We are going to
continue talking about the American sculpture. We will focus
on two famous sculptors and also name some of their works. We
mentioned them in our first post about the sculpture, but thanks to
this post, you are going to know more about them. They are Gutzon
Borglum
and David Smith.
We have to say that they were painters too, but these artists are
better known for their sculptures.
1. GUTZON BORGLUM (1867- 1941)
He was born near Bear Lake (Idaho) on March 27, 1867, but he moved with his family to Fremont (Nebraska) when he was seven years old. From an early age, he became interested in art and he learned it by attending a private school in Kansas. In 1888, he made a portrait of the General John C. Fremont. Thanks to this, he gained popularity and from this moment, the development of his career begun.
He was born near Bear Lake (Idaho) on March 27, 1867, but he moved with his family to Fremont (Nebraska) when he was seven years old. From an early age, he became interested in art and he learned it by attending a private school in Kansas. In 1888, he made a portrait of the General John C. Fremont. Thanks to this, he gained popularity and from this moment, the development of his career begun.
Some years later,
he went to Paris, where he decided to study art at the Julien
Academy
and the École
des Beaux-Arts. In
this city, he met the famous French sculptor Auguste
Rodin and
he abandoned painting for sculpture. In 1896, he went to England
where he got much success and finally he returned to the United
States in 1901. He decided to focus on the style of “American”
art, so he made sculptures as Mares
of Diomenes
(1904),
which was the first American sculpture to be purchased by the
Metropolitan
Museum of Art
in New York,
and
the marble bust
of Abraham Lincoln (U.S.
Capitol, 1908).
In these works the “emotional impact of volume” can be observed.
He also created the equestrian statue of the General Philip Sheridan (Washington, 1908), the Seated Lincoln (1911) and the Wars of America (1926), both in New Jersey.
 |
| Mares of Diomedes |
 |
| Bust of Abraham Lincoln |
He also created the equestrian statue of the General Philip Sheridan (Washington, 1908), the Seated Lincoln (1911) and the Wars of America (1926), both in New Jersey.
 |
| General Philip Sheridan |
 |
| The Sited Lincoln |
 |
| The Wars of America |
The real success of Borglum came when he wanted to carve mountains. He began to design a scale of Lee, Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson in the Stone Mountain (Georgia, 1923), but he was dismissed due to problems with the employers who directed the project. Thanks to this, he could do his most important work, the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial Monument (Dakota, 1927). This work or art appeared when the South Dakota historian suggested to create a sculpture in the Black Hills. He accepted and moved with his family to South Dakota to carry out the project. This work was to sculpt the faces of four important presidents in U.S. history: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt. This monument also created some problems with the President of Mount Rushmore, but finally, the relationship ended well. Borglum son's, Lincoln Borglum, also worked in this sculpture while his father travelled to Washington to get money to work on other projects and he finished it when his father died in 1941, so Gutzon Borglum never saw his work completed.
 |
| Stone Mountain |
 |
| Mount Rushmore |
2. DAVID SMITH (1906- 1965)
He was born in on March 9, 1906 in Indiana and in 1921 he moved to Ohio. In 1925, he started working in an automobile factory in Indiana, where he learned the technique that he used during his career (soldering and spot-welding). In 1926, he moved to New York, he met his wife Dorothy Denher and he decided to study at The Art Students League school, where he began to add three-dimensional elements to his paintings. Thanks to John Graham (artist and writer), he met important artists in New York and also welded metal sculptures of Pablo Picasso and Julio Gonzalez and between 1932 and 1933 he worked in a welding shop in Brooklyn.
His mature period began in the 40s. In those years, he experimented
with new materials that he hadn't previously used as marble, cast
aluminum and wood. His works were about the war, but also music and
dance.
In the following decade, he won two Guggenheim
awards. With the money received of this award, he could make works of
higher quality and size. An example of this it is the
Hudson River Landscape
sculpture (1951).
 |
| Hudson River Landscape |
Smith wanted to
represent human and universal themes. A representation of this is the
Agricola
series
(1951-1957) formed of 16 sculptures and Tanktotem
series
(1952-1960) formed of 10 sculptures. In these achievements can be observed the
use of industrial objects and assembly to build them. Most of the
artistic life of the sculptor was to create different types of
“series” and name them with the material that he had used or the
subject represented.
 |
| Agrícola series |
 |
| Tanktotem series |
At the end of the 50s, due to the success of this career, the Museum of Modern Art exhibited 34 of his sculptures.
In the 60s, the
end of his career arrived. In this period he made the Cubi
series
(1961-1965)
formed of 28 sculptures and the most famous. They were made of
stainless steel and geometric figures.
 |
| Cubic series |
In 1962, at an
art festival in Italy to which he was invited, Smith created 27
sculptures that formed the Voltron
series (1962-1963).
He got this name because he used the materials of an abandoned
factory in Voltri.
Finally, he died
in Vermont (1965) in a car accident when he was on one of his best
artistic level.
 |
| Voltron series |
As a conclusion,
we can say that they are two artists who created their works in the
same century, but they are totally different. On the one hand,
Borglum preferred to represent realistic things to understand,
especially, the history of the United States, while Smith felt better
with abstract art to let the imagination run free. On the other hand,
the materials used also had nothing to do: one used bronze and marble
or stone and the other was decanted from the metal.
Some prefer the first one because it is the traditional sculpture,
and other the second one because it is more modern. Which one do you prefer?
We wait for your answers and hope you have enjoy this post! See you soon.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Information:
Pictures:
-Mares
of Diomedes: http://travelphotobase.com/i/USDC/DCHC157.JPG
-Bust
of Abraham Lincoln: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Lincoln_bust_Gutzon_Borglum.jpg
-General
Philip Sheridan:
http://dctourguideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Sheridan2-1024x868.jpg
-Wars
of America:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1035/562951710_af528f8c24.jpg
-Stone
Mountain:
http://www.stonemountainpark.com/~/media/ParkContent/SMP_COM/SlideShows/History-and-Nature/historynature-ss-confederatememorialcarving-close.ashx
-Mt.
Rushmore National Memorial Monument:
http://headsup.boyslife.org/files/2015/02/33603_h.jpg
-David
Smith:
http://thefreegeorge.com/thefreegeorge/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/david-smith-1962.jpg
-Hudson
River Landscape:
https://paulsutinen.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/54-14_smith_imageprimacy_compressed_600.jpg
-Agricola
series:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2727/4449614008_3cac55c090_b.jpg
-Tanktotem series: http://www.areaofdesign.com/americanicons/smith/tanktotem.jpg
-Tanktotem series: http://www.areaofdesign.com/americanicons/smith/tanktotem.jpg
-Cubi
series:
http://www.areaofdesign.com/americanicons/smith/cubi.jpg
-Voltron
series:
https://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/newyork/mountainville/3359.jpg
