Editing Solon Borglum

{{Short description|American sculptor (1868–1922)}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Solon Borglum
| image         = Solon Borglum.jpg
| caption       = (ca. 1900)
| birth_name    =
| birth_date    = {{birth date |1868|12|22|}}
| birth_place   = [[Ogden, Utah]], US
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1922|01|31|1868|12|22}}
| death_place   = [[Stamford, Connecticut]], US
| known_for     = [[Sculpture]]
| training      =
| movement      =
| notable_works =
| patrons       =
| awards        = 
}}

'''Solon Hannibal de la Mothe Borglum''' (December 22, 1868 – January 31, 1922)<ref>{{cite journal | author=Carrington, M. Marquette | title=Solon H. Borglum, Artist, Soldier and Patriot | journal=Art and Archaeology: The Arts Throughout the Ages | volume=13 | issue=3 | date=March 1922 | page=144 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iscUAAAAYAAJ&q=solon+borglum&pg=PA144 | accessdate=2010-03-22}}</ref> was an American [[sculpture|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]] by France<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/01/31/109336514.pdf|title=Solon H. Borglum Dies after Operation| work=The New York Times|date=January 31, 1922}}</ref> for his work with ''Les Foyers du Soldat'' service clubs during [[World War I]].<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/99613500/ Library of Congress, Les Foyers du Soldat]</ref>

==Early life==

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]].  Solon's [[Danes|Danish]] immigrant father James Borglum was a [[Mormonism and polygamy|Mormon polygamist]], being married to two sisters, Ida and Christina Mikkelsen.  When the family &ndash; each wife had two children &ndash; moved to Nebraska they could no longer openly be husband and wives, so Solon and Gutzon's mother Christina was listed as the family servant.  When the father moved the family again to [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]] in 1871, so that he could attend medical school, the decision was made to leave Christina behind. The children were told to never talk about her again. Solon was about three years old at the time.<ref>Howard Shaff and Audrey Karl Shaff, ‘’Six Wars at a Time: the life and times of Gutzon Borglum, Sculptor of Mt. Rushmore’’, (Sioux Falls, South Dakota: The Center For Western Studies, 1985) pp. 17-20.</ref>  Solon grew up in  [[Fremont, Nebraska]] and [[Omaha]]<ref>[http://www.anb.org/articles/17/17-00086.html?a=1&n=Solon%20Borglum&d=10&ss=0&q=1 "Solon Borglum"] on the American National Biography Online (subscription required)</ref> and spent his early years as a [[rancher]] in western [[Nebraska]].<ref>{{cite journal |author= Paller, Orvill |title= I Have a Question: Artists James T. Harwood, Gutzon and Solon Borglum, and Cyrus Dallin are said by some to be associated with the Church. Were they members? |journal= [[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] |date=October 1990 |pages= 52–54 |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1990/10/i-have-a-question?lang=eng |accessdate= 2013-02-05 }}</ref>

Solon’s father was a physician but had worked as a wood-carver, which almost certainly influenced Solon’s older brother, Gutzon, to pursue a career as an artist. Having shown little interest in formal schooling, the younger son spent his teens working on his father’s ranch near [[Fremont, Nebraska]]. He showed a talent for drawing horses, and his careful studies of their movements prompted Gutzon to encourage Solon to pursue art as a profession.

==Education==
In 1893 Solon went to Omaha to study with [[J. Laurie Wallace]], a former pupil of [[Thomas Eakins]]. Following this early, and evidently brief, formal training, he joined his brother Gutzon at his home in the Sierra Madre mountains. A personality clash with Gutzon’s first wife Lisa however, forced Solon to move on; he went to Los Angeles, where he painted portraits and to [[Santa Ana, California]], where he taught art privately. He had little success, however, and in November 1895 he traveled to [[Cincinnati, Ohio]], where he entered the Cincinnati Art Academy. One of his instructors, the sculptor [[Louis Rebisso]], encouraged him to try sculpting. His first effort was a sculpture of a group of horses based on observations and drawings he had made at the U.S. Mail stables in Cincinnati.<ref>Glenn B. Opitz, ed., ''Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers'' (Poughkeepsie, NY: Apollo, 1983), p. 88. {{ISBN|0938290029}}</ref>

[[File:Solon Borglum 1902.jpg|thumb|left|Borglum working, 1902]]

In 1898 the Art Academy awarded Borglum a scholarship that allowed him to go to Paris, where he matriculated at the [[Académie Julian]] as a student of [[Denys Puech]]. He met leading sculptors [[Emmanuel Fremiet]] and [[Augustus Saint-Gaudens]], who gave him further encouragement. Borglum received a silver medal at the [[Exposition Universelle (1900)]] and another at the [[Pan-American Exposition]] in [[Buffalo, NY]]<ref>Caffin, p. 149</ref>

==Later life==

In 1898, Borglum married, and Solon and his wife, Emma (née Vignal),<ref name="fa/LoC/shB">{{cite web |last1=Borglum |first1=Solon Hannibal |title=Solon Hannibal Borglum papers, 1886-1928 |url=https://findingaids.loc.gov/db/search/xq/searchMferDsc04.xq?_id=loc.mss.eadmss.ms011086&_start=1&_lines=125 |website=hdl.loc.gov |access-date=28 August 2024 |date=1969}}</ref> 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 [[cowboy]]s and [[native Americans in the United States|Native American]] peoples, which was the basis of his reputation.<ref>[http://nbmaa.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/solon-hannibal-borglum-sculptor-of-the-prairie/  ''Solon Hannibal Borglum: Sculptor of the Prairie'']  [[New Britain Museum of American Art]]</ref> 
 
In 1901, Solon and his wife, Emma had a son, Paul Arnold Borglum.<ref name="DAM/d-1968-11">{{cite web |title=Deaths |url=https://archive.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/article/1968/11/1/deaths |website=Dartmouth Alumni Magazine |access-date=28 August 2024 |date=November 1968 |quote=The Complete Archive}}</ref><ref name="cornell/Register_1926">{{cite web |title=1925-1926 |url=https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/22320/2/Register_1925_26.pdf |website=The Register |publisher=Cornell eCommons |access-date=28 August 2024}}</ref>

On 9 December 1903, Solon and his wife, Emma had a daughter, Monica (née Borglum) Davies.<ref name="LoC/mm77013292">{{cite web |title=Solon Hannibal Borglum papers, |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/mm77013292/ |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA |access-date=28 August 2024}}</ref><ref name="aaa.si/MBD">{{cite web |title=Oral history interview with Monica Borglum Davies, 1990 May 8-August 27 |url=https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-monica-borglum-davies-11636 |website=www.aaa.si.edu [[Archives of American Art]] |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] |access-date=28 August 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1906, Borglum moved to the [[Silvermine, Connecticut|Silvermine]] neighborhood of [[New Canaan, Connecticut]], where he helped found the "[[Silvermine, Connecticut#Silvermine Art Guild|Knockers Club]]" of artists. His brother, Gutzon, lived in nearby [[Stamford, Connecticut]] from 1910 to 1920.<ref>Davies, pp. 182-84.</ref>

In 1911, Borglum was elected into the [[National Academy of Design]] as an Associate member.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalacademy.org/academy/national-academicians/ |title=National Academicians &#124; National Academy &#124; National Academy Museum |access-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314023614/http://www.nationalacademy.org/academy/national-academicians/ |archive-date=2016-03-14 }}</ref>

During [[World War I]], Borglum was in France, serving as secretary of the YMCA, and then taught sculpture at the [[American Expeditionary Forces]] Art Training Center in {{ill|Bellevue (Hauts-de-Seine)|fr|Bellevue (quartier de Meudon)}}, [[Seine-et-Oise]],<ref name="obUP/AEF-ATC-1919-6">{{cite web |author1=France Army |author2=United States Army |title=Report of the American Expeditionary Forces Art Training Center, Bellevue, Seine-et-Oise, March-June, 1919 |url=https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=ha011715558 |website=[[The Online Books Page]] |access-date=28 August 2024 |date=June 1919}}</ref> outside Paris.<ref name="NAD/shB">{{cite web |title=Solon Hannibal Borglum |url=https://nationalacademy.emuseum.com/people/1529/solon-hannibal-borglum |website=nationalacademy.emuseum.com |publisher=[[National Academy of Design]] |access-date=28 August 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

Circa 1918, in New York City, he opened a second<ref name="PM/shB">{{cite web |title=Solon Borglum |url=https://phippenartmuseum.org/project/solon-borglum/ |website=[[Prescott, Arizona#Places of interest and culture|Phippen Museum]] |access-date=28 August 2024 |date=23 April 2020}}</ref> studio<ref name="SI/shB">{{cite web |title=Solon H. Borglum |url=https://americanart.si.edu/artist/solon-h-borglum-509 |website=americanart.si.edu [[American Art Museum]] |publisher=[[Smithsonian]] |access-date=28 August 2024 |language=en}}</ref> and established the [[American School of Sculpture]].<ref>Davies, pp.219-25.</ref> He ran the school and gave many lectures on art until his death after an [[appendectomy]] complicated by his war wounds<ref>{{cite web |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/01/31/109336514.pdf |publisher=New York Times |date=Jan 31, 1922 |title=Solon H. Borglum Dies After Operation}}</ref> in January 1922.<ref>Davies, p. 242.</ref> 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,<ref name="nyT/AMD">{{cite news |title=A. Mervyn Davies, an Author And Ex‐Secretary for Pulitzer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/12/25/archives/a-mervyn-davies-an-author-and-exsecretary-for-pulitzer.html |access-date=28 August 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=25 December 1976}}</ref> oversaw the exhibition of his artwork. In 1974 they published his biography ''Solon H. Borglum: A Man Who Stands Alone''.

Borglum's papers are held at the [[Archives of American Art]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/solon-h-borglum-and-borglum-family-papers-6772|title = A Finding Aid to the Solon H. Borglum and Borglum family papers, 1864-2002 &#124; Digitized Collection}}</ref> and the Library of Congress.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://lccn.loc.gov/mm77013292|title=Solon Hannibal Borglum papers}}</ref>

==Works==
Borglum created several animal groups while in Paris, including ''Lassoing Wild Horses'' and ''The Stampede of Wild Horses'', which were shown at the [[Salon (Paris)|Paris Salon]] in 1898 and 1899, respectively.

The year 1903 was a banner one for the artist. He had a one-man show of thirty-two small sculptures at the Keppel Gallery, New York. In his ground-breaking ''History of American Sculpture'' published that year, [[Lorado Taft]] devoted several pages to Borglum,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=eSGhAAAAMAAJ ''History of American Sculpture''] (New York: Macmillan, 1903), pp. 478-83.</ref> and he was the subject of an entire chapter in [[Charles Henry Caffin|Charles Caffin]]’s 1903 book ''American Masters of Sculpture''.<ref>Caffin, chap. 10, pp. 147-62.</ref> In 1904 Borglum won the gold medal at the [[Louisiana Purchase Exposition]] held in [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]].

Borglum received several major public commissions, including an equestrian monument of General [[John Brown Gordon]] for the grounds of the [[Georgia State Capitol]] in [[Atlanta]] (1907), one of [[Rough Riders|Rough Rider]] [[Buckey O'Neill]] for the plaza in front of the courthouse in [[Prescott, Arizona]] (1907), and ''[[The Pioneer (Visalia, California)|The Pioneer]]'', which was erected in the Court of Honor at the [[Panama–Pacific International Exposition]] in [[San Francisco]] (1915).

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<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/pages/L_Pages/Leonard_Gordon_Park.htm |title=Leonard Gordon Park |access-date=2011-11-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110161947/http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/pages/L_Pages/Leonard_Gordon_Park.htm |archive-date=2011-11-10 }}</ref>

In 1974 a group of the sculptor's descendants gave twenty bronzes, marbles, original plasters, portfolios of drawings and paintings to the [[New Britain Museum of American Art]]. Today the Museum houses the largest repository of Borglum's works.

Borglum sculpted a larger than life bronze [[equestrian statue]] for the ''[[Bucky O'Neill Monument]], Rough Rider'' at the [[Yavapai County, Arizona|Yavapai County Court House Plaza]] in [[Prescott, Arizona]].<ref>[http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=W2610L0U80281.2019&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!16360~!111&ri=2&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Borglum,+Solon+Hannibal,+1868-1922,+sculptor.&index=AUTHOR&uindex=&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ri=2 Art inventories catalog Smithsonian American art museum]</ref> [[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.<ref>[http://sharlot.org/archives/history/dayspast/text/2007_12_09.shtml ''The remarkable story of Solon Borglum'' (Sharlot Hall Museum)]</ref>

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 ''Aspiration'', which depict Native American men, stand in the front courtyard of [[St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery]], in the [[East Village, Manhattan|East 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.<ref>Caffin, p. 152, 160</ref>

'''List of works'''<ref>Davies, pp.267-269</ref>

{{col-begin}}{{col-break}}
*[[Atlanta, Georgia]] &ndash; [[John Brown Gordon statue]]
*[[Brooklyn, New York]], &ndash;
**[[Brooklyn Museum]] &ndash; ''Charles A. Schieren'' &nbsp;
**''Truman J. Backus Memorial''
*[[Danbury, Connecticut]] &ndash; ''Taps''
*[[Lynchburg, Virginia]] &ndash; ''Private Jones''
*[[Jersey City, New Jersey]] &ndash; ''Buffalo and Bears''
*[[New Britain, Connecticut]], &ndash;
**[[New Britain Museum of American Art]], &ndash;
***''One in a Thousand'' &nbsp; 
***''Our Slave'' &nbsp; 
***''Bear on Haunches'' &nbsp; 
***''Bear with Raised Head'' &nbsp; 
***''Bear'' &nbsp; 
***''Just Born'' &nbsp; 
***''Burial on the Plains'' &nbsp; 
***''Blizzard'' &nbsp; 
***''The Waters'' &nbsp; 
***''The Indian (A Study)'' &nbsp; 
***''Indian Chase Love'' &nbsp; 
***''God's Command'' &nbsp; 
***''The Heavens'' &nbsp; 
***''Paul'' &nbsp; 
***''Monica'' &nbsp; 
***''Cowboy at Rest'' &nbsp; 
***''Pioneer in a Storm'' &nbsp; 
***''Sioux Indian Buffalo Dance'' &nbsp; 
***''Benjamin Franklin'' &nbsp; 
***''Jacob Leisler'' &nbsp; 
***''Baby Edith'' &nbsp; 
***''In the Wind'' &nbsp;
{{col-break|gap=4em}}
*[[New Rochelle, New York]] &ndash; Jacob Leisler monument
*[[New York City, New York]] &ndash; ''Bates Tablet''
*[[Phoenix, Arizona]] &ndash; ''Michael Glen Cunniff''
*[[Portland, Oregon]] &ndash; ''Major William Clark''
*[[Prescott, Arizona]] &ndash; ''Captain William O'Neill''
*[[Topeka, Kansas]] &ndash; ''James Edwin Hurley''
*[[Vicksburg, Mississippi]] &ndash; 
**''John Gregg''
**''Francis J. Herron''
**''Joseph A. Mower''
**''Giles A. Smith
**''William S. Smith''
**''Edward D. Tracy''
*[[Washington, D.C.]] &ndash;
**Pan-American Union Building &ndash; ''Condor'' and ''Eagle''
**''Hamilton Hamilton''
**''Simon Newcomb''
**''Thomas P. Ochiltree''
{{col-end}}

{{multiple image
 | align     = center
 | header    = Gallery of works by Solon Borglum
 | direction = horizontal
 | image1    = St._Mark's_Church_Solon_Borglum_Inspiration_and_Aspiration.jpg  
 | width1    = 225
 | caption1  = ''Inspiration'' and ''Aspiration'' [[St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery]], in [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]] 
 | image2    = Solon borglum crop.jpg
 | width2    = 173
 | caption2  = ''[[Bucky O'Neill Monument]], Rough Rider''  [[Prescott, Arizona]]
 | image3    = Gordonstatue crop.JPG
 | width3    = 185
 | caption3  = [[John Brown Gordon statue]], on the grounds of the [[Georgia State Capitol]]
 | image4    = 20-13-231-smith.jpg
 | width4    = 168
 | caption4  = Bust of [[Giles Alexander Smith|Giles A. Smith]] at [[Vicksburg National Military Park]]
 | image5    = 21-32-133-tracy.jpg
 | width5    = 177
 | caption5  = Bust of [[Edward D. Tracy]] at [[Vicksburg National Military Park]]
}}

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist|2}}

'''Bibliography'''
*{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=r8MnAAAAYAAJ |title= American masters of sculpture |first= Charles Henry|last= Caffin |publisher= Doubleday, Page & Company |year= 1903}}
*Davies, A. Mervyn  (1974). ''Solon H. Borglum: "A Man Who Stands Alone"'' (Chester, Connecticut: Pequot Press) {{ISBN|978-0-87106-140-9}}
*Dearinger, David B. (1999). ''New Britain Museum of American Art: Highlights of the Collection I'' (Prestel Verlag) {{ISBN|3-7913-2087-4}}
*{{cite EB1922|wstitle=Borglum, Solon Hannibal}}

'''Further reading'''
*Armstrong, Tom  (1976). ''200 Years of American Sculpture''. Boston: D.R. Godine. {{ISBN|978-0-87923-186-6}}
*Aronowitz,  Marguerite Madison  (2001) ''Art Treasures and Museums In and Around Prescott, Arizona''. Pine Castle Books. {{ISBN|978-0-9666615-1-4}}
*Craven, Wayne  (1968). ''Sculpture in America''. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell. {{ISBN|978-0-8453-4776-8}}
*{{cite book |title= Shaping the West: American Sculptors of the 19th Century |volume= 6 | first= Thayer |last= Tolles |publisher= University of Oklahoma Press |year= 2011 |isbn= 978-0-914738-66-4 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/solon-h-borglum-and-borglum-family-papers-6772 A finding aid to the Solon H. Borglum and Borglum family papers, 1864-2002 at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution]
* [https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/harriet-collins-allen-papers-relating-to-solon-borglum-9928 A finding aid to the Harriet Collins Allen papers relating to Solon Borglum, 1897-1925, at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution]
* [http://lccn.loc.gov/mm77013292 Solon Hannibal Borglum papers] at the [[Library of Congress]]
* [http://www.lib.utah.edu/collections/utah-artists/UAP-Solon-Borglum.php Solon H. Borglum bibliography] at the [[University of Utah]]
* [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/borglum_solon_h.html Solon H. Borglum] at [[ArtCyclopedia]]
* [http://www.askart.com/askart/b/solon_hannibal_borglum/solon_hannibal_borglum.aspx Solon Hannibal Borglum] at AskArt

{{Gutzon Borglum|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borglum, Solon Hannibal}}
[[Category:1868 births]]
[[Category:1922 deaths]]
[[Category:Artists of the American West]]
[[Category:Sculptors from Connecticut]]
[[Category:Artists from Nebraska]]
[[Category:Sculptors from Utah]]
[[Category:American people of Danish descent]]
[[Category:Artists from Ogden, Utah]]
[[Category:Monumental masons]]
[[Category:20th-century American sculptors]]
[[Category:20th-century American male artists]]
[[Category:19th-century American sculptors]]
[[Category:19th-century American male artists]]
[[Category:American male sculptors]]
[[Category:American recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)]]
[[Category:Students of Thomas Eakins]]