Oswald Hoepfner

Background

Hoepfner was born in Bromberg, Germany, now in Poland.

Education

He became interested in art early and at age 14 was apprenticed to a blacksmith. Hoepfner studied at the Beaux Arts Institute of Design, New York City, where he subsequently became an instructor, as well as a member of the Jury of Award.

Career

Oswald received a violin at the age of nine. Before he left Germany he had handwritten thirty-five pages of violin compositions. A year later he got a job in Riga, Latvia as a cabin boy and rigger aboard a sailing ship, the Trafalgar, and sailed to America.

He arrived in Perth Amboy, New Jersey around 1888 and there jumped ship and began working at the Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Company.

Once in America, he performed on many stages, organized an orchestra and choir in the Perth Amboy area and continued his music studies at the New York College of Music. He is recognized for his work on the bronze panels in the front doors of the Detroit Public Library, Main Branch.

He is documented in the book Masterpieces of American Architecture, and for this work Oswald is listed in the Smithsonian Institution"s Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture

Oswald is also recognized in the July 1921 issue of Architectural Forum magazine for his work on the niche in the Cunard Building, New York City. Other of Oswald"s architectural sculpture contributions to American buildings are found in Riverside Church, New York City. Radio City Music Hall, New York City.

Liberty Memorial, Kansas City, Missouri, Philadelphia Public Ledger Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia Public Library, Philadelphia. The James Scott Memorial Fountain, Detroit, Michigan. Lincoln Memorial, Germantown, Pennsylvania.

And many more.

Oswald studied and worked with many of the well known architects and sculptors of his time. These include: John Donnelly Company, Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Company, Cass Gilbert, George Bridgman, Ulysses Ricci, Jeremiah Grandelis, Piccirilli Brothers, Edward Ardoline and many others

Achievements

• Hoepfner also studied at the National Sculpture Society and George Bridgman Institute in New York City, where he was recognized for having achieved the status of anatomical perfection. Hoepfner"s accomplishments have been documented by his wife, Emma, nine children and twenty-five grandchildren.

Membership

Oswald was an Honorary Member and Instructor at the Beaux Arts League. A member of the Art Students League. Honorary Member of the Architectural League, all in New York City.

And member of the Turnverein Gymnastic Society, New Jersey.