Peter David Edstrom (a.k.a. Pehr David Emanuel Edström and David Edstrom; March 27, 1873 – August 12, 1938) was an American sculptor.

Background

Edstrom was an immigrant from

Vetlanda Vetlanda () is a locality and the seat of Vetlanda Municipality, Jönköping County, Sweden with 13,050 inhabitants in 2010. History Vetlanda was still nothing more than a village for several centuries. With the 1840s population boom in Småland ...

Jönköping County Jönköping County ( sv, Jönköpings län) is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The total county population was 356,291 inhabitants in Sept ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. In 1880, he immigrated to the United States with his parents, Jonas (John) Peter Edström (1829–1906) and Charlotta Carolina Gustafsson Edström (1833–1903). Edstrom lived in

Ottumwa, Iowa Ottumwa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wapello County, Iowa, United States. The population was 25,529 at the time of the 2020 U.S. Census. Located in the state's southeastern section, the city is split into northern and southern halves b ...

, from 1882 to 1894, which he embraced as his hometown and where he became aware of his artistic skills. He returned to Sweden after a hobo's journey started in a freight train car on July 29, 1894, and ended (after a wage earner's trip across the Atlantic) in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

where he supported himself during his studies at the Stockholm's

Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...

and

Royal Swedish Academy of Arts The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts ( sv, Kungliga Akademien för de fria konsterna), commonly called the Royal Academy, is located in Stockholm, Sweden. An independent organization that promotes the development of painting, sculpture, architec ...

Career

In 1900, Edstrom moved to

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

where he attended the

Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze The Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze ("academy of fine arts of Florence") is an instructional art academy in Florence, in Tuscany, in central Italy. It was founded by Cosimo I de' Medici in 1563, under the influence of Giorgio Vasari. ...

. In

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, he created the sculptures ''Caliban'' (1900), ''Sphinx'' (1900), Lucifer (1902), ''The Cry of Poverty'' (1903), ''Despair'' (1904), and ''Pride'' (1904). Edstrom also spent time 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 ...

, and became a member of the Gertrude Stein circle, appeared in some of Stein's word portraits, and sculpted the likeness of Harriet Lane Levy (the friend who brought

Alice B. Toklas Alice Babette Toklas (April 30, 1877 – March 7, 1967) was an American-born member of the Parisian avant-garde of the early 20th century, and the life partner of American writer Gertrude Stein. Early life Alice B. Toklas was born in San F ...

to Paris in 1907). Edstrom returned to the United States in 1915. In about 1918, he designed one of his main achievements. ''The Soldiers and Sailors Monument'' in Ottumwa, featuring four reliefs on a shaft topped with a large eagle. Around 1920, he located in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, where he was one of the organizers of the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

.McGurrin, 1964. DMRegister, 2007.

Personal life

''Testament of Caliban'', his autobiography, was published in 1937. Rupert Hughes in his foreword to the book "aver d Edstrom's self-story to be "garrulous and preposterous in its account of a man of huge appetites and colossal conceptions."Kellner, 1988, p. 183. Edstrom died in Los Angeles, after two marriages: "one to the daughter of a Swedish official, who wore men's attire"; and another to Cora Downer, who Gertrude Stein described as the bride of "the fat Swedish sculptor who married the head of the Christian Science Church in Paris and destroyed her."

References

Other sources

* Brigham, Gertrude Richardson: ''The Story of David Edstrom'' (referenced i
Who Among North American Authors.
Golden Syndicate Pub. Co., Los Angeles, 1921.) * Hildebrand, Carver Edstrom: David Edstrom, Swedish American Sculptor. ''Swedish–American Genealogist'', 10, 1: pp. 17–29. March, 1990. * Lundén, Rolf: The Rise and Fall of a Swedish-American Sculptor: The Case of David Edström. ''The Swedish–American Historical Quarterly'' 54 (3), July 2003: pp. 145–163. * Swanson, Mary Towley
''A Tangled Web: Swedish Immigrant Artists Patronage Systems, 1880–1940.''
St. Thomas University, 2004.

External links

Chapter 2 (pp. 11–12).

Chapter 4 (pp. 8, 9, 14, 21 n. 27).

University of Iowa.

Smithsonian Archives of American Art / Oral History Transcript.
Biographical summary and images of four representative sculptures.
Brown University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Edstrom, Peter 1873 births 1938 deaths Sculptors from Iowa Swedish emigrants to the United States People from Ottumwa, Iowa 20th-century American sculptors American male sculptors 20th-century American male artists