Welcome to the official blog for Marshall M. Fredericks, America’s Public Sculptor. Museum staff will share stories about his life, art, and behind the scenes at the Museum. Be sure to “comment”, “like”, and enjoy!
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!You've heard it said before... location is everything. Being a prominent Detroit sculptor, Marshall Fredericks's talents did not go unnoticed by many including General Motors. In the mid 1950s Fredericks was hired for a unique project, create a billboard for a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air. Billboards used to be great works of art. Go ahead and Search Google for 1950s billboards. Lot of great billboards right?! Marshall Fredericks soon found a 1955 Chevy in his Royal Oak, Michigan studio. He carefully took measurements from the car to create a side view, relief sculpture of the automobile.
Fredericks worked in clay to meticulously sculpt the car's exact likeness. Once he finished, a fiberglass sculpture was created from the clay and was added to the billboard. The billboard was installed by the Detroit advertising firm Walker and Company. Much research has gone into locating that original billboard, but it's whereabouts are currently unknown.
By: Geoffe Haney ~ Collections Manager
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in 1930, at age 22, Marshall Fredericks won the prestigious Herman N. Matzen Scholarship while a student at the Cleveland School of Art. The $1000 scholarship ($15,000 in 2020 dollars) afforded Fredericks the opportunity to travel and study art abroad. In this previous post you can read that Fredericks first destination was to meet his mentor Carl Milles in Sweden. After Fredericks left Sweden, he traveled extensively through Europe, and eventually went to the North African country of Morocco. While there, Fredericks made a series of sketches of men and women that he saw on the streets. In these drawings we see fez wearing men, a Berber woman playing a rebab and on ox carrying a heavy load. These beautiful rarely seen sketches are from 1931 and showcase the drawing talents of Fredericks.  Morocco, 1931. Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum Archives.  Morocco, 1931. Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum Archives. By: Geoffe Haney ~ Collection Manager
In 1930 Marshall Fredericks traveled to Sweden to meet his mentor Carl Milles. He must have been on cloud 9 the entire trip. Marshall arrives in Sweden and goes to the school where Milles taught only to find out he has not taught there for 5 years. A watchman at the school then calls Milles on the phone and Fredericks talks to him. Milles invites him to his home and studio. Happens all the time, right? I can't imagine calling any of my mentors or idols today, and having them invite me to come meet them. (Who to call first)... I am a big fan of the History Channel program Ancient Aliens. If the team of Ancient Astronaut Theorists invited me to talk about UFO's and mysterious places on the planet, I would be dumbfounded. I would go in a heartbeat, and tell my tale to the world. Read Marshall Fredericks's account of meeting his mentor back in 1930. My First Meeting with Carl Milles” by Marshall M. Fredericks
By: Geoffe Haney ~ Collection Manager
Marshall Fredericks's sculpture Boy and Bear began a technological journey to be transformed into a small bronze sculpture through the process of Rapid Prototyping. This technology would have fascinated and amazed Fredericks.
I was fortunate to be part of the process which began last week by Mike Hall from Preferred Tech of Waterford, Michigan. Hall brought his equipment to the museum and scanned the sculpture which resulted in a digital file from which a plastic model will be printed. The model will then be sent to a bronze casting company in Lansing, Michigan where a mold will be created and a bronze will be cast. I will continue to update you on the process and let you know when the small Boy and Bear reproduction bronzes are available for purchase in the museum store.
By: Geoffe Haney ~ Collection Manager
We have many fun images for you to color. Click the images below to start coloring and have fun!
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