1908 - 1988
Lantz studied at the National Academy School from 1924 to 1926 under Robert Aitken and worked in the studio of Lee Lawrie from 1925 to 1935. He attended night classes at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design from 1926 to 1931. During the 1930s, he was employed as an instructor in sculpture in the Adult Education Department in New Rochelle, New York, under the Works Projects Administration.
His career as a professional sculptor began in 1938 when he won a commission over 247 entrants for two heroic equestrian groups to be placed at the corners of the Federal Trade Commission Building in Washington. The figures, which Lantz called Man Controlling Trade, were finished in 1942 and remain his best known works.
A number of other public commissions followed including sculptures for the Lynchburg, Virginia, Courthouse; a decorative panel for the offices of Burlington Mills in the Empire State Building, New York City (1948); the allegorical History of Oil for the Sinclair Building, New York; the battle monument for the St. Avold Cemetery in France (1950); and decorative work for the Cabin Class Dining Room on the S.S. United States. Lantz also worked as a medalist and among his achievements in this field are the Gold Anniversary Medal of the City of New York (1948) and the John and Salome medal for the Society of Medalists. He also worked in glass, creating works for Steuben Glass.
He won the National Academy's Watrous Gold Medal in 1970 for a group of medals and again in 1975 for medals of William Tecumsah Sherman and Andrew Jackson. In 1980, he won the Academy's Speyer Prize for Frenzy. He was a member of the National Sculpture Society.
His career as a professional sculptor began in 1938 when he won a commission over 247 entrants for two heroic equestrian groups to be placed at the corners of the Federal Trade Commission Building in Washington. The figures, which Lantz called Man Controlling Trade, were finished in 1942 and remain his best known works.
A number of other public commissions followed including sculptures for the Lynchburg, Virginia, Courthouse; a decorative panel for the offices of Burlington Mills in the Empire State Building, New York City (1948); the allegorical History of Oil for the Sinclair Building, New York; the battle monument for the St. Avold Cemetery in France (1950); and decorative work for the Cabin Class Dining Room on the S.S. United States. Lantz also worked as a medalist and among his achievements in this field are the Gold Anniversary Medal of the City of New York (1948) and the John and Salome medal for the Society of Medalists. He also worked in glass, creating works for Steuben Glass.
He won the National Academy's Watrous Gold Medal in 1970 for a group of medals and again in 1975 for medals of William Tecumsah Sherman and Andrew Jackson. In 1980, he won the Academy's Speyer Prize for Frenzy. He was a member of the National Sculpture Society.
