Frederick Ernest "Fritz" Triebel (December 29, 1865 – 1944) was an American sculptor, best remembered for his two works, marble statues of George Laird Shoup and Henry Mower Rice, located in the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington D.C.
Early life He was born in Peoria, Illinois on December 29, 1865,National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925; Roll #: 526; Volume #: Roll 0526 - Certificates: 19500-19749, 29 May 1918-01 Jun 1918 where his father was a monument maker. His father Otto had been apprenticed as a stone carver in Germany before immigrating to the United States and it was likely from him that Triebel learned the rudiments of sculpting.
Career At the age of 16 Triebel was apprenticed to a stone carver in Chicago, and from there he moved to first New York and then Boston. In 1882 he won a scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy where he attended and prospered. While there, he married Santina Grosse. Their first two children, Dante and Beatrice were born in Italy. In the early 1890s Triebel was invited to be a part of the international sculpture selection jury for the World's Columbian Exposition.Cooley, Adelaide N. The Monument Maker: A Biography of Frederick Ernest Triebel, The rediscovery of a forgotten American sculptor Exposition Press, Hicksville NY, 1978 p.7-8 He also exhibited six works at the exposition and sold everything he exhibited.Revisiting the White City: American Art at the 1893 World's Fair, National Museum of American Art and National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., 1993 pp.378-379
In 1899, Triebel moved from Italy to New York. He was the first artist to create a studio in MacDougal Alley. He lived in No. 6.
In 1919, he applied for a job as a tracer at the Hog Island shipyard.
Death Triebel died on September 14, 1944.New York Department of Health; Albany, NY; NY State Death Index
Selected works Soldiers and Sailors Monument, 1899, Peoria Courthouse Regimental and central monuments to Iowa Union soldiers, Shiloh National Military Park, 1906 Bronze statue of Robert G. Ingersoll, Peoria, Illinois, 1911 Bronze works featured on the Mississippi State Memorial, Vicksburg National Military Park, Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1912
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