Carl Conrads

The American Volunteer, at the 1876 Centennial Exposition. Installed at Antietam National Cemetery in 1880.

Carl H. Conrads (February 26, 1839, Breisig, Germany - May 24, 1920, Hartford, Connecticut)[1] was an American sculptor best known for his work on Civil War monuments and his two works in the National Statuary Hall Collection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. He was also known as Charles Conrads.[2]

Biography

He was born in Sinzig-on-the-Rhine, the son of Heinrich Joseph Conrads and Johanna Maria Catherina Fleischer. His father was mayor of their town until removed from office by the Prussians in 1850. In 1853 his parents and brother Robert emigrated to Texas, where they became farmers and furnituremakers.[3] Carl remained in Munich and received a diploma from the Koeniglich Bayerische Akademie der Bildenden Kunste.[2] He emigrated to New York in 1860,[4] and served as an artilleryman in the 20th New York Volunteers during the American Civil War.[5] He moved to Hartford, Connecticut in 1866 to work for James G. Batterson at the New England Granite Works, where he worked until 1903.[2]

A reference from 1879:

Another German artist, Carl Conrads, has been for twelve years connected with the Hartford Granite Company [sic]. He is perhaps over-modest regarding his work as a sculptor, which is surely very good of its kind. Among his best designs are the figures on the Antietam Monument. In 1871 he returned to Munich for a short visit, availing himself of the opportunity for still further study. As a designer of monuments, his work stands high.[6]

Sculptor and sculpture historian Lorado Taft said of him: "a German of good training, has identified himself with sculpture in granite, and has done much creditable work well adapted to the requirements of that ungrateful material." [7]

Noteworthy among his granite works are his colossal American Volunteer statue at Antietam National Cemetery in Sharpsburg, Maryland; his seated figure of Morality on the National Monument to the Forefathers in Plymouth, Massachusetts – "said to be the largest solid granite monument in the world;"[8] and his Alexander Hamilton statue in Central Park, New York City.[9]

Selected works


Civil War monuments

Title Image Year Location/GPS Coordinates Material Dimensions Notes
Soldiers' Monument,[31]
1868 Granby Green,
3 East Granby Road,
Granby, Connecticut
41°57′13″N 72°47′21″W / 41.9536°N 72.7891°W		 Brownstone Statue:

Monument:
approx. 21 ft (6.4 m)		 George Keller, architect
Part of Granby Center Historic District.[32]
Knight Hospital Monument[33] 1870 Evergreen Cemetery,
92 Winthrop Avenue,
New Haven, Connecticut
41°18′12″N 72°56′43″W / 41.3032°N 72.9453°W		 Granite Statue:

Monument:
approx. 26 ft (7.92 m)		 Dedicated to the 204 Union soldiers who died while in the hospital's care.
Soldiers' Monument[34] 1872 Main & Bartlett Streets,
Portland, Connecticut
41°35′27″N 72°37′28″W / 41.5908°N 72.6244°W		 Brownstone Statue:

Monument:
33 ft (10.06 m)
Soldiers' Monument [35]
1873 Meriden City Hall,
East Main & Catlin Streets,
Meriden, Connecticut
41°32′11″N 72°47′52″W / 41.5364°N 72.7977°W		 Granite Statue:
7 ft (2.13 m)
Monument:
approx. 45 ft (13.72 m)
The Soldiers' Monument[36] 1875 Chelsea Parade Green,
Washington & Williams Streets,
Norwich, Connecticut
41°32′13″N 72°05′01″W / 41.5369°N 72.0836°W		 Granite Statue:
12 ft (3.66 m)
Monument:
27 ft 6 in (8.38 m)		 Octagonal pedestal.
The American Volunteer (statue),
U.S. Soldier Monument[37][38]
1876
Dedicated 1880		 Antietam National Cemetery,
Sharpsburg, Maryland
39°27′33″N 77°44′28″W / 39.4592°N 77.7411°W		 Granite Statue:
21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
Monument:
44 ft 7 in (13.59 m)		 Conrads, sculptor; James W. Pollette, carver; George Keller, architect.
The American Volunteer was exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exposition.
Soldiers Monument[39] 1876 Courthouse Park,
Cortland County Courthouse,
Cortland, New York
42°35′58″N 76°10′39″W / 42.5994°N 76.1776°W		 Bronze statue
Granite pedestal		 "Centennial Offering of Cortland County in Memory of Those Who Fought
in Defence of the Union 1861. 1865. - A. D. 1876."
Signed: C. Conrads.
Soldiers' Monument[40] 1877 Center Park,
Main & Center Streets,
Manchester, Connecticut
41°46′31″N 72°31′20″W / 41.7753°N 72.5221°W		 Bronze statue
Granite pedestal		 Statue:

Monument:
approx. 15 ft 6 in (4.72 m)
Wolcottville Soldier's Monument[41] 1879 Coe Memorial Park,
South Main & Litchfield Streets,
Torrington, Connecticut
41°47′59″N 73°07′18″W / 41.7997°N 73.1216°W		 Tan granite Statue:

Monument:
16 ft (4.88 m)		 The statue is one-third-size copy of The American Volunteer.
Cylindrical pedestal (unusual). : Made by the New England Granite Works
Soldiers' Monument[42]
1880 Town Green,
Main & Academy Streets,
Southington, Connecticut
41°36′04″N 72°52′42″W / 41.6011°N 72.8783°W		 "White" granite
Blue granite columns		 Statue:

Monument:
20 ft (6.1 m)
Soldiers' Monument[43]
1883 East Main Street & Broadway Avenue
Mystic in Stonington, Connecticut
41°21′10″N 71°57′51″W / 41.3529°N 71.9641°W		 Tan granite Statue:

Monument:
approx. 19 ft (5.8 m)		 Part of Mystic Bridge Historic District.[44]
Soldiers and Sailors Monument[45][46]
1883 Geneva & Haverling Streets,
Bath, New York
42°20′24″N 77°19′03″W / 42.3400°N 77.3174°W		 Bronze statue
Originally a fountain statue at
New York State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, Bath.

"Manchester" model.
Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument[47]
1902 Taunton Green,
Taunton, Massachusetts
41°54′07″N 71°05′36″W / 41.9020°N 71.0932°W		 Granite Statue:
8 ft (2.44 m)
Monument:
22 ft (6.71 m)
Soldiers' Monument (attributed work)[48] 1912 93 Grove Street,
Putnam, Connecticut
41°54′44″N 71°54′10″W / 41.9123°N 71.9029°W		 Bronze statue
Granite pedestal		 Statue:

Monument:
approx. 19 ft (5.79 m)
Civil War Monument (attributed work)[49] 1915-16 Monument & Smith Streets
opposite Fort Griswold State Park,
Groton, Connecticut
41°21′18″N 72°04′43″W / 41.3549°N 72.0787°W		 Granite Statue:

Monument:
approx. 22 ft (6.71 m)		 Donated by Robert A. Gray.

References

  1. ↑ Connecticut, Deaths and Burials Index, 1650-1934.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Ransom, David F. (1996). "Connecticut's Monuments: An Essay". Connecticut Historical Society.
  3. ↑ Lonn Taylor & David B. Warren, Texas Furniture: The Cabinetmakers and Their Work, 1840-1880, Volume 2 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2012), p. 265.
  4. ↑ Opitz, Glenn B., Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Books, Poughkeepsie, NY, 1988
  5. ↑ "The Sculptor Carl Conrad" (sic), The New York Times, January 21, 1890.
  6. ↑ Harry Willard French, Art and Artists in Connecticut (Boston: Lee and Shepard, Publishers, 1879), pp. 162-63.
  7. ↑ Taft, Lorado, The History of American Sculpture, The Macmillan Company, New York,1925 p. 502
  8. ↑ http://www.mass.gov/dcr/stewardship/rmp/downloads/rmpforefathers.pdf
  9. ↑ Lederer, Joseph, photographs by Arley Bondarin, ‘’All Around Town: A Walking Guide to Outdoor Sculpture in New York City’’, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1975 p. 148
  10. ↑ Cedar Hill Cemetery Foundation
  11. ↑ Oswin Welles Memorial gets a facelift, November 2007. from Connecticut Department of Culture and Tourism.
  12. ↑ Laurent Clerc from Waymarking.com
  13. ↑ Moorhead Column from Allegheny Cemetery.
  14. ↑ Alexander Hamilton from Central Park Conservancy.
  15. ↑ Plaster Hamilton statue.
  16. ↑ Thayer Monument
  17. ↑ General Halleck from Art and Architecture - San Francisco.
  18. ↑ Morality from Flickr.
  19. ↑ Embarkation from Flickr.
  20. ↑ General John Stark from New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources.
  21. ↑ John B. Ford from SIRIS.
  22. ↑ "C. Conrads" is listed as the sculptor in The National Cyclopedia of American Biography (1906), vol. XIII, p. 505.
  23. ↑ "Carl Conrad's [sic] clay model of his Daniel Webster has been sent to Carrara, Italy, to be reproduced in marble for the Capitol at Washington." --"Current News of the Fine Arts," The New York Times, September 30, 1894.
  24. ↑ Murdock, Myrtle Cheney, National Statuary Hall in the Nation’s Capitol, Monumental Press, Washington D.C., 1955 p. 54-55
  25. ↑ Samuel J. Tilden Monument from SIRIS.
  26. ↑ "The Archangel Gabriel," The New York Times, February 16, 1896.
  27. ↑ "The Archangel Gabriel," The New York Times, February 16, 1896.
  28. ↑ Thacher Angel photo from Troy Record.
  29. ↑ Minute Man from Flickr.
  30. ↑ Keney Park Entrance Gates from SIRIS.
  31. ↑ Granby Soldiers' Monument from Connecticut Historical Society.
  32. ↑ NRHP Nomination, Granby Center Historic District
  33. ↑ Knight Hospital Monument from Connecticut Historical Society.
  34. ↑ Portland Soldiers' Monument from Connecticut Historical Society.
  35. ↑ Meridan Soldiers' Monument from Babcock-Smith House Museum.
  36. ↑ Norwich Soldiers' Monument from Connecticut Historical Society.
  37. ↑ U.S. Soldier Monument from National Park Service.
  38. ↑ Soderberg, Susan Cooke, ‘’Lest We Forget: A Guide to Civil War Monuments in Maryland’’, White Mane Publishing Co., Inc., Shippensburg PA, 1995 pp. 93-94
  39. ↑ Cortland Soldiers Monument from Civil War Monuments in New York State.
  40. ↑ Manchester Soldiers' Monument from Connecticut Historical Society.
  41. ↑ Wolcottville Soldiers' Monument from Connecticut Historical Society.
  42. ↑ Southington Soldiers' Monument from Connecticut Historical Society.
  43. ↑ Mystic in Stonington Soldiers' Monument from Connecticut Historical Society.
  44. ↑ Mystic Bridge Historic District
  45. ↑ Bath Soldiers and Sailors Monument from Civil War Monuments in New York State.
  46. ↑ Bath Soldiers and Sailors Monument from SIRIS.
  47. ↑ Tauton Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument from Babcock-Smith Museum.
  48. ↑ Putnam Soldiers' Monument from Connecticut Historical Society.
  49. ↑ Groton Civil War Monument from Babcock-Smith House Museum.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carl Conrads.