Adolph Robert Kraus
{{short description|American sculptor}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Adolph Robert Kraus
| image = Adolph Robert Kraus (1850–1901).png
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1850|08|05}}
| birth_place = Zeulenroda, Germany
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1901|11|06|1850|08|05}}
| death_place = Danvers, Massachusetts, United States
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| occupation = Sculptor
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Adolph Robert Kraus (August 5, 1850 - November 6, 1901), known professionally as Robert Kraus, was an American sculptor, born in Zeulenroda, Germany, and active in Boston.
Biography
Adolph Robert Kraus was born in Zeulenroda on August 5, 1850.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/menofprogressone00her/page/580 |title=Men of Progress: One Thousand Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Leaders in Business and Professional Life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts |editor-last=Bacon |editor-first=Edwin M. |editor-link=Edwin Munroe Bacon |publisher=The New England Magazine |location=Boston |pages=580–581 |year=1896 |access-date=2022-01-28 |via=Internet Archive}} He began sculpting at age 14 and grew his business such that he could own his own studio. At 23 he left for Rome where he studied under Emilio Wolf. After a year of study he won the grand prize at the Italian Royal Institute for Fine Arts for his sculpture "The Puritan."{{Cite journal |date=February 1, 1902 |title=Sculptor Kraus Insane |journal=Monument Reporter |volume=35 |pages=37}} For this honor, he was awarded a pension by the Prussian government by the order of Emperor William.
He immigrated to the United States in 1881, and is best known for his sculpture of the Boston Massacre Monument in Boston Common, the winged Victory figures that crowned the towers of Machinery Hall in the Columbian Exposition of 1893, and the Randidge monument in Forest Hills Cemetery. The Randidge Monument features a seated figure of Grief leaning on an inverted torch resting on a sizable plinth by architect Carl Fehmer and Samuel Page.
Forest Hills Cemetery also hosts Kraus' bust of Karl Heinzen and his bronze Fame memorial on the tomb of famed restauranteur Jacob Wirth who ran his eponymous restaurant and ale house on Stuart Street in Boston.{{Cite book |last=Sammarco |first=Anthony |title=Forest Hills Cemetery |date=October 26, 2009 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing Incorporated |isbn=9781439620519}}
Kraus' work also graced the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the Massachusetts State House in the form of a marble bust of Oliver Ames.
He was hospitalized in Danvers, Massachusetts, after showing signs of mental illness while attempting to create a sculpture of Belshazzar at the moment of seeing the handwriting on the wall. He died there on November 6, 1901.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93635335/sculptor-kraus-dead-part-1/ |title=Sculptor Kraus Dead |newspaper=The Boston Globe |location=Hyde Park |pages=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93635449/sculptor-kraus-dead-part-2/ 4] |date=1901-11-08 |access-date=2022-01-28 |via=Newspapers.com}} At his death, he left behind a wife and six children at his house at 90 Hyde Park Avenue in Clarendon Hills.
Gallery
File:Boston Massacre Memorial - IMG 9560.JPG|Massacre memorial on the Boston Common
File:Theodore Parker Abolitionist Sculpture.jpg|Theodore Parker was a prominent Boston abolitionist and Minister whose thoughts were paraphrased in speeches by Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King.
File:Theodore Parker Sculpture.jpg|Theodore Parker Sculpture in Jamaica Plain Boston Massachusetts stands outside the Theodore Parker Church
File:Awakening Plaque on plinth of the Theodore Parker Sculpture.jpg|Awakening Plaque on the plinth of the Theodore Parker Sculpture
File:Love God Plaque on plinth of the Theodore Parker Sculpture.jpg|Love God, Love Man Bas Relief Plaque on the plinth of the Theodore Parker Sculpture
References
{{Reflist}}
- Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events, D. Appleton and company, 1902, page 441.
- American architect and architecture, The American Architect, volumes 71–74, 1901, page 50.
- Anthony Mitchell Sammarco, Forest Hills Cemetery, Arcadia Publishing, 2009, page 80. {{ISBN|978-0-7385-5788-5}}.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kraus, Adolph Robert}}
Category:Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States