| James Earle Fraser |
Article Index for James |
Website Links For James |
Information AboutJames Earle Fraser |
This article is about James Earle Fraser, the American sculptor. For the Canadian historian, see James E. Fraser . James Earle Fraser ( November 4 , 1876 – October 11 , 1953 ) was an American Sculptor , born in Winona, Minnesota . Fraser's father was an engineer working for the railroads as they expanded across the American West . As a result young James was exposed to the frontier life and particularly to the natives who were being ever pushed further west or being confined to reservations. These early memories were to find expression in his work as an artist, particularly in two of his best known works, the powerful and often copied, " End Of The Trail " and the Indian Head/Buffalo nickel. Thomas Fraser, James' father, being one of the Anglo-Americans closest to the event (he was surveying Yellowstone at the time), was part of a group sent out to recover the remains of the 7th Cavalry following General George Armstrong Custer 's debacle at Little Bighorn on June 15 , 1876 , just a few months before Fraser's birth. LIFE AND CAREER Fraser began following his chosen path by carving figures from pieces of limestone scavenged from a stone quarry close to his home near Mitchell, South Dakota . After it became apparent to the family that he was serious about following sculpture as a career Fraser, 14 at the time, whose family had by then relocated to Chicago, began working as an assistant to sculptor Richard Bock and attending classes at the Art Institute Of Chicago . He was fortunate in that he arrived at in time to participate in the work that was afforded to all sculptors in Chicago at the time by the arrival of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the massive amount of sculpture, particularly architectural sculpture that accompanied it. In 1895 Bock helped his assistant gain admission to the École Des Beaux-Arts in Paris , where Fraser worked under well-known French sculptor Alexandre Falguière . It was while he was working and studying in Paris that Fraser came to the attention of Augustus Saint Gaudens who was always looking for capable assistants. St. Gaudens was in Paris at that time, and engaged Fraser to assist him on his General Sherman Monument, which was eventually erected at the Fifth Avenue entrance to Central Park. ]] ]] Having worked for Saint Gaudens for four years, 1902 found Fraser leaving his master and setting up his own studio in New York, where he was to maintain a studio for over half a century. Shortly thereafter he began teaching at the Art Students League. Saint Gauden's effect on his work at this time was profound, and much of his early works were bas-relief portraits; frequently of people referred to him by the always over-booked Saint Gaudens. At that time Fraser also developed a reputation as a numismatist, creating his best-known and certainly his most circulated work – the Indian Head Or "Buffalo" Nickel – in 1913. Almost as well known in its day, but largely overlooked now, was his Victory Medal produced in 1919 to commemorate the closing of the First World War. Over 5 million were struck at that time. In 1913 Fraser married a former student of his, Laura Gardin Fraser , who remained his partner for the rest of his life and was a highly respected sculptor in her own right. It was for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915 that Fraser produced his most recognized work, the doleful "End of the Trail." Fraser was later to remark that he should have copyrighted the image and that many people, painters, print and calendar makers and even other sculptors, made more of this work than he did. During the early years of the 20th Century his style also changed from the realistic style that he had inherited from Saint Gaudens to a more modern style, one with smoother lines, less complicated silhouettes and less detailed surfaces. However, although Fraser had several pieces in the Armory Show of 1913 and despite the fact that he was considered among the ranks of sculpture’s "modernists" at the time, he quickly feel out of step with the artists who continued working towards an increasingly abstract style. Following the end of the First World War Fraser’s attention turned to larger works, public monuments and architectural sculpture. Although by the time the 1930s were s Fraser’s style of realism was no longer in vogue and the use architectural sculpture was no longer called for, he none-the-less stayed in demand. His last major installation, two large groups, "The Peaceful Arts" for the Arlington Memorial Bridge in Washington D.C. had in fact been sculpted years before but had seen their installation delayed because of the Second World War. Muralist Barry Faulkner, a friend of Fraser’s from their days in Paris together described Fraser like this: "His character was like a good piece of Scotch tweed, handsome, durable and warm." Wilkonson, References PUBLIC MONUMENTS
SELECTED ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURE
IMAGES |
|
|