Georg John Lober (November 7, 1891 – December 14, 1961) was an American
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
best known for his 1959 statue of composer
George M. Cohan
George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878November 5, 1942) was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and theatrical producer.
Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudev ...
situated in
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
, a 1949 sculpture of statesman
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...
in
Morristown, New Jersey, and a bronze sculpture of Danish writer
Hans Christian Andersen located in
Central Park, Manhattan. He served for nearly two decades as executive secretary for the New York City Municipal Art Commission, from 1943 to 1960.
Background
Born in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
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, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, in 1892, Lober moved to
Keyport, New Jersey
Keyport is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. At the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 7,240,[Beaux-Arts Institute of Design
The Beaux-Arts Institute of Design (BAID, later the National Institute for Architectural Education) was an art and architectural school at 304 East 44th Street in Turtle Bay, Manhattan, in New York City.][National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...]
. He apprenticed to sculptor
Gutzon Borglum
John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an American sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Mountain in Geo ...
, who is credited with the statesmen at
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (Lakota: ''Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe'', or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakot ...
.
[
]
Career
Lober's first major works were bas reliefs of Robert Fulton
Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the (also known as ''Clermont''). In 1807, that steamboa ...
, inventor of the steamship, and explorer Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States.
In 1607 and 16 ...
in 1909. A bronze statue of Eve
Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
that he created for the 1939 New York World's Fair in Flushing, Queens was destroyed by vandals. A 1949 sculpture of Revolutionary War figure Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...
is located in Morristown, New Jersey's Burnham Park.[
]
Lober was appointed to the New York City Municipal Art Commission in 1942; it was responsible for supervising the artistic quality of all city matters. He served as its executive secretary from 1943 to 1960.
In 1946 he and the Commission were tasked by Mayor of New York City William O'Dwyer
William O'Dwyer (July 11, 1890November 24, 1964) was an Irish-American politician and diplomat who served as the 100th Mayor of New York City, holding that office from 1946 to 1950.
Life and career
O'Dwyer was born in Bohola, County Mayo, Ir ...
to restore portraits in New York City Hall that had deteriorated severely. A June 1950 editorial in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' thanked Lober and the Art Commission, saying that they "deserve a pat on the back for their careful and painstaking work" in preserving the city's heritage for future generations.[Staff]
"GEORG J. LOBER, 69, SCULPTOR, IS DEAD; Ex-Head of Art Commission Here--Did Cohan Statue"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', December 15, 1961. Accessed October 7, 2008.
Lober created an seated figure of Hans Christian Andersen on a granite bench for New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
's Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
, which was installed in 1956. It was cast in bronze at Long Island City's Modern Art Foundry. The statue was designed to accompany an outdoor center for story-telling, and was placed on a 40-foot square stone platform surrounded by benches, trees and shrubs. The $75,000 cost of the monument was covered in part by contributions from Danish and American schoolchildren. Lober returned to the theme with his 1955 medal commemorating the 150th anniversary of Anderson's birth, created for the Society of Medalists.
Composer Oscar Hammerstein II was the chairman of a committee that selected Lober and architect Otto F. Langmann to develop a statue of composer, playwright, and actor George M. Cohan
George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878November 5, 1942) was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and theatrical producer.
Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudev ...
. It was installed in Father Duffy Square on Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
at the northern end of Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
in Midtown Manhattan. The statue was formally unveiled and dedicated on September 11, 1959, by Mayor Robert F. Wagner.George M. Cohan Statue in Duffy Square
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...
. Accessed October 7, 2008.
Denmark
In 1912, Lober created an emblem for the Rebild National Park (Danish: ''Rebild Bakker''] in Rebild Municipality, Rebild, Region Nordjylland
The North Jutland Region ( da, Region Nordjylland), or in some official sources, the North Denmark Region, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish municipal reform, which abolished the tr ...
, Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
. He also made a bronze relief of United States President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
that was installed in Rebild National Park. Lober's bronze portrait of native son Hans Christian Andersen is in the Odense Museum. Denmark recognized Lober in 1950 with an appointment as a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog.[
]
Personal life
Lober lived at 33 West 67th Street in Manhattan. He died on December 14, 1961, and was interred in St. Joseph's Cemetery in Keyport.[Jeandron, Jack]
"Keyport"
Arcadia Publishing, 2003, , via Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...
, p. 138. Accessed October 7, 2008.[
]
References
External links
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Georg John Lober papers.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lober, Georg J.
1890s births
1961 deaths
Artists from Chicago
People from Keyport, New Jersey
Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog
20th-century American sculptors
20th-century American male artists
American male sculptors
Sculptors from Illinois
People from the Upper West Side