Edward Q Wagner (1855,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

– 1922,

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

) was a

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

sculptor.

Early years

Wagner had immigrated from Germany to the United States by 1871 settling in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. After arriving in Detroit he studied with Detroit sculptor Julius Melchers (father of painter

Gari Melchers Julius Garibaldi Melchers (August 11, 1860 – November 30, 1932) was an American artist. He was one of the leading American proponents of Naturalism (art), naturalism. He won a 1932 Gold medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Bio ...

). He also studied in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. As a sculptor in Detroit he was involved in several partnerships, ''Wagner and Reuther'' (1885–1887) and ''Wagner and Volbracht'' (1890–1895). He and his various firms created wood carvings for churches as well as stone architectural commissions. His best known work is the

architectural sculpture Architectural sculpture is the use of sculptural techniques by an architect and/or sculptor in the design of a building, bridge, mausoleum or other such project. The sculpture is usually integrated with the structure, but freestanding works that a ...

, notably the

Anthony Wayne Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 – December 15, 1796) was an American soldier, officer, statesman, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his mil ...

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

, on the

Wayne County Building The Wayne County Building is a monumental government structure located at 600 Randolph Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. It formerly contained the Wayne County administrative offices – now located in the Guardian Building at 500 Griswold S ...

, constructed from 1897 to 1902. In 1906 Wagner entered a competition to create a statue of General Alexander Macomb for the city of Detrtoit. The judges for the contest were

Charles F. McKim Charles Follen McKim (August 24, 1847 – September 14, 1909) was an American Beaux-Arts architect of the late 19th century. Along with William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White, he provided the architectural expertise as a member of the partn ...

, Daniel H. Burnham, and

Augustus Saint-Gaudens Augustus Saint-Gaudens (; March 1, 1848 – August 3, 1907) was an American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. From a French-Irish family, Saint-Gaudens was raised in New York City, he trave ...

. It was won by

sculptor

Adolph Alexander Weinman Adolph Alexander Weinman (December 11, 1870 – August 8, 1952) was a Germany-born American sculptor and architectural sculptor. Early life and education Adolph Alexander Weinman was born December 11, 1870 at Durmersheim, near Karlsruhe, Germ ...

, who had both studied with and served as an assistant to St. Gaudens, Weinman had also created many commissions for McKim's, firm,

McKim, Mead and White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), Wil ...

and who certainly was better known to Burnham than was Wagner. Wagner worked generating architectural sculpture at both the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1893 and the St. Louis Exposition in

St Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

in 1904. He was employed by the government of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and spent five years in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. On August 17, 1937, the

Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the ''Detroit Tribune'' on Februar ...

, as part a story "Contributions to Detroit Art Recalled by Barlow's Death" contained the following sentence: :''Edward Wagner's sculpture adorned some of the most imposing buildings in far parts of the earth.''

References

*Falk, Peter Hastings, Editor Who Was Who in American Art, Sound View Press, Madison Connecticut, 1985 *Farbman, Suzy and James P. Gallagher, ''The Renaissance of the Wayne County Building'', Smith Hinchman & Grylls, Inc, The old Wayne County Building Limited Partnership and Walbridge Aldinger Company, Detroit, Michigan, 1989 *Ferry, W. Hawkins, ''The Buildings of Detroit: A History'', Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan, 1968 *Gibson, Arthur Hopkin, ''Artists of Early Michigan: A Biographical Dictionary of Artists Native to or Active in Michigan, 1701-1900'', Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1975 *Kvaran and Lockley, ''A Guide to Architectural Sculpture in America'', unpublished manuscript *Nawrocki, Dennis Alan and Thomas J. Holleman, ''Art in Detroit Public Places'', Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan, 1980 *Opitz, Glenn B, Editor, Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Book, Poughkeepsie NY, 1986

External links

*http://www.barlowgenealogy.com/Families/MyronBarlow/Myron.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20070928065530/http://detroithistorical.org/collections/vewebsite2/exhibit3/e30012b.htm 1973 deaths American architectural sculptors German emigrants to the United States Artists from Detroit 1855 births 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists 19th-century American sculptors American male sculptors Sculptors from Michigan 19th-century American male artists {{US-sculptor-stub