Karl Theodore Francis Bitter (December 6, 1867 in Vienna – April 9, 1915) was an Austrian-born United States sculptor best known for his architectural sculpture, memorials and residential work.
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Biography
Bitter was born and trained in Vienna. His early training took place at the Kunstgewerbeschule, the imperial school for the applied arts, and after that the Kunstakademie, the school for fine arts. Upon his graduation he was apprenticed to an architectural sculptor. This was the period that the Ringstraße was being built in Vienna, and so a large number of decorated buildings were being built. While on leave from the army, he immigrated to the United States in 1889, where he became naturalized. It was many years before he was able to return to Austria.
Upon arriving in America, Bitter was quickly discovered by Richard Morris Hunt, the architect of choice of many of New York’s rich and famous. From that time on Bitter was never without work. After working as a sculptor at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and as director at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in 1901, Bitter’s extraordinary organizational skills led him to be named head of the sculpture programs at both the 1904 St. Louis Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, where Lee Lawrie trained with his guidance, and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition held in San Francisco, California. In 1906/1907, he presided the National Sculpture Society.
Although Bitter arose out of the Classical/Naturalist styles he was increasingly turning towards a more modern approach to sculpture. Much of the work in Buffalo and St. Louis was allegorical in nature. Where this would have taken him will never be known, because he was killed in a tragic accident in 1915 when, while leaving the opera in NYC, a car jumped the curb and struck him down.
Like many of the sculptors and painters of the day Bitter frequently employed the services of the muse and history’s first "super model", Audrey Munson. Bitter's son Francis Bitter, born in 1902, became a prominent American physicist.
Selected Architectural Sculpture
- Doors & Tympanum, Trinity Church, New York, 1891
- Elements Controlled and Uncontrolled, on the Administration Building at the Chicago World's Fair, 1893
- Spirit of Transportation at 30th Street Station, Pennsylvania Railroad, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1894
- Biltmore Estate, Richard Morris Hunt, architect, Asheville, North Carolina, 1895
- St Paul Building, George B. Post architect, NYC, 1896 (When this building was demolished in 1958 Bitter's three caryatids ended up at Holliday Park in Indianapolis, Indiana)
- Decorations on the Dewey Arch, New York, 1899
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, Richard Morris Hunt architect, NYC, 1901
- United States Customs House, Cass Gilbert, architect, NYC 1906
- Cleveland Trust Company, George Post, architect, Cleveland Ohio, 1907
- First National Bank, Milton J Dyer, architect, Cleveland Ohio, 1908
- Cuyahoga County Courthouse, Cleveland Ohio, 1908, 1914
- Wisconsin State Capitol, George Post architect, Madison Wisconsin 1908, 1910, 1912
Monuments & Other Works
- Dr. William Pepper (provost of the University of Pennsylvania), Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 1898
- Louisiana Purchase Group, St. Louis Missouri, 1904
- General Sigel, NYC, 1907
- Dr. Angell Memorial, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1909
- Henry Tappen Memorial, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1912
- Carl Schurz Monument, Morningside Park, New York City, 1913
- Thomas Jefferson, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1915
- Lowry Monument, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1915
- Pulitzer Fountain, NYC (completed by Isadore Konti and Karl Gruppe), 1915
- Depew Fountain, Indianapolis, Indiana (completed by Alexander Sterling Calder), 1915
- Andrew Dickson White, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 1915
Selected Funerary or Cemetery Works
- Hubbard Memorial, Montpelier, Vermont, 1903
- Villard Memorial, Sleepy Hollow, New York, 1904
- Prehn Memorial, Passaic, New Jersey, 1911
- Kasson Memorial, Utica, New York, 1915
Gallery
 The Spirit of Transportation, 30th Street Station, Philadelphia, PA (1894) |
 Triumphal Bridge, Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, NY (1901), John M. Carrere, architect. |
 Wisconsin State Capitol, Madison, Wisconsin (1908-12), George Post, architect. |
 Carl Schurz Monument, Morningside Park, New York City, NY (1913) |
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Karl Bitter |
- Bitter's own description of his Sculpture Plan for the 1901 Buffalo world's fair
- Dennis, James M., Karl Bitter: Architectural Sculptor 1867 - 1915, University of Wisconsin Press 1967
- Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, Architectural Sculpture of America, unpublished manuscript
- Schevill, Ferdinand, Karl Bitter: A Biography, University of Chicago Press, Chicago Illinois, 1917
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