10 Facts About Johannes Gelert

Johannes Sophus Gelert was a Danish-born sculptor, who came to the United States in 1887 and during a span of more than thirty years produced numerous works of civic art in the Midwest and on the East Coast.

Johannes Gelert demonstrated an early talent for art and, after moving with his family to Copenhagen in 1866, was apprenticed to a woodcarver.

Johannes Gelert became a citizen of the United States in 1892 and, four years later, married Georgine Sundberg, with whom he had three children.

Johannes Gelert moved his studios to New York City in 1898 and lived there until his death on November 3,1923.

In 1890 Gelert created a bronze statue of President Ulysses S Grant.

Johannes Gelert had moved to New York at the time of his commission.

Johannes Gelert's 1912 statue of John H Stevens, an early settler in Minneapolis, was based on drawings by the Norwegian-born sculptor Jacob Fjelde.

Johannes Gelert designed the tomb of businessman Francis Furman, which is the largest memorial at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville.

Historians and scholars note that Johannes Gelert's works displayed contemporary and interesting themes of economic class, labor, and social movements.

In 1899 Johannes Gelert was one of twenty-eight sculptors working on the Dewey Arch, which honored Admiral George Dewey and his victory in the Battle of Manila Bay the previous year.