Marshall Fredericks

In 2013, art dealer and art historian Eric Ian Hornak Spoutz was quoted in The Detroit News stating that the value of the statue is in excess of $1,000,000.

When Fredericks was a teenager his inspiration was Lord Byron, the nineteenth-century Romantic poet who became associated with a haughty, melancholy mood. Fredericks presents Lord Byron in a dramatic pose with his head thrown back and hand raised to his forehead. He seems to suffer inner turmoil suggestive of the melancholic life of the poet. Lord Byron's left leg was slightly shorter than his right and he was sensitive about his lameness. Fredericks captured this aspect of Byron's personality by posing him draped in a long cape which partially conceals his legs. The Bronze full-scale sculpture resides on the campus of Saginaw Valley State University and was cast in 1999.

He resided in Birmingham, Michigan, with his wife Rosalind Cooke until his death April 4, 1998. The couple had five children and eight grandchildren. He maintained studios at 4113 North Woodward Avenue in Royal Oak and on East Long Lake Road in Bloomfield Hills until his death. His estate donated the contents of both studios to the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum on the campus of Saginaw Valley State University in Saginaw, Michigan.

This sculpture was moved in 1996 to the plaza adjacent to Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City. In 1983, Fredericks donated a casting of the work to his adopted home of Birmingham, Michigan for that city's fiftieth anniversary. It occupies a site in the city's Shain Park.

Leaping Gazelle is one of the most duplicated of Fredericks's sculptures. It can be found at numerous locations, including Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina where it was one of four Purchase prize winners of a nationwide open sculpture competition in 1972.

Despite similarities between this sculpture and the characters in Walt Disney's 1967 film The Jungle Book, Fredericks disavowed any influence from Disney, The Jungle Book, originally published in 1894, or its author, Rudyard Kipling. Fredericks said that he simply wanted to make a sculpture of a boy and bear because it would be fun. On display at the Fredricks Sculpture Gallery is an earlier version of this sculpture in bronze. A similar casting is on display in the children's room of the Grosse Pointe Public Library and at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids.

The Cleveland War Memorial Fountain: Peace Arising from the Flames of War, also known as the Fountain of Eternal Life was installed on The Mall in Downtown Cleveland to commemorate those who served in World War II. It bears the inscription, "IN HONORED MEMORY OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY". The work was 20 years in the making and was dedicated on May 31, 1964.

The Freedom of the Human Spirit was originally sculpted for the 1964 World's Fair in New York City and stood in the Court of States.

The Man and the Expanding Universe Fountain was installed in the South Court of the United States Department of State Headquarters Building in Washington, D.C., in 1964.

Two Bears was originally created in 1962 for Lincoln Square, Urbana, Illinois. A large and small bear sit back-to-back in quiet contemplation. In nature, these two animals are enemies, however, Fredericks portrays the two in a gentle humanistic way, stressing tolerance. The bears are markedly different in their ears and noses and the small bear displays Fredericks' trademark teardrop-kneecap sculpting style. Other sculptures that display this characteristic are The Thinker, Lion and Mouse, and the Male Baboon and Female Baboon sculptures.

Fredericks was commissioned to sculpt a 6-foot-tall (1.8 m) crucifix, but instead designed this 28-foot (8.5 m), full-scale model, for a bronze to be placed at the Indian River Catholic Shrine in Indian River, Michigan. The bronze Corpus is mounted on a 55-foot-tall (17 m) redwood cross. When erected in 1959, it was believed to be the largest crucifix in the world. Since then, a 65-foot (20 m) crucifix was erected in the cemetery of St. Thomas Catholic Church hear Bardstown, Kentucky, however the Corpus on this work is only 14 feet (4.3 m) in height.

After it was installed in 1958, it became popularly known as The Spirit of Detroit. Not only did Fredericks waive his creative fee for this sculpture, but it actually cost him money to produce. However he believed this was merely part of his civic responsibility.

Fredericks was the recipient of many American and foreign awards and decorations for his artistic and humanitarian achievements. He exhibited his work nationally and internationally and many of his works are in national, civic, and private collections. In 1957, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1961.

The J. L. Hudson Company commissioned this sculpture for Eastland Center in Harper Woods, Michigan, in 1957. Like many of Fredericks' sculptures, he designed it specifically for children. Both animals are humanized with friendly facial expressions. The lion's reclining position and his crossed legs are very human-like, yet his huge round head is stylized with uniformly coiled ringlets and his knees are abstracted. These alterations of nature make the king of the jungle non-threatening to children and adults alike.

The fountain was commissioned for the Henry G. McMorran Auditorium in Port Huron, Michigan. Fredericks also created a gold anodized aluminum Sculptured Clock on the building that was completed in 1957, two years before the fountain's installation. The sculptures and clock were conceived as a unified design.

Fredericks was one of six artists commissioned to design sculpture for Northland Shopping Center in Southfield, Michigan. When it opened in 1954, Northland was the country's largest shopping center as well as the first regional shopping center. The architects planned for sculpture to play an important role in the shopping center's courts and malls. Fredericks designed this sculpture with children in mind. As with his other large animal sculptures, he gave the bear a benevolent quality so it would not frighten children. This bear could be a child's best friend. The contrast of the massive body of the bear with the almost frail body of the boy on his back emphasizes this special relationship. The bear's head is down, communicating only amicable intentions. Its erect ears and furrowed brow suggest interest in a viewer at this low eye level. Fredericks' portrayal of the bear is not totally realistic, but like several of his animal sculptures, he portrayed the bear as in a child's imagination. The sculpture at Northland pleased children and adults alike from the day it was first installed until the center closed in 2015. In 2016, the city of Southfield purchased the center and moved the sculpture to the lobby of the Southfield Public Library.

In 1936, Fredericks won a competition to create the Levi L. Barbour Memorial Fountain on Belle Isle in Detroit. This was to be the first of many public monuments created by Fredericks. After World War II, the sculptor worked continuously on his numerous commissions for fountains, memorials, free-standing sculptures, reliefs, and portraits in bronze and other materials. Many of his works have spiritual intensity, lighthearted humor and a warm and gentle humanist spirit like that found in Fredericks himself.

This sculpture was the first commissioned work for which Marshall Fredericks was paid. In 1936, the sculpture won first prize in a national competition, and as a result, Fredericks became well known as a public sculptor. Since the gazelle is not native to Michigan, Fredericks made four animals that are, and placed them around the gazelle on Belle Isle. These animals are the otter, grouse, hawk, and rabbit. Fredericks sculpted the gazelle in a characteristic movement called wheeling, which is when an animal quickly changes direction while being pursued by a predator.

In 1932, Milles invited him to join the staffs of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Cranbrook and Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he taught until he enlisted in the armed forces in 1942. In 1945, Fredericks was honorably discharged from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel.

Marshall Maynard Fredericks (January 31, 1908 – April 4, 1998) was an American sculptor known for such works as Fountain of Eternal Life, The Spirit of Detroit, Man and the Expanding Universe Fountain, and many others.

Fredericks was born of Scandinavian descent in Rock Island, Illinois, on January 31, 1908. His family moved to Florida for a short time and then settled in Cleveland, where he grew-up. He graduated from the Cleveland School of Art in 1930 and journeyed abroad on a fellowship to study with Carl Milles (1875–1955) in Sweden. After some months he studied in other academies and private studios in Denmark, Germany, France, and Italy, and traveled extensively in Europe and North Africa.