Clara Pfeifer Garrett, 1872 – 1946

Photograph of Clara Pfeifer Garrett in her atelier. "Mrs. C.P. Garrett [...]"

Clara Pfeifer Garrett was a prominent American sculptor who worked extensively in St. Louis, Missouri in the 1910s and 1920s. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to German immigrant parents, she grew up in St. Louis where her father, Carl Pfeifer, was an engineer who took part in the construction of the Eads Bridge, the first bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis. Her older brother, Herman Julius Pfeifer Sr., also worked as a civil engineer.

 

 

 

 

Photograph of a life class at the St. Louis Art School, 1896. Pfeifer is below artist Richard E. Miller (man with hat and glasses). "Do You Remember [...]"

After graduating from the Sacred Heart Convent, Clara studiedwith Robert P. Bringhurst at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts from 1892/3 – 1897 (Johnson, 1913). Bringhurst initially discouraged her from continuing her education claiming “she had no ability,” but she went on to win scholarships and the school’s first medal. She even became Bringhurst’s assistant, working with him for several years (Johnson [1913]). In 1897, Pfeifer’s “The Piper Boy” was shattered into pieces while on display in Nashville’s Parthenon. Workers moving several other pieces of art bumped into its pedestal and the sculpture was irrevocably destroyed (“Broken into Small Pieces[...]”).

Clare Pfeifer Garrett, “Awakening of Spring,” 1902, Kingsbury Place Association, St. Louis

Clara’s first major commission came from William B. Ittner, the architect who designed the Eugene Field Elementary School in St. Louis. She completed a monumental frieze, which has since been demolished.  A short time before leaving for Europe in 1902, she received a commission for a sculpture of a water nymph to adorn the ornamental Union boulevard gateway of the newly-built Kingsbury Place, a private neighborhood incorporated in St. Louis that year.

In late 1902 Clara moved to Paris for three years, studying sculpture at the École des Beaux-Arts under Antonin Mercié. Women were only admitted to the École beginning in 1897, so Pfeifer would have been among the first females to train at this prestigious institution.

 

On February 23, 1903, an article about American student life in Montparnasse appeared in the influential literary journal, Gil Blas. Pfeifer, incorrectly called "Mlle. Pliffer," is praised for the sculptures she exhibited at the American Woman's Art Association at 4 rue de Chevreuse: "Among the works exhibited today, the studies by Miss Pliffer [sic] from St. Louis, were highly well regarded. Miss Pliffer is one of the favorite students of Maître Mercié" (translated from French, “La vie étrangère[...]”). In addition to showing her work at the American Girls' Art Club, she also participated in the Salon des artistes français in 1903, 1904, 1905, and 1906, exhibiting one sculpture each year. During this period she lived at 243 boulevard Raspail, where Antoine Bourdelle made weekly visits to critique her work. His fee for these home critiques was steep, so in later years he came only when Pfeifer specifically sent for him (Johnson [1913]).  

In 1904, Clara was in London exhibiting her sculpture “Les Chrysalides” at the Royal Academy when she met her future husband, an artist and inventor named Edmund A. Garrett (“Ted”). The young couple married in London in spring 1906 and soon returned to the United States ("Annual Exhibition of the American Art Association"). Her father-in-law, Edmund Henry Garrett, was a noted landscape artist, illustrator, and an authority on American colonial history.

Record from The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American Sculpture Catalogue, 1965, p.146

Clara’s success continued in the United States: she received a bronze medal in 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis for her sculpture “Echo” (Falk 1244); she won the $100 prize for her bas-relief of Dr. Frank Lutz at the Artist’s Guild exhibit in 1915 (“R.P. Bringhurst [...]); and she also won the $500 first prize for “Mother and Daughter” at the 1916 Annual St. Louis Salon at the Artists’ Guild (“Woman Who Won Grand Prize [...]). She even sold her sculpture “Boy Teasing Turtle” to The Metropolitan Museum of Art (“St. Louis Is on the Map in Artistic Way”). Sadly, the sculpture is no longer owned by the museum, but records as late as 1965 indicate that it was once a part of The Met’s American sculpture collection (and had been exhibited at the 1903 Salon des artistes français).

 

 

Photograph of Clara Pfeifer Garrett, ca. 1914. Notable Women of St. Louis (1914)

Almost nothing is known about her later life and career. Clara and Ted had two sons, Carl and Julian, both of whom served as models for their mother (Johnson 78). She moved to Beverly Hills, California in 1929 and remained there until 1941. 

Clara Pfeifer Garrett died in New York on May 15, 1946. Images of her work are included in the Garrett Family Papers, an archival collection at the University of Wyoming’s American Heritage Center.

 

 

 

 

Clara Pfeifer Garret, “Mother and Daughter.” Special Exhibition Catalogue City Art Museum Saint Louis: An exhibition of paintings and sculpture by Saint Louis artists Opening July 2, 1916". Series 1916. No 15.
Clara Pfeifer Garret, “Mother and Daughter.” Special Exhibition Catalogue City Art Museum Saint Louis: An exhibition of paintings and sculpture by Saint Louis artists Opening July 2, 1916". Series 1916. No 15.
Clare Pfeifer Garret, "Mother and Daughter," ca. 1916, painted plaster. St. Louis Art Museum
Clara Pfeifer Garret, “Mother and Daughter,” 1916, plaster. "Woman Sculptor Wins"
Clara Pfeifer Garret, “Mother and Daughter,” 1916, plaster. "Woman Sculptor Wins"

Sources

  • "Annual Exhibition of the American Art Association." New York Herald (European Edition), February 5, 1905, p. 2. Gallica.
  • “Broken into Small Pieces: Pfeifer’s ‘The Piper Boy’ Was Overturned and Smashed in the Parthenon.” The Nashville American, November 9, 1897, p. 5. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
  • “Clara Pfeifer, A Successful St. Louis Woman Sculptor.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 25, 1901, p. B2. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
  • “Do You Remember Away Back Then.” The St. Louis Star and Times, August 18, 1922, p. 5. Newspapers.com.
  • Falk, Peter H. “Garrett, Clara Pfeifer (Mrs. Edmund A.).” Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, volume 2. Madison, CT: Soundview Press, 1999, p. 1244.
  • Gardner, Albert TenEyck. American Sculpture: A Catalogue of the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1965, p. 146.
  • Johnson, Mrs. Charles P. “Notable Women of the Present-Day St. Louis.” The St. Louis Star and Times, February 23, 1913, p. 18. Newspapers.com.
  • Johnson, Mrs. Chas. P. Notable Women of St. Louis 1914. St. Louis: Woodward, 1914, pp.76-78. Library of Congress. *Reprint of Johnson’s 1913 article, essentially published in full on Wikipedia.
  • “Mrs. C. P. Garrett Wins Prize, $500 Arts League Prize.” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 16, 1916, p. 4. Newspapers.com.
  • Obituary. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 25, 1946. Newspapers.com
  • “R.P. Bringhurst Wins $500 Prize at Art Exhibit.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 18, 1915, p. 29. Newspapers.com
  • “Seventy-Fifth Exhibition of the Boston Art Club.” Boston Evening Transcript, January 5 1907, p. 17. Newspapers.com.
  • “St. Louis Is on the Map in Artistic Way.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 20, 1907, p.10. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
  • "La vie étrangère: Une exposition américaine à Paris." Gil Blas, February 23, 1903, 3. RetroNews.
  • “Woman Sculptor Wins Grand Prize at St. Louis Salon.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 16, 1916, p. 54. Newspapers.com.