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Ernst Plassmann (14 June 1823 – 28 November 1877; alternate spelling, Plassman) was a German-American sculptor and carver.


Biography

Born in Sondern, near
Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...
,
North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
, Plassmann began to study art under Munstermann, then continued his studies in
Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
,
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
, and finally in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, where he spent about four years in the studio of Michel Liénard. He moved to
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 ...
in 1853, and in 1854 established "Plassmann's School of Art", which he ran the rest of his life. In 1858 he founded the "Verein fur Kunst und Wissenschaft" (Association for Art and Science). In New York he became known for his statue of
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
(1870–1) in
Printing House Square Printing House Square was a London court in the City of London, so called from the former office of the King's Printer which occupied the site. For many years, the office of ''The Times'' stood on the site, until it relocated to Gray's Inn Roa ...
, depicted as a printer by including an issue of the ''
Pennsylvania Gazette ''The Pennsylvania Gazette'' was one of the United States' most prominent newspapers from 1728 until 1800. In the several years leading up to the American Revolution the paper served as a voice for colonial opposition to British colonial rule, ...
'' in his left hand. Plassmann spent months researching Franklin busts, portraits, and costumes, and he "labored conscientiously for several months" on the "colossal" clay statue, which was inaugurated on 17 January 1872. His figures of Franklin and Guttenberg are located on the
New Yorker Staats-Zeitung The ''New Yorker Staats-Zeitung'', nicknamed ''"The Staats"'', claims to be the leading German-language weekly newspaper in the United States and is one of the oldest, having been published since the mid-1830s. In the late 19th century, it was on ...
building (c.1873). The heroic statue of Chief
Tammany Tamanend (historically also known as Taminent, Tammany, Saint Tammany or King Tammany, "the Affable," ) (–) was the Chief of Chiefs and Chief of the Turtle Clan of the Lenni-Lenape nation in the Delaware Valley signing the Peace Treaty with ...
, a legendary
Delaware Indian The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...
chief, was part of the façade of
Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...
on 14th Street (1868/9), while the 1869 bronze statue of
Cornelius Vanderbilt Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...
, the ''Commodore Vanderbilt'', is located at the south façade of
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
's
Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...
. A Plassmann sculpture stands in the freight depot of the
New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...
(1870), aside from various metal works, including medals. In 1875, he published ''Modern Gothic Ornaments'' with 83 plates. He began publishing ''Designs for Furniture'' in 1877, and had completed three parts by the time of his death (in New York City).


Selected works

* (1875) ''A collection of modern Gothic ornaments for architects, sculptors, modelers, designers, painters, &c., &c. '' * (1877) ''Designs for furnitures and development,'' File:Bas relief over old NYC HRRR (Hudson River Railroad) terminal at St. Jones Park, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.jpg, Cornelius Vanderbilt pediment (1868), Hudson River Railway Freight Depot. Demolished. File:Cornelius Vanderbilt Statute at Grand Central Terminal.jpg, ''Commodore Vanderbilt'' (1868), relocated to Grand Central Terminal, 1929. File:Schickel Staats-Zeitung 1873.jpg, Staats-Zeitung Building (c. 1873). Demolished for construction of the approach to the Brooklyn Bridge. File:Tammany Hall LC-USZ62-101734.jpg, Tammany Hall, West 14th Street, NYC


References


Further reading

* McCormick, Heather Jane (1998), ''Ernst Plassmann, 1822–1877: A New York Carver, Sculptor, Designer and Teacher''

A bust of Plassmann was sculpted by US artist
Caspar Buberl Caspar Buberl (1834 – August 22, 1899) was an American sculptor. He is best known for his Civil War monuments, for the terra cotta relief panels on the Garfield Memorial in Cleveland, Ohio (depicting the various stages of James Garfield' ...
(1834–1899). {{DEFAULTSORT:Plassmann, Ernst German sculptors German male sculptors 19th-century American sculptors 19th-century American male artists American male sculptors Artists from New York City 1823 births 1877 deaths German emigrants to the United States People from Olpe (district) American architectural sculptors Sculptors from New York (state)