Name Burt Johnson | ||
 | ||
Burt johnson of robbinsdale chet atkins i still can t say goodbye
Burt William Johnson (25 April 1890—27 March 1927) was an American sculptor.
Contents
- Burt johnson of robbinsdale chet atkins i still can t say goodbye
- Biography
- Selected works locations known
- Selected works current locations unknown
- References
Biography
Johnson was born in Flint, Ohio and moved to Claremont, California in 1907 to study at Pomona College, and then to New York City in 1909 to study at the Art Students League of New York. He worked with fellow sculptors James Earle Fraser and his own brother-in-law, Louis St. Gaudens, the brother of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. He was active in both California and New York, and is well known for his statues honoring American soldiers of World War I, known as doughboys. Examples of these doughboy statues can be found in DeWitt Clinton Park and Doughboy Park in New York City, the latter being named the best war memorial of its kind by the American Federation of Artists in 1928. Garfield Park in Pomona, California has another World War I tribute, dedicated in 1923, with an allegorical representation of Pomona, the Goddess of Fruit, beside a young man. The Children's Tribute to the World War Heroes (1919) in Robert Keller Park in Huntington Park, California, depicts a young woman holding the uniform caps of a sailor and a doughboy to her heart.
Among his earlier works is The Spirit of Spanish Music, a fountain with the bronze figure of a boy playing a flute, located in Lebus Court of the Mabel Shaw Bridges Hall of Music at Pomona College. His allegorical figures of Architecture and Sculpture decorate the exterior of the 1927 Fine Arts Building (Los Angeles), with additional reliefs near the top of the building's façade. The inside lobby has a fountain with sculptures of children, modeled by his daughter, Cynthia (age 3) and his son Harvey (age 5). That son, Harvey W. Johnson (1921-2005), was a prominent Western artist and became President of the Cowboy Artists of America. In addition, Johnson's grandson Casey Schwarz continues the family involvement in sculpture.
In 1918, Johnson was a leading candidate to execute a memorial to community leader and publisher of the Los Angeles Times, Gen. Harrison Gray Otis,. who had died the year before. The Los Angeles Evening Herald called him a "100 per cent American sculptor", and pictured him "putting the finishing touches" on his model for the memorial in a story announcing that the project would be delayed until after the conclusion of the World War, since the amount of bronze needed to complete the work "would be sufficient to construct two cannon". The project ultimately was awarded to Russian sculptor Prince Paul Troubetzkoy
In his final project, the façade and lobby sculptures of the Los Angeles Fine Arts Building, his sister, Annetta Johnson Saint-Gaudens, and her son Paul St Gaudens, both sculptors themselves, provided assistance. Johnson died in Claremont, California on 27 March 1927 at the age of 36.