John Karl Daniels
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sculptor.
John Karl Daniels was born in Norway in 1874 and immigrated with his family to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1884. He attended the Mechanics Arts High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he first received formal training for his craft as a sculptor. He was a pupil of Knut Okerberg, in Norway and of Andrew O'Connor in Paris.
He was based in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, where most of his work can be found. His studio was in a former icehouse located behind the old stone Van Dusen mansion at 1900 LaSalle Avenue in Minneapolis.
His granite Pioneers sculpture was given to the City of Minneapolis by the family of Charles Alfred Pillsbury
Charles Alfred Pillsbury
Charles Alfred Pillsbury , was a U.S. flour industrialist and the founder & namesake of the Pillsbury Company....
during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. It served as the centerpiece of a park near the Central Post Office in Minneapolis called Pioneer Square. His work included the Soldiers Monument in Summit Park in St. Paul.
His Minnesota State Capitol sculptures include Knute Nelson
Knute Nelson
Knute Nelson was an Norwegian American politician. A Republican, he served in the Wisconsin Legislature and Minnesota Legislature, in the U.S. House of Representatives, as the 12th Governor of Minnesota, and as a U.S...
and Leif Erickson
Leif Erickson
Leif Erickson was an American film and television actor.-Background:Leif Erickson was born William Wycliffe Anderson in Alameda, California. His father was commander of a fleet of ships and his mother was a noted newspaperwoman and writer...
on the capital grounds as well as General John B. Sanborn
John B. Sanborn
John Benjamin Sanborn was a lawyer, politician, and soldier from the state of New Hampshire who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War...
and Colonel Alexander Wilkin in the rotunda. Earthbound dedicated to the veterans of Minnesota, was sculpted when Daniels was 80 years old. Other notable works includes the statue of Leif Ericsson in Leif Ericson Park in Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
. He died in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
during 1978.