Fond du Lac WI Boris Gilbertson 121-CMS-6E-36

Boris Gilbertson (1907–1982) was an American sculptor.

Early years

Gilbertson was born in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

in 1907 to a Norwegian-Russian family and spent much of his childhood with his grandparents outside Chicago, Illinois. He began studies in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

but soon switched to art and enrolled at this

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a Private university, private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which gr ...

. He married Genevieve Van Metre and they made their home in Bayfield County, Wisconsin. Gilbertson moved to

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...

, in 1960. He died in 1982.

Work

Much of Gilbertson's work consisted of sculpted

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

s that were commissions for public buildings, including post office buildings, courthouses and government buildings. Consequently, many are part of the General Services Administration collection and have been transferred to the holdings of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

and

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

. His most famous work may be his reliefs in the interior of the

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relatin ...

Main Interior Building The Main Interior Building, officially known as the Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building, located in Washington, D.C., is the headquarters of the United States Department of the Interior. Located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood ...

in Washington DC.

Selected public artworks

* ''Birds and Animals of the Northwest'' (1937), eleven

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

reliefs,

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Fond du Lac () is a city in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the southern end of Lake Winnebago and had a population of 44,678 at the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the Fond du Lac met ...

, post office * ''Wild Ducks'' (1940), four aluminum panels for the post office in

Janesville, Wisconsin Janesville is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 65,615, making it the List of cities in Wisconsin, tenth-most populous city in Wis ...

, now at the newer Janesville post office building * ''American Moose'' (1939), limestone relief –

, Washington DC * ''American Bison'' (1939), limestone relief –

, Washington DC * ''Cow and Calf'' (1943)

black walnut ''Juglans nigra'', the eastern American black walnut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to central and eastern North America, growing mostly in riparian zones. Black walnut is susceptible to thousand can ...

relief sculpture for

Macomb, Illinois Macomb () is a city in and the county seat of McDonough County, Illinois, United States. It is situated in western Illinois, about southwest of Peoria, Illinois, Peoria. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the c ...

Post Office, now in

collection * ''Chess Pavilion'' (1957), game boards, incised carvings, reliefs and freestanding sculptures for open-air structure in Chicago's Lincoln Park

References

Selected sources

* White, Charlotte, ''Greatness in the Commonplace: The Art of Boris Gilbertson'' Sunstone Press, January 1, 1988

External links

Oral history interview with Boris Gilbertson
(June 25, 1964),

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbertson, Boris 1907 births 1982 deaths 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists American male painters School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Sculptors from Illinois Sculptors from New Mexico Section of Painting and Sculpture artists