Charles Keck

Charles Keck (September 9, 1875 – April 23, 1951) was an American sculptor from New York City, New York.

Early life and education Keck studied at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League of New York with Philip Martiny, and was an assistant to Augustus Saint-Gaudens from 1893 to 1898. He also attended the American Academy in Rome. In 1921 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1928. He is best known for his monuments and architectural sculpture. His work was also part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics. His interment was located at Fishkill Rural cemetery.

The Stonewall Jackson sculpture in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia in 2014. Statue was taken down and destroyed in 2021.

Career Architectural sculpture Brooklyn Museum, Genius of Islam, McKim, Mead and White, architects, New York City, 1908 Pennsylvania Hall, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1908 America at the Soldiers and Sailors National Military Museum and Memorial, Pittsburgh, 1910 Oakland City Hall, Palmer & Hornbostel architects, Oakland, California, 1914 Pittsburgh City-County Building, Palmer & Hornbostel architects, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1916 Wilmington City Hall, Palmer & Hornbostel architects, Wilmington, Delaware, 1917 Design of the doors of the John B. Murphy Memorial Building, Chicago, Illinois, 1926 Education Building, Albany, New York Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Missouri Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Schultze & Weaver architects, New York City, 1931 Essex County Building Annex, Newark, New Jersey, Jackson County Court House, Wight & Wight, architects, Kansas City, Missouri, 1934 Bronx County Courthouse, Freedlander & Hausle architects, Bronx, New York City, 1933 Campus gates, Columbia University, New York City

Monuments and memorials Minot Monument, Goshen, New York, with architect Thomas Harlan Ellett, dedicated May, 1912 Amicitia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil George Washington, Buenos Aires, Argentina Statues of Christopher Gist and Guyasuta on the North Side Point Bridge, built in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1917 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1919 Thomas Jonathan Jackson, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1921 Duke Family sarcophagi, Memorial Chapel, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 61st District War Memorial, (sculpture), Greenwood Playground, Ocean Parkway at Fort Hamilton Parkway Brooklyn, New York City, 1922 John Mitchell, Scranton, Pennsylvania, 1924 Liberty Monument, Ticonderoga, New York, 1924 Lifting the Veil of Ignorance, statue of Booker T. Washington in Tuskegee, Alabama, 1927 (replica in Atlanta, Georgia) Angel of Peace, Exhibition Place, Toronto, 1930 Patrick Henry, Hall of Fame for Great Americans, New York City, 1930 The Lincoln Monument of Wabash, Indiana, 1932 Statue of Charles Brantley Aycock, National Statuary Hall Collection, U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., 1935 Father Francis P. Duffy, Duffy Square, New York City, 1937 Huey Long Memorial, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1940 Huey Long, National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., 1941 Young Lincoln, Senn Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1945 Andrew Jackson, Kansas City, Missouri Ernest Haass Memorial, Woodlawn Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan George Rogers Clark Memorial, Springfield, Ohio Listening Post, Lynchburg, Virginia Presidents North Carolina Gave the Nation, North Carolina State Capitol, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1948

In 1913 Keck designed a memorial plaque that was cast from metal that had been salvaged from the after it was raised in Havana harbor the previous year. Over a thousand of the plaques were cast and they are spread unevenly all over the United States. In 1931, Keck completed the Great Seals of the Commonwealth of Virginia which had been commissioned by the Commonwealth. The obverse of the seal is still used and appears on the state flag.

Numismatic works 1915-S Panama-Pacific Exposition Gold Dollar 1927 Vermont, Battle of Bennington Sesquicentennial Half Dollar 1936 Lynchburg Sesquicentennial Half Dollar

Other works

Letters and Science, Columbia University, New York City, 1915 and 1925