Edward Ludwig Albert Pausch (September 30, 1856 – 1931) was a Danish-American sculptor noted for his war memorials."Pausch, Edward Ludwig Albert," The Artists Year Book (Art League Publishing Association, 1905).

Life He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, the son of Henry and Annette P. Pausch. The family emigrated to Hartford, Connecticut when he was a child. He apprenticed for eleven years under Carl Conrads in Hartford, beginning at age 14. He worked as an assistant to Domingo Mora in New York City for six years, and with Karl Gerhardt in Hartford for three years. In 1889, he joined sculptor James G. C. Hamilton at the Smith Granite Company in Westerly, Rhode Island.

Pausch's most ambitious work, created while at Smith Granite Company, is the George Washington Memorial (1889–91) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A one-and-one-half-lifesize equestrian statue carved from granite, it depicts Washington as a 23-year-old colonel in the French and Indian War.Washington Equestrian Statue, from Babcock-Smith House Museum. He modeled the head on Houdon's bust.

Smith Granite Company created at least fifty-seven monuments for the Gettysburg Battlefield,Gettysburg National Military Park , from Babcock-Smith House Museum. and at least sixteen monuments for Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.Chickamauga Battlefield, from Babcock-Smith House Museum.Chattanooga Battlefield, from Babcock-Smith House Museum. —seven of these have been documented to Pausch. Van Amringe Granite Company (sub-contracting with Smith Granite Company) created six monuments for the Antietam BattlefieldAntietam Battlefield, from Babcock-Smith House Museum.—all documented to Pausch.

Pausch opened his own studio in Hartford in 1900. Within hours of President William McKinley's assassination on September 14, 1901, he was summoned from Hartford to Buffalo, New York to make the death mask."The McKinley Death Mask," The New York Times, November 19, 1901. He made a plaster cast the following morning, and completed the mask in about a month. He later used it to model a bust of the late president for the Philadelphia Main Post Office (1902), and his McKinley statue (1903–05) in Reading, Pennsylvania.Edward Pausch to F. Edwin Elwell, 15 July 1903, from Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries.

Pausch settled permanently in Buffalo, opening a studio at Delaware & Delavan Avenues."Pausch, Eduard L. A.," American Art Directory (1903). Among his students were sculptors Robert D. Barr, Stanley Edwards, and William Stephenson.Thomas A. O'Connell, "The Westerly Project, A Critical Review," from Babcock-Smith House Museum. He exhibited at the Albright Art Gallery in 1919.Sir Humphry Davy, "Art in Every Day Life." (1919).

Pausch married Julia Ellenberger of Hartford in 1878. The spelling of his first name alternates between "Edward" and "Eduard."

Black Aggie

His most infamous work, Black Aggie (1906–07), is an unauthorized near-copy of Augustus Saint-Gaudens's 1891 Adams Memorial. General Felix Agnus was led to believe that he was ordering a cast from Saint-Gaudens's original molds for the Angus family plot in Druid Ridge Cemetery, Pikesville, Maryland. John Salter, a granite supplier in Connecticut, misled Agnus and hired Pausch to model the freehand bronze copy.Daniel B. Krinsley, "An Unexpected Rendezvous at the Cosmos Club on Lafayette Square," COSMOS Journal (1998). Saint-Gaudens's widow sued Salter, and won a court judgment. Pausch's actions were publicly denounced by sculptors such as Karl Bitter and Daniel Chester French, which dealt a serious blow to his professional reputation.C.J. Mills, The Adams Memorial and American Funerary Sculpture, 1891–1927. University of Maryland: Doctoral Dissertation, 1996, pages 218-19, 223-26. The bootleg statue remained in the cemetery, and became the subject of ghost stories and urban legends. Following repeated acts of vandalism, it was removed and donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1967 (as a work by Saint-Gaudens). Deaccessioned, it is now installed in the courtyard between the Cutts-Madison House and the National Courts Building in Washington, D.C.John Kelly, "'Black Aggie': D.C. statue cloaked in superstition," The Washington Post, August 18, 2012.

Selected works

Equestrian Statue of George Washington, George Washington Memorial (1889–91), Allegheny Commons Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.George Washington Memorial, from SIRIS. Death mask of President William McKinley (1901), Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Bust of President William McKinley (1902), Main Post Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."A McKinley Monument, Philadelphia," The Monumental News (February 1902), p. 117. Relocated to Waterworks Park, Canton, Ohio (McKinley's hometown), 1959.James Smart, "Found: Missing Bust of President McKinley," The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, February 15, 1971. President William McKinley, McKinley Memorial (1903–05), City Park, Reading, Pennsylvania.President William McKinley, from SIRIS. Black Aggie, Agnus Memorial (circa 1906–07), Druid Ridge Cemetery, Pikesville, Maryland.Agnus Memorial, from SIRIS. Relocated to the Cutts-Madison House, Washington, D.C. Bust of Elbert Hubbard (1916), McLean County Historical Society, Bloomington, Illinois.Bust of Elbert Hubbard, from SIRIS.

Soldiers' monuments Seneca County Soldiers' Monument (1884–85), Frost Parkway, Tiffin, Ohio.Seneca County Soldiers' Monument , from Babcock-Smith House Museum. Soldiers' Monument (1889), St. Bernard Cemetery, New Haven, Connecticut.Soldiers' Monument, from SIRIS.Soldiers' Monument, St. Bernard Cemetery, from Connecticut's Civil War Monuments. Soldiers' Memorial Monument (1890–91), Diamond Park, Meadville, Pennsylvania.Soldiers' Memorial Monument, from SIRIS. Mecosta County Soldiers' Monument (1893), Mecosta County Courthouse, Big Rapids, Michigan.Mecosta County Soldiers' Monument , from Babcock-Smith House Museum. Ypsilanti Civil War Memorial (1895), Highland Cemetery, Ypsilanti, Michigan.Ypsilante Civil War Memorial , from Babcock-Smith House Museum. Rhode Island Soldiers Home Monument (1901–02), North Burial Ground, Bristol, Rhode Island.Rhode Island Soldiers Home Monument, from SIRIS. Guernsey County Soldiers' Monument (1902–03), Guernsey County Courthouse, Cambridge, Ohio.Guernsey County Soldiers' Monument , from Babcock-Smith House Museum. Broadway Civil War Monument (1905), Broadway Triangle, 318 Elm Street, New Haven, Connecticut.Broadway Civil War Monument from Babcock-Smith House Museum. Pausch modeled the Artilleryman figure; Stanley Edwards modeled the Infantryman figure.

Battlefield monuments

Gettysburg Battlefield, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 13th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Monument (1885), Robinson Avenue.13th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Monument, from Babcock-Smith House Museum. 26th Pennsylvania Emergency Militia Monument (1892), Chambersburg Pike & West Street.26th PA Emergency Militia Monument , from Babcock-Smith House Museum.

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park 10th Wisconsin Infantry Monument (1895).10th Wisconsin Infantry Monument , from Babcock-Smith House Museum. 77th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment Monument, Brock's Field (1897).Pennsylvania Chickamauga-Chattanooga Battlefields Commission, Pennsylvania at Chickamauga and Chattanooga (1897), p. 193. 3rd Maryland Infantry & Latrobe's Battery Monument, Orchard Knob (1902–03).3rd Maryland Infantry Monument, from Maryland in the Civil War. The monument's base originally featured two soldier figures, one Union and one Confederate, but these were removed following repeated vandalism. Ohio State Monument, Missionary Ridge (1902–03).Ohio State Monument , from Babcock-Smith House Museum. 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry Monument (circa 1905).7th PA Cavalry Monument , from Babcock-Smith House Museum.

Antietam Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry Monument (1904).12th PA Cavalry Monument, from SIRIS. 45th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Monument (1904).45th PA Volunteer Infantry Monument , from Babcock-Smith House Museum. 51st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Monument (1904).51st PA Volunteer Infantry Monument , from Babcock-Smith House Museum. 125th Pennsylvania Infantry Monument (1904).125th PA Infantry Monument , from Babcock-Smith House Museum. "Durell's Battery," Independent Battery D, Pennsylvania Artillery Monument (1904).Durell's Battery PA Artillery Monument , from Babcock-Smith House Museum. 128th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Monument (circa 1905).128th PA Volunteer Infantry Monument , from Babcock-Smith House Museum.

References