Robert Merrell Gage

Robert Merrell Gage (December 26, 1892 – October 30, 1981) was an American sculptor, frequently credited or referred to as Merrell Gage.

Biography

Gage was born in Topeka, Kansas and studied in the Topeka public schools and at Washburn University. He worked on ranches in the Midwest before settling on an art career.[1] He studied art in New York and France and worked in the studio of Gutzon Borglum as an assistant. In 1916, he set up a sculpture studio in a barn behind his house in Topeka. His first public commission was for a statue of Abraham Lincoln that is now on the grounds of the Kansas State Capitol.

He married Marian Gage, a painter, shortly after World War I when he was in the medical corps and lived in Kansas City.[2] He began teaching sculpture at Washburn and at the Kansas City Art Institute.[3] They moved to Los Angeles from New York in 1924 and built a studio in their home in the Santa Monica Canyon.[2] He was appointed professor of sculpture at the University of Southern California and rose to the head of the department. Gage's mother and sister lived in La Jolla, San Diego, California.[4] His work was also part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.[5]

Academy Award Winning Short Film

Gage executed likenesses of Lincoln in many stages of the president's life. In 1955 Gage starred in a short film The Face of Lincoln, in which he modeled Lincoln's features while narrating the story of his life.[6] The film, produced by Wilber T. Blume, won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.[7] Gage executed numerous commissions in the Los Angeles area and served on the sculpture commission for the 1936 Olympics.[4] His film The Face of Jesus was nominated for Academy Awards in 1962.

Works
  • seated Lincoln on the Kansas State Capitol grounds in Topeka, ca. (1915)
  • American Legion Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, (1921)
  • Police Monument, Kansas City, Missouri, ( 1921)
  • Electric Fountain in Beverly Hills [8] (1931)
  • the Edison Building, Los Angeles, California, (1931)
  • Facade of the Los Angeles Times Building, (1935)
  • Pioneer Mother Memorial on the Kansas State Capitol grounds, (1937)
  • the Allan J. Hancock Foundation, University of Southern California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, (1940)
  • Bust of Sherman Minton at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis, (1956)
  • head of Abraham Lincoln 110 Grand Avenue, Los Angeles [9] (1961)
  • many schools and churches
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References
  1. AskART page, undated, retrieved on 2008-07-05.
  2. Stewart. Virginia, (1957, September 8). "An ability for interpretation" The Los Angeles Times, p. M22. Retrieved June 23, 2008
  3. Biography Kansas State Historical Society "Robert Merrell Gage page" undated, retrieved on 2008-07-05.
  4. Kamerling, Bruce (Summer 1989). "Early Sculpture and Sculptors in San Diego". The Journal of San Diego History. 35 (3). Retrieved 2008-07-05.
  5. "Robert Merrell Gage". Olympedia. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  6. Los Angeles County Arts Commission "Stanley Mosk Courthouse", undated, retrieved on 2008-07-05.
  7. Merrell Gage papers, 1911–1982 at the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, retrieved on 2008-07-05.
  8. Public Art and Sculptures in Greater Los Angeles "Electric Fountain" (history and images) undated, retrieved on 2008-07-05.
  9. Los Angeles sculpture + photo gallery, undated, retrieved on 2008-07-05.
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