Gutzom Borglum

A Kansas Portrait

Born in Idaho in 1867, Gutzom Borglum was raised in Nebraska where he observed Indians and nurtured his fascination for horses. When his family moved to Omaha, Borglum went to study at St. Marys College west of Topeka.

It was a young sentimental Gutzom Borglum who in the 1880s painted two pastoral scenes which would be used to decorate the elegant home of Topeka stock breeder Erasmus Bennett. Borglum's growing interest in painting the sculptures diverted him, and he soon left Kansas and ultimately learned from the masters and throughout Europe.

As a mature artist, Borglum proclaimed that "art in America should be American, drawn from American sources, memorializing American achievement." What can be more American than the finely sculpted faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln on Mount Rushmore. The American artist responsible was Gutzom Borglum.