Head of a Young Artist

James Earle Fraser

by January 1920, carved 1933 · Rosato di Milano marble · The American Wing

Fraser enjoyed considerable success as a portraitist even before he began to create his better-known public monuments. "Head of a Young Artist" is traditionally identified as a portrait of J. Olaf Olson, a young American painter of Norwegian descent. In 1933 Fraser translated the portrait into marble, according to one contemporary source, carving it from a block of marble removed from the Milan Cathedral during renovations. Pointing marks made in the marble during the carving process are visible in the hair and around the rough stone near the neck. The meditative aspect of this finely modeled head combined with the particular translucency of the stone make it an exceptional portrait in Fraser's oeuvre.

Artist

James Earle Fraser

Date

by January 1920, carved 1933

Medium

Rosato di Milano marble

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1933