Jakob Henrik Gerhard Fjelde (April 10, 1859 – May 5, 1896) was a Norwegian-born American sculptor.[1] He is remembered as both a prolific portraitist and the creator of public monuments. One of his better known works is the one dedicated to the 1st Minnesota Infantry (1897) located at Gettysburg Battlefield where its 262 members suffered 215 casualties.[2]
Jakob Fjelde | |
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| Born | Jakob Henrik Gerhard Fjelde April 10, 1859 Ålesund, Norway |
| Died | May 5, 1896 (aged 37) Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Occupation | sculptor |
| Children | Paul Fjelde |
| Relatives | Pauline Fjelde (sister) |
Background
editJakob Henrik Gerhard Fjelde was born at Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. His father, Paul Gerhard Michelet Fjelde (1827–1873), was a skilled carpenter and wood carver. He had moved to the United States in 1872, but died the following year. Jakob Fjelde was a pupil of Brynjulf Bergslien during 1878. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen from 1879 to 1881 and was a student of Vilhelm Bissen 1880–1882.
He traveled abroad, living in Rome from 1882 to 1884. Fjelde lived and worked to Bergen, Norway from 1884 until 1887 when he immigrated to the United States. After arriving in America he settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The following year he married the Danish-born Margrethe Madsen. They eventually had four children.[3] He was the father of sculptor Paul Fjelde and the brother of artist Pauline Fjelde. His grandsons included Ibsen scholar Rolf G. Fjelde. [4]
Career
editAt the Industrial Exposition in Minneapolis during 1889 and 1890, Fjelde presented 18 busts and relief portraits, including marble busts of Sven Oftedal and Georg Sverdrup, both of whom would serve as Presidents of Augsburg College and were founders of the Lutheran Free Church . At the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago during 1893, he presented a bust of the Norwegian-American politician Knute Nelson.[5]
Jakob Fjelde had first sculpted Henrik Ibsen from life in Molde, Norway during 1885. Although Ibsen disliked sitting for artists, he took a liking to the precocious young sculptor, then 26 years old, and patiently sat for the bust.[6]
Death and legacy
editFjelde died in Minneapolis on May 5, 1896.[7]
The Minneapolis-St. Paul area hosts several of his major public bronze outdoor monuments. One is Hiawatha and Minnehaha, a statue of Hiawatha carrying Minnehaha based on characters from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1855 poem The Song of Hiawatha. The statue was created for the Columbian Exposition in 1893 and permanently erected in 1912. Another, in Loring Park in Minneapolis, is of Norwegian violin virtuoso Ole Bull was cast in 1897, a year after Fjelde's death. The Minerva bronze sculpture is located in the downtown Minneapolis Central Library.[1]
Among his portraits of Ibsen, several are noteworthy. One is located in Tacoma, Washington in Wright Park, another is at the North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, North Dakota.[8] Another bust of Ibsen, located in the Como Park, Zoo, and Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota was stolen from the Park in 1981. The sculpture was recovered, restored, and reinstalled by Public Art Saint Paul in 1999.[9]
Gallery
edit-
Monument to the 1st Minnesota Infantry at Gettysburg National Battlefield -
Ole Bull statue at Loring Park -
Hiawatha and Minnehaha, 1912 statue at Minnehaha Park -
1889 bronze sculpture of Minerva in Minneapolis Central Library atrium -
John H. Stevens statue at Minnehaha Park. Sculptor Johannes Gelert worked from drawings made by Fjelde.
References
edit- ^ a b Harris, Moira F., Monumental Minnesota: A Guide to Outdoor Sculpture, Pogo Press, 1992, pg. 6
- ^ Hawthorne, Frederick W., Gettysburg: Stories of Men and Monuments, The Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides, 1988, pg. 81
- ^ Proske, Beatrice Gilman, Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture, Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina, 1943, pg. 355
- ^ Jakob Fjelde (Store norske leksikon
- ^ Jakob Fjelde, Billedhugger (Norsk biografisk leksikon. Marion John Nelson)
- ^ Templeton, Joan About the bust of Henrik Ibsen (Ibsen Society of America Home Page) [1] Archived 2009-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Fjelde is Dead". The Minneapolis Times. May 6, 1896. p. 3. Retrieved February 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Collin, Andrea Winkjer (September–December 2008). "Young ND Sculptor Captures Essence of Lincoln in Famous Bust" (PDF). Prairie Arts. No. 8–3. North Dakota Council on the Arts. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 25, 2009. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
- ^ Public Art Saint Paul Henrik Ibsen bust at Como Park
Further reading
edit- Hansen, Carl G. O. My Minneapolis. (Minneapolis, MN: Standard Press, 1956) pp. 159–165 and pp. 169–170.
- Coen Rena Neumann (1976) Painting and Sculpture in Minnesota, 1820-1914 (University of Minnesota Press) ISBN 978-0816607716
External links
edit
- Sculptor Jakob Fjelde 01
- Sculptor Jakob Fjelde 02
- Marie Dreis Scheffer bust
- Ole Bull statue at Loring Park
- Hiawatha and Minnehaha at MNOPEDIA
- Hiawatha and Minnehaha at Minnehaha Falls
- Henrik Ibsen bust at Wright Park in Tacoma
- Jakob Hendrik Gerhard Fjelde with his siblings
- "An Artist's Odyssey" in Twin Cities magazine, March 1986
- Minnesota- 1st Infantry Memorial at Gettysburg Nat'l Military Park Archived September 27, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
Online book
Burton Hall at the University of Minnesota
- The History of Burton Hall
- Spandrel figures by Jakob Fjelde in the interior of Burton Hall
Hennepin County Library
- Minerva statue outside of Minneapolis Central Library at 10th and Hennepin
- Minerva statue inside Minneapolis Central Library at 300 Nicollet Mall
Minnesota Historical Society