1892 - 1961
The son of Danish-born parents, Georg Lober passed his childhood in Saint Louis and Keyport, New Jersey, where he attended public school. His interest in sculpture is said to have been confirmed when he was just eleven years old. In New York he studied at the Academy school (1910-12 and 1916-17) and at the Beaux Arts Institute of Design, with Alexander Stirling Calder and Evelyn Longman. He also served as an apprentice to the sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Lober's first professional recognition was the Avery Prize, awarded him by the Architectural League of New York in its exhibition of 1911. His work first was shown in an Academy annual in 1918, and he continued as a regular exhibitor until 1955, when he was represented by his bust of Theodore Roosevelt.
Lober's reputation grew steadily and he enjoyed nationwide recognition, even though his home, his studio, much of his work, and his civic and professional interests were centered in New York. Besides maintaining his career as a sculptor, Lober was a member of and exceptionally active in a number of artists' professional associations and in organizations influential in controlling the design standards of New York's buildings and monuments. To name only those organizations in which he held officerships or was a board member: the National Sculpture Society, the American Artists Professional League, the Salmagundi Club, and the Municipal Art Society of the City of New York. He was first elected to the Academy Council in 1935 and continued as a member of that body until 1940, when he was elected assistant corresponding secretary. He served until 1943, when he was elected corresponding secretary, holding that post until 1948. He was returned to Council in 1950 for a year's term as assistant treasurer.
Lober's most significant administrative post was his appointment in 1942 to be the sculptor-member of the Art Commission of the City of New York. The following year he was made the commission's secretary, a post he retained until his retirement in 1959. As commission secretary, Lober wielded great influence in all design decisions on new buildings and on any matter concerning publicly viewed design-from signage to major sculptural decoration. In the secretary's role as guardian of the City Hall art collection, he campaigned successfully in the late 1940s for a massive conservation project for the building's deteriorating paintings.
Although the majority of Lober's work was on ideal themes and in medallic design, he was most celebrated for several highly conspicuous works of constructive portraiture dating from the later years of his career: a portrait of Theodore Roosevelt for the New York University Hall of Fame; the figure of George M. Cohan, installed in Duffy Square, New York; a gigantic figure of the Revolutionary War pamphleteer Thomas Paine for a Paine memorial in Burnham Park, Morristown, New Jersey; and surely his most famous work, the figure of Hans Christian Andersen unveiled in 1956 in New York's Central Park. However, Lober was equally proud of a large crucifix commissioned by the Catholic Women's Historical Society of Richmond, Virginia, for the Wayside Shrine at Aquia, Virginia, the installation of which in the early 1920s was opposed by the Ku Klux Klan. The sculptor sought and obtained a detail of U.S. Marines from their nearby headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, to stand guard until the piece was firmly in place.
Despite his exceptional activity as an artist and as an administrator, Lober apparently found time to devote to other arts: when filling in the "interests outside of professional work" blank on the Academy's biographical questionnaire, he wrote "Music" in bold, super-sized capitals.
Lober's reputation grew steadily and he enjoyed nationwide recognition, even though his home, his studio, much of his work, and his civic and professional interests were centered in New York. Besides maintaining his career as a sculptor, Lober was a member of and exceptionally active in a number of artists' professional associations and in organizations influential in controlling the design standards of New York's buildings and monuments. To name only those organizations in which he held officerships or was a board member: the National Sculpture Society, the American Artists Professional League, the Salmagundi Club, and the Municipal Art Society of the City of New York. He was first elected to the Academy Council in 1935 and continued as a member of that body until 1940, when he was elected assistant corresponding secretary. He served until 1943, when he was elected corresponding secretary, holding that post until 1948. He was returned to Council in 1950 for a year's term as assistant treasurer.
Lober's most significant administrative post was his appointment in 1942 to be the sculptor-member of the Art Commission of the City of New York. The following year he was made the commission's secretary, a post he retained until his retirement in 1959. As commission secretary, Lober wielded great influence in all design decisions on new buildings and on any matter concerning publicly viewed design-from signage to major sculptural decoration. In the secretary's role as guardian of the City Hall art collection, he campaigned successfully in the late 1940s for a massive conservation project for the building's deteriorating paintings.
Although the majority of Lober's work was on ideal themes and in medallic design, he was most celebrated for several highly conspicuous works of constructive portraiture dating from the later years of his career: a portrait of Theodore Roosevelt for the New York University Hall of Fame; the figure of George M. Cohan, installed in Duffy Square, New York; a gigantic figure of the Revolutionary War pamphleteer Thomas Paine for a Paine memorial in Burnham Park, Morristown, New Jersey; and surely his most famous work, the figure of Hans Christian Andersen unveiled in 1956 in New York's Central Park. However, Lober was equally proud of a large crucifix commissioned by the Catholic Women's Historical Society of Richmond, Virginia, for the Wayside Shrine at Aquia, Virginia, the installation of which in the early 1920s was opposed by the Ku Klux Klan. The sculptor sought and obtained a detail of U.S. Marines from their nearby headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, to stand guard until the piece was firmly in place.
Despite his exceptional activity as an artist and as an administrator, Lober apparently found time to devote to other arts: when filling in the "interests outside of professional work" blank on the Academy's biographical questionnaire, he wrote "Music" in bold, super-sized capitals.
