| Solon Borglum | |
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Solon Borglum, ca. 1900 |
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| Born | December 22, 1868 Ogden, Utah |
| Died | January 31, 1922 (aged 53) Stamford, Connecticut |
| Nationality | American |
| Field | Sculpture |
| Influenced | Rene Paul Chambellan, Dina Melicov |
Solon Hannibal de la Mothe Borglum (December 22, 1868 – January 31, 1922)[1] was an American sculptor. He is most noted for his depiction of frontier life, and especially his experience with cowboys and native Americans.
He was awarded the Croix de Guerre,[2] for his work at Les Foyers du Soldat.[3]
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Born in Ogden, Utah, Borglum was the younger brother of Gutzon Borglum and uncle of Lincoln Borglum, the two men most responsible for the creation of the carvings at Mount Rushmore.
The son of Mormon Danish immigrants who settled on the great plains, he grew up in the Fremont, Nebraska and Omaha [4] and spent his early years as a rancher in western Nebraska.[5]
Borglum studied under Louis Rebisso at the Cincinnati Art Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio and with Emmanuel Frémiet in Paris.[6] Broglum received a silver medal at the Exposition Universelle (1900) and another at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY [7]
He moved to the Silvermine neighborhood of New Canaan, Connecticut, where he helped found the "Knockers Club" of artists. His brother, Gutzon, lived in nearby Stamford, Connecticut from 1910 to 1920.[8]
Borglum married in 1898, and he and his wife, Emma, spent the summer of 1899 at the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota. Though he later lived in Paris and New York City and achieved a reputation as one of America's notable sculptors, it was his depictions of frontier life, and especially his experience with cowboys and Native American peoples, which was the basis of his reputation.[9]
In 1920, he establish the School of American Sculpture in New York City.[10] He ran the school and gave many lectures on art until his death after an appendectomy in January 1922.[11] 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, oversaw the exhibition of his artwork, and in 1974 published his biography Solon H. Borglum: A Man Who Stands Alone.
His papers are held at the University of Utah,[12] and the Archives of American Art.[13]
Two of his works are located in Jersey City, New Jersey. His sculpture Buffalo and Bears is in Leonard Gordon Park in the city's Heights section[14] and his Soldiers and Sailors Victory Monument stands in front of City Hall downtown.
Borglum sculpted a larger than life bronze equestrian statue for the Bucky O'Neill Monument, Rough Rider at the Yavapai County Court House Plaza in Prescott, Arizona.[15] Teddy Roosevelt had persuaded Buckey O'Neill to join the Rough Riders and he was killed at the Battle of San Juan Hill. Borglum's statue Cowboy at Rest is also located on the grounds of the Yavapai County Court House in Prescott, Arizona.[16]
Other of Borglum's pieces can be found at the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming, including Evening, a depiction of a cowboy leaning against his unsaddled horse at the end of the day.
Two of Borglum's sculptures, Inspiration and Apiration, which depict Native American men, stand in the front courtyard of St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, in the EEast Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, flanking the front gate.
Black and white photos of Cowboy Mounting, Lost in a Blizzard (in marble), and Tamed can be found in Caffin's book.[17]
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