Joseph Kiselewski

Joseph Kiselewski sculpting the bas-relief above the Clark Memorial interior doors

Quick Facts

Significance:

Sculpted the Bas-Relief above the doors for the George Rogers Clark Memorial

Place of Birth:

Browerville, Minnesota

Date of Birth:

1901

Place of Death:

Browerville, Minnesota

Date of Death:

1988

Place of Burial:

Browerville, Minnesota

Cemetery Name:

Christ the King Catholic Cemetery

I realized that man is part of nature, of this Earth, bound to it and subject to its laws, mentally and physically. I became aware that light is only the contrast of dark, and happiness the reverse of sadness; that one will follow the other, so not to despair when things are at their worse.
 -Joseph Kiselewski In My own Words: An Autobiography

After deciding to become an artist at a young age, Joseph Kiselewski first studied at the Minneapolis School of Arts. After completing his studies he traveled to New York where he worked for Lee Lawrie, while also attending the National Academy of Design and the Beaux Arts Institute. While attending the Beaux Arts Institute, he received the beaux arts prize which allowed him to study in Paris for one year.

While studying and working in Paris Kiselewski traveled to Rome where he entered and won the Prix de Rome. This allowed him to study at the American Academy of Rome for the next three years. During his time in Europe, Joseph began to take commissions including a Madonna and Child for Rosary College in River Forest, Illinois.

By 1929 Joseph had returned to New York City where he rented studio space and continued his commissions, including for a statue of General Pulaski in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was in 1930 that he began to assist with the George Rogers Clark Executive Committee. On November 18, 1930, the committee viewed a model of the memorial and grounds created by Kiselewski at his studio.

It was a last-minute change in 1932 that led to the decision by the Executive Committee to add a panel depicting and additional scene from Clark’s career. Frederic C. Hirons created a drawing for a bas-relief above the door. He was given the contract for the bas-relief that would depict Clark receiving his commission and orders from Virginia Governor Patrick Henry.

Through the rest of his career, Kiselewski would assist the Navy during WWII, panels for the General Accounting Office in Washington, D.C. and many other commissions before retiring in 1980 to Browerville, Minnesota.