Balboa Park: Club Sculpture – San Diego CA

Description

Frederick Schweigardt (1885 – 1948) was a student of the Stuttgart and Munich art academies in Germany, Schweigardt also studied with Auguste Rodin in Paris, where he received first prize at the Paris Exposition of 1913.

Schweigardt was named the “official sculptor for the exposition,” much to the surprise of San Diego’s local sculptors. For the exposition, Schweigardt sculpted a large fountain, “Four Cornerstones of Americans Democracy,” for the Hall of Education (now the Balboa Park Club). Schweigardt also sculpted a bronze relief plaque honoring D.C. Collier, director of the 1915 exposition, which can still be seen on the west wall inside the California Quadrangle. During the fair, Schweigardt maintained a studio in Balboa Park, where he made busts of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Will Rogers, and Albert Einstein. After the exposition, he worked in San Francisco until the Mid 1940s.