LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. . mmxi Shelf -"Y--^ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ,Li .(JU^ y ORIGINAL BUST OF GEN'L U, S. GRANT. BY KARL GERHARDT, Sculptor. In Bronzk and Tkrra Cotta WM. N. WOODRUFF & CO., proprietors, HARTKORD, CONiSr. W. WAYNE VOGDES, Sales Agent, 910 Filbert Street, PHILADELPHIA, PA. New York Office : 10 W. 23d St., Room 46. 56) COPYRIGHT, 1885, By WM. N. WOODRUFF & CO. KARL GERllARDT, THE SCULPTOR. Karl Gerhardt is a native of Boston, of German parentage. He learned the trade of a machinist and first worked with the American Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts. In 1874 he went to California. On his return he was employed by the Pratt and Whitney Company as a designer of machinery. While thus engaged he made a bust of his wife, in his leisure hours, and subsequently a life-size statue of a " Startled Bather." These two works not only attracted the attention of the Hart- ford press, but so greatly interested Charles Dudley Warner and Samuel L. Clemens that they requested J. Q. A. Ward, the eminent sculptor, to pay them a visit and examine them. The object of this invitation was to ascertain whether the young amateur gave such proofs of talent that it would warrant the attempt to raise a sum of money large enough to pay his expenses to Europe, and to educate him under the best masters of the art in Paris. Mr. Ward's opinion was emphatically in favor of the scheme. After several efforts to enlist the co-operation of wealthy citizens had failed, Mr. Clemens (" Mark Twain ") and his wife determined to assume the expense themselves, both of travel and maintenance — a pledge which they nobly redeemed, although the fact is known to few persons outside of the young sculptor's personal friends. On his arrival at Paris, he successfully passed the preliminary examination. Among sixty competitors, most of them having been favorably circumstanced to study the art, the self-taught Hartford sculptor was recorded as the twenty-eighth. At the end of the first year, Mr. Gerhardt received, in the annual examination, an honorable mention ; at the end of the second year he was received at the annual Salon ; and in 1884, the last year of his study abroad, two pieces were received — " Echo," a marble statuette now in the possession of Mark Twain, and "Eve's Lullaby," a life-size group, which has just received a diploma of honor at the World's Exposition at New Orleans. 4 KARL GERHARDT, THE SCULPTOR. OPINIONS OF FAMOUS SCULPTORS. Extract from a Letter. New York, December 12, 1884. Dear Mr. Gerhardt : — I saw and liked your work very much. The bust of Clemens is very strong. Very truly yours, J. Q. A. Ward. Extract from a Letter. New York, December 6, 1884. My dear Mr. Gerhardt : — I saw your sculpture here last week, and I wish, if my opinion of its merit can help you in any way, to say that I think your work good and will give it my sin- cere approval. Yours cordially, Augustus S. Gaudens. Art critics and students of art need no explanations to show the value of these subjoined commendations : " Je, soussigne, professeur a I'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Membre de ITnstitute, certifie que M. Karl Gerhardt a fait ses etudes de sculp- ture sous ma direction, et qu'il a ete un de mes meilleurs eleves. II est aujourd'hui par etat de se charger de I'execution d'oeuvres importantes, et merite toute confiance par son talent et ses capa- cites acquises. Je crois done pouvoir recommander tout particu- lierement M. Karl Gerhardt comme un de mes eleves sur I'avenir duquel on pent fonder le plus grand espoir. A. Falguieres, Membre de ITnstitute, Officier de la Legion d'Honneur. Paris, le \\ Juin, 1884. MiNISTfeRE DE lTnSTRUCTION PuBLIQUE ET DES BeAUX-ArTS. Ecole Nationale et Speciale des Beaux-Arts. Je certifie que Monsieur Gerhardt, statuaire, a expose au Salon cette annee deux ouvrages de sculpture tres-interessants. Ce ieune homme, par ses aptitudes pour I'art et son ardeur au travail, est digne de ce qui pourra etre fait en sa faveur. Paul Dubois, Directeur de I'Ecole National des Beaux- Arts, Membre de ITnstitute. KARL GERHARDT, THE SCULPTOR. 5 From the DictifliDiaire Vi^ron, Paris, 1 884 : Gerhardt (Karl). — "Eve chantant pour endormir son pre- mier-ne : groupe platre," ne manquant ni de sollicitude maternelle, ni de bonne etude. Mais, franchement, cette femmelette ordi- naire n'a rien de commun avec la mere de I'humanite ; on se demande meme comment des artistes ayant etudie Raphael et Michel- A^nge peuvent se tromper ainsi sur la conception d'une figure l^gendaire et symbolique d'une si haute importance. Qual- ites, neanmoins, en cette jeune et belle femme, sentant bien la nature ordinaire, mais ne pouvant conserver la pretention de rap- peler Eve. "Echo: statuette marbre," portant a droite et in- clinant sa gracieuse tete sur I'epaule du meme cote. La belle jeune fille vient de siffler un air de chalumeau, et ecoute avec surprise la repetition que lui en fait I'echo. II y a de la poesie et du style en cette bonne figurine de marbre. From the Same : Gerhardt (Karl). — "Tete d'etude " de jeune fille coiffee en rouleaux. Traits fins et suriants, d'un delicat modele et d'une in- telligente expression. From the Journal des Artistes, Paris: K. Gerhardt. — Deux tetes fortement ^tudiees et de grande attraction. C'est de la bonne sculpture. The Hartford correspondent of the New York Tribune thus speaks of Mr. Gerhardt's return to America in November, 1884 : Hartford, Conn., Nov. i. — The recent return to Hartford of Karl Gerhardt, the young sculptor who has pursued his studies abroad for several years, recalls a romantic story of his former residence here. He had then talent very little cultivated, great ambition, and a wife who believed in his future, but he had no money, and no income from his profession. Things went badly with him, and he was on the brink of despair. It was the old story of destitution and hopeless inability to make a start. The change to better circumstances was due wholly to his wife. She went to some people of culture, who v'ere able to see the promise in Gerhardt's work, and who were touched by the situation. The upshot of it was that a few of them became so thoroughly inter- ested as to furnish means for Gerhardt to go abroad and study 6 KARL GERHARDT, THE SCULPTOR. under first-rate masters, and he has come back, with a good train- ing in technique, and with the prospect of making good all the hopes that were entertained of his future by those who first be- came interested in it. The whole story, with its details, sounds more like a chapter from a romance than a bit of modern prosaic life in an inland town. BUST OF GENERAL GRANT. Chicago Tribime. The bust made by Karl Gkrhardt (Mark Twain's protege) of Gen. Grant is said to be so faithful that it aroused the admiration of the General. The unfinished likeness was so good that in March last, while General Grant was ill, a friend took it to the family. The General saw and admired it, and invited Gerhardt to visit him and complete the bust by studies from life. Presently Gen. Grant, glancing from the bust to the mirror, said : " Don't touch it again ; it seems to me perfect." Extract from The Saratogian, July i8, 1885. Dr. J. H. Douglas yesterday received from Karl Gerhardt, the young sculptor, of Hartford, Conn., a very faithful terra-cotta bust of General Ulysses S. Grant. It was taken from life on March 20 last, when the sufferer was believed to be at death's portal, and just before Mrs. Nellie Sartoris returned from Europe and hurried to her father's sick-chamber at Sixty-sixth Street, New York City. It is of cabinet size. During that time the young ar- tist was present in the Grant house, and made a quiet study of the General as he sat in his chair or walked about the room. Charles Dudley Warner says that " the result of this permission is one of the most interesting and touching works of art that have been done in our day." As shown by the bust, the head is slightly drooping, cast forward in the attitude of reflection, and the face has a shadow of pain on it; yet the effect is rather that of heroic, pa- tient endurance of suffering than of suffering itself. The impression conveyed on observing the bust is that the distinguished subject is superior to the suffering, which he bears with the same serenity that characterized him during the war. The artist was yesterday at Mount McGregor engaged upon a bust of Nellie, the interest- ing young daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse R. Grant. KARL GERHARDT, THE SCULPTOR. 7 PORTRAITS OF GRANT. Springfield Republican, July 26, The likenesses of Grant with which the papers have abounded have been for the most part libelous, and in fact no more like than in the preservation of a common type of face, and few of them have shown the least suggestion of character. We have seen none to equal in this respect the portrait which The Republican was enabled to present its readers. This was reproduced from a photograph by Pach, of New York, the latest that was taken of Grant in health, and while he yet wore the characteristic look of the com- mander of men. Except for the gray in the beard that rightly comes with sixty years, this picture of Grant looks as he did when he opened the Centennial Exposition. A drawing was made from the photograph by one of the best portrait painters in Boston, and a plate made by the Heliotype Company of that city. The result is remarkably satisfactory. The portrait of Gen. Grant has not often been painted, we believe ; Huntington has done it, and some others. Recently, in fact since the General's fatal sickness confined him to his house, the young sculptor, Karl Gerhardt, spent some time in the house on Sixty-sixth street. New York, studying Grant's face and head, and has made many replicas of the bust he first modeled for Mrs. Grant. He was granted the favor through Mark Twain's friendly regard. The country has heard of Ger- hardt's making a cast of Grant's face shortly after his death. He had spent some time at Mt. McGregor, and has made a clay model of the general as he was on his arrival, representing him in his chair, in his beaver-cloth dressing-gown, holding his pencil in his right hand and his writing-pad on his knee. This he purposes to reproduce in marble. It would seem to be a painful representa- tion, but is described as very interesting, and conveying the idea that impressed every one, of the indomitable will of the man. Gerhardt is a man of great native ability, and yet very young. He began to show his higher artistic capacities while in the service of the Ames Company at Chicopee a few years ago, and he married his wife from Chicopee ; she was an adopted daughter of the late Charles McClallan. His " Eve's Lullaby to Cain " won serious attention on its exhibition in New York, and he is now considered one of the foremost .\merican sculptors in promise. 8 KARL GERHARD T, THE SCULPTOR. PLASTER MASK. N'ew York Herald, July 27. General Porter, Sunday afternoon, saw the plaster mask of the dead General's face made within half an hour after his death by Karl Gerhardt, the Hartford sculptor. General Porter held the mask in his hands, and studied it minutely and in silence for several moments. " That is most perfect," he finally said, and then touched a point on the right cheek, and added, " There is even the mole or wart on the general's face." THE BUST OF GENERAL GRANT. Hartford Courant, June 19, 1885. In the days of March, when General Grant was believed to be near the end of his life, and the whole American people were sym- pathetic watchers of his suffering, it fortunately occurred to some of his friends to permit Mr. Karl Gerhardt, the young Hart- ford sculptor, to be present in the house, and make a quiet study of the General as he sat in his chair or walked about his room. The result of this permission is one of the most interesting and touching works of art that have been done in our day. Its value is not simply that it is a striking likeness, but that it represents the hero as he appeared to the American people, bearing without a murmur the burden of accumulated mental and physical suffer- ing. The sculptor has chosen to make a bust a quarter life-size, but he has so given the massive quality of the General's head that it has the effect of much larger proportions. Usually a statuette is petty, and seems to belittle the character ; but this small head has such largeness and breadth of treatment that it is perfectly satisfactory. The likeness is excellent, both as to form and expression. The treatment of the eyes, under the heavy brows, is especially to be noted as full of character. The head is slightly drooping, cast forward in the attitude of reflection, and the face has a shadow of pain on it ; yet the effect is rather that of heroic, patient endurance of suffering than of suffering itself. The man suffers, but the thought conveyed is exactly the thought that was conveyed by the bulletins of the General's condition — that he was superior to his suffering, and bore it with the same serenity that he exhibited when he carried month after month and year after year, vicariously, the terrible strain and responsibility of the war. The spectator sees KARL GERHARDT, THE SCULPTOR. 9 in this bust what he saw in General Grant during the war — un- complaining and heroic endurance. And in this respect it is altogether the most valuable likeness we have of the great com- mander. Good likenesses and satisfactory portraits in marble and bronze are not uncommon even in our day; but it is only now and then that one appears that by its art or by its sympathy has something in it to make it appeal to a universal sentiment, and to make it uni- versally desired. To attain this is the height of art, and in this lies the merit of Mr. Gerhardt's fortunate work. We recall at the moment one other modern portrait statue that has this touching and desired quality. It is Vela's Napoleon in the gallery of Ver- sailles. The figure is seated. On his lap lies a map of Europe. The head is bowed in contemplation of it. The last days at Helena have come, and as Napoleon regards the scene of his am- bition and glory, all the vanity of a frustrated life comes over him, and the face reflects the pathos of vast designs brought to naught. The face and figure make the strongest appeal to human sym- pathy. In something the same way, in this bust, the artist has appealed to a universal sympathy, and produced a work which has in it the touch of genius and deep feeling which all men respond to. While it is strong and noble and characteristic of the man, it is profoundly pathetic. We doubt if any artist could have pro- duced it who was not moved by the universal feeling of sympathy and love which flowed out toward Grant when it was taken, which has enabled him to give to it that final great quality with- out which any picture or statue is cold and without real power. In landscape, the picture must have beauty and poetry that are not in mere form or color, and in sculpture the portrait must have, beyond the likeness, a deep touch of human nature, of genuine feeling. It is because Mr. Gkrhardt has succeeded in this region of feel- ing and expression that we regard his bust of General Grant as exceptional and very remarkal)le in modern sculpture. The original is retained by the family of General Grant ; but we are glad that arrangements have been made for the production of replicas in bronze and terra-cotta, for this is a work of sym- pathetic art that the whole country will appreciate and value more and more as a representation of our military hero in the brave endurance of his last affliction. Charles D. Warner. 10 KARL GERHARD T, THE SCULPTOR. GERHARDT'S BUST OF MARK TWAIN. Hartford Courant, October^, 1884. The bust of Mr. S. L. Clemens, which Mr. Karl Gerhardt modeled at Ehnira last summer, and which has just been put in bronze in Philadelphia, can now be seen at the gallery of Mr. Vorce. Mr. Gerhardt, who belongs in Hartford, has been for four years a student of sculpture in Paris, where he gained commendation from the highest critics and admission to the Salon. There is other finished work of this young artist in this country which gives an idea of his ability as an artist, but this piece is all that is needed to judge of his capabilities in portrait statuary. The first requisite in this sort of work is the likeness. The work may be a fair likeness and very bad art, but it must first of all satisfy the desire for resemblance to the original. This bust of Mr. Clemens does that completely. It is exceedingly rare, even in the work of master artists, that this condition is so completely complied with. And the resemblance is not the superficial one of the photograph. We have seen occasional fat, smooth busts which are not a grade above colored photographs as works of art. This is not of that sort ; it gives the character of the sitter, his peculi- arities, and we may say the nature and the temperament of the man. But notice how this is effected. Not by petty and timid details. The material is handled with perfect freedom and boldness — this is apparent in the modeling of the hair and moustache as of the face. Everything is given in broad masses, full of strength and character — no prettiness here. We call attention to the manner in which the likeness is produced, because it is this that makes the bust a work of art, and lifts it into a field where it deserves the highest criticism. We are not attempting now any adequate criti- cism of it ; we are merely asking that it be considered as a work of art, for it seems to us more worthy of study than anything of the sort that has appeared here in a long time. It is simple in all its lines, but massive and solid in treatment, and it has a noble dignity and repose. We may not be able to separate our impres- sion of it as a portrait from its effect simply as a work of art, but it seems to us to have very high merit, and a very unusual sort of excellence. It is worth studying. Charles Dudley Warner. TESTIMONIALS. 1 1 From Commander-in-Chief S. S. Burdett. Head-quarters Grand Army of the Repuhi.ic, \ Washington, D. Q.,July 20, 1885. ^ Karl Gerhardt, Esq. Dear Sir : — I am in receipt, through the kindness of Mr. Vogdes, of a replica in terra-cotta of your bust of General Grant. Permit me to thank you for your consideration, but more especially to take the occasion to express my admiration for the faithfulness and the wonderful suggestiveness of the work. It tells the story of these later days — why all men's hearts are turned toward its subject — and justifies as well the verdict already in, that he stands among the greatest of the leaders of men. To his comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, growing old with him, it will be of peculiar interest. I shall be excused for the expression of a hope that this lesser work is the harbinger of something of heroic form that may find a place among the monuments that sooner or later the Nation will set up in memory of her faithful son. Very truly yours, S. S. Burdett. From Ex. -Gov. Jno. F. Hartranft, Fen?m., Fast Com.-in-Chief G. A. R. Philadelphia, /m/v 18, 1885. W. Wayne Vogdes, Esq., P/iila., Fa. Dear Sir : — I thank you very warmly for the replica in terra- cotta of Mr. Karl Gerhardt's bust of Gen. Grant. Although no connoisseur, I am much impressed with the firm- ness and breadth of the artist's treatment of his subject. He has produced a very effective likeness of the great soldier, who has fought the good fight and patiently awaits the end. Like all works of true art, it grows on one. Yours very truly, J. F. Hartranft. From Gen. Louis Wagner, Fast Commander-in-Chief G. A. R. W. Way tie Vogdes, Esq., 910 Filbert St., Fhilada. Dear Sir and Comrade : — Many thanks for the terra-cotta bust of Gen. Grant which I find here on my return from the National Encampment G. A. R. at Portland, Me. 12 TESTIMONIALS. Notwithstanding the effects of the continued illness of our be- loved comrade, which are plainly apparent, the likeness is a good one, and, as the last one likely to be taken, it must commend itself to all who desire a final reminder of the greatest soldier of mod- ern times. Yours fraternally, Louis Wagner. From Maj. Geo. S. Merrill, Past Com. -in-Chief G. A. Ji. Lawrence, Mass.j/m/j' i8, 1885. My dear Comrade : — I have to thank you for Gerhardt's bust of Gen. Grant to-day received. I like it much. The artist seems to have been unusually suc- cessful, producing, with remarkable faithfulness, the features and expression of the great American soldier. There is in the face just a tinge of the pain of these past months, but in a yet more marked degree that grim determination with which the old hero contested the battle so relentlessly thrust upon him. The bust can hardly fail to prove of general interest to the American people, and I cordially commend your plan of present- ing it to the public through the agency of comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic. Sincerely yours, (Signed) Geo. S. Merrill. From Jno. S. Kountz, Fast Commander-in-Chief G. A. R. Toledo, Ohio, July 17, 18S5. Kai'l Gerhardt. Dear Sir : — I have this day received through W. Wayne Vogdes, 910 Filbert Street, Philadelphia, the terra-cotta bust, you have so kindly sent me, of our beloved and illustrious comrade. General Grant, the great military chieftain who led the armies of the Republic to victory. I regard the bust a remarkable piece of work, of real artistic merit, and the likeness is most excellent. Very truly yours, John S. Kountz. TESTIMONIA LS. 1 3 Head-quarters Department of Ohio, Grand Army of the Republic, Office of Department Commander, Zanesville, Ohio, July 30, 1885. Karl Gcrhardi. Dear Sir : — I beg to acknowledge the receipt of the bust of the late Gen. U. S. Grant, and to express my hearty appreciation of your generosity, and of the splendid work of art which so faithfully preserves to all future generations a perfect likeness of the greatest military chieftain of this or any other age. I am sure I voice the sentiment of the old soldiers of this country when I say you have rendered us all an inestimable service in the production of this striking portrait of our dear old commander. Gratefully yours, R. B. Brown. Frotti General Jas. A. Beaver. Bellefonte, Vk., July 17, 18S5. W. Way tie Vogdes, Esq., 910 Filbert Street, PJiiladelphia, Pa. My dear Sir : — Your letter of the 15th inst. has been received. It gives me pleasure, also, to acknowledge the receipt by express of the replica in terra-cotta of Karl Gerhardt's bust of Gen- eral Grant. The romantic and successful career of Mr. Gerhardt would, of itself, lend interest to any of his works ; but the peculiar, and I may say affectionate regard which attaches to General Grant, and anything connected with him at the present time, makes this work of surpassing interest. I have not seen General Grant since his present illness, but the peculiar features which stamp his individ- uality have all been retained in a marked degree, and there is, in addition, a shade over the countenance which indicates the in- tensity of suffering through which he has passed. Those who have never seen General Grant except in health, and who have seen him at his best, when engaged in an interesting conversation, will appreciate the fidelity with which the artist has portrayed what they remember of the General, and at the same time has as faithfully delineated the feelings which to a great extent must have found expression in his face at the time the studies for the bust were made. These combine, in my judgment, to give the 14 TESTIMONIALS. great charm to the work of art, which I shall highly prize, and which I hope in the future to secure in more durable material. With very sincere thanks for your kindness, I am, Very cordially yours, {Signed) James A. Beaver. Mt. McGregor, /« o tlH < m D m o ^ 2 ^ w Q ■A >:; O (J -^ 'u CU.2 -Ti c IL> .Xi •" ^ o *^--.S" C/} VO "-I C 3 H "" Q JJ o ^ — ' o c :3 .!=r w o ^ ^ .^ ^ 3 -" ^ - <" c c c 6 r^ '" rt oi W 00 a; '^ s ^ rt ,Q '^^ O H P Oh , O OJ rt O f^ ^ (U Pi »H O in OJ o z 1-1 U O 3 ^ "^ o •— ' •< p j: -*. -5 .; W^ rt "p -rt *J Ph ^ 1^ w to m ,- 9 -^ « o <^ M O Oh wn3 ^S g§ E Oh ^H O O > C1h'*h 3 O -c c ^'1 o S Di O < Q O O o u O H <^ OJ 3 O b <" -« a; n HTd (Oh m w . o o O PL, K Q ^ a M O o O > ►Si '^ .'^ o -ii o bo -<=>H SiO SPECIAL NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. When a Bronze Bust is delivered , please notice number affixed thereto. The quantity of Bronze Busts to be sold is limited. The number of each, together with its subscriber's name, will be registered at our office ; a corresponding number should appear on the Prospectus of our representative opposite subscriber's name. Respectfully, WM. N. WOODRUFF & CO. Agents must observe this notice when delivery is made. 5^ g g I 9 5 a- 0^ i g g PCI fen ^ iN ^ ^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 787 961 A #