Description:

Borglum Gutzon



Gutzon Borglum, Mt. Rushmore Sculptor, Rare and Large Signed Photo of Unfinished Monument

 

Black and white photograph of the unfinished Mt. Rushmore monument signed, dedicated, and dated by sculptor Gutzon Borglum (1867-1941) as "to George Massrick (?) - / Sincerely - / Gutzon Borglum / 1938." The photograph is handsomely presented behind a beveled mat, glass, and gray-washed frame. Not examined out of frame. In near fine condition. Sight size of photograph is 12.75" x 9.75", and the overall frame size is 17.875" x 15.125" x 1".

 

This remarkable photograph shows Mt. Rushmore's sculptural grouping of American Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln in a stage of near completion. Borglum was approaching the end of his masterpiece. He had begun the project some 11 years before signing this photograph, in 1927, and it would continue until the sculptor's death from surgical complications in 1941.

 

Borglum, his Assistant-Sculptor, Chief Carver, and a 400-man crew dynamited, honeycombed, and hand-carved the 60-ft-tall presidential heads out of the granite face of Mt. Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota. George Washington's head was the first completed, in 1934; Jefferson's was finished in 1936, and Lincoln's in 1937.

 

This picture gives us a fascinating glimpse into the artistic process. The three finished presidents possess all of their instantly recognizable features, but only Roosevelt's roughly hewn brow line and nose are visible in this view. Scaffolding, ropes, and heavy-duty equipment are scattered next to and on the presidential heads, underscoring its state of incompletion. This photograph also reminds us that the project was always in flux. For example, Borglum's original plans called for head-to-waist carvings of the presidents, and an elaborate representation of the Louisiana Purchase and other territorial gains, but these plans were abandoned because of funding concerns. In addition, as late as 1937, Congress deliberated financing the addition of a fifth head, that of women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony.

 

Roosevelt's head was eventually dedicated one year after Borglum dedicated this photograph, in 1939. Work on Mt. Rushmore was fairly complete when the artist died, and ceased altogether in October 1941.

 

The son of Danish immigrants and Mormon converts, Gutzon Borglum studied painting and sculpture in California and France. Two hallmarks of his sculptural style are patriotic subject matter and monumental scale. Borglum had carved a 6-ton marble head of Lincoln, a bronze equestrian statue of General Philip Sheridan, and many other works before undertaking a massive bas relief carving of Confederate leaders at Stone Mountain, Georgia. Mt. Rushmore is his best known work.

 


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