Background
James Earle Fraser was born on November 4, 1876, in Winona, Minnesota, United States. His father, Thomas Fraser, was an engineer who worked for railroad companies as they expanded across the American W.
James Earle Fraser was born on November 4, 1876, in Winona, Minnesota, United States. His father, Thomas Fraser, was an engineer who worked for railroad companies as they expanded across the American W.
Fraser studied in Paris with Augustus Saint- Gaudens and became his principal assistant. He attended classes at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 1890 and studied at the École des Beaux Arts and the Académie Julian in Paris in the late 19th century.
Fraser's early style is close to his teacher's, although more delicate. Typical of the early pieces, dealing mainly with American pioneer themes, is The End of the Trail, a statue depicting a weary Indian on horseback. Fraser's later sculpture is harder and more precise. Fraser designed the buffalo Indian-head five-cent piece and numerous monuments and portraits. Among his important works are the statue Journey Through Life; the groups Discoverers and Pioneers; and portrait busts of Saint-Gaudens, Alexander Hamilton, Theodore Roosevelt, and Elihu Root.
