well known, is in the Rock Creek Cemetery at Wash- -13- ington. It is a full-size figure representing Mary at the tomb, when she finds the stone rolled away and the tomb empty and turns to find Jesus himself speak ing to her; she exclaims: "Rabboni!" The face is full of surprise, joy, faith and hope and is in marked con trast to the beautiful statue by Saint Gaudens at the Adams family tomb nearby.