Clare Pfeifer Garrett

Clare Pfeifer Garrett (July 26, 1882 – May 15, 1946) was an American sculptor of considerable interest in St. Louis in the 1910s.

Early life Garrett was born Clare Pfeifer on July 26, 1882, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Carl Pfeifer, a prominent engineer, who took an important part in the erection of the Eads Bridge. When she was ten years old her father died at the age of forty. Both her parents were German-born, and came from Germany as children, the mother, Marie Rotteck, in 1848, and the father several years later. Her brother, H. J. Pfeifer, followed in his father's footsteps, was the engineer, maintenance of way, of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.

For two years after finishing the course she lived an altogether social life, but tiring of it, finally fell back on her art, which occupied time that had come to lag heavily, and gave her an opportunity to express the latent talent she had allowed to lie dormant. The development of her art and the acquirement of an aim in life date from this period. stands still today at the entrance of Kingsbury Place adorning the Union Boulevard gateway.

Paris 1902–1904 In 1902 Garrett was able to realize the cherished ambition of every aspiring artist, to study in Paris, where she entered L'Ecole des Beaux Arts, under Marquette and Mercié. This was the great French school, and was the greatest of art and architecture in the world. Afterwards, she left there for more advanced work, the study of her own models in her own studio. Emile Bourdelle, the French sculptor, renowned for great subtlety in his work, she chose as her critic. For the first year he came weekly, afterward only as Garrett sent for him. For each criticism his fee was 50 francs ($10) ($ in dollars), from which we learn that not only is art long and life short, but that it is expensive, too.

Always in 1904 she was awarded a bronze medal by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, held in St. Louis in 1904, for Echo, a bronze in the nude.

New York 1905–1915

A portrait in low-relief (bas-relief) of her husband was exhibited by the National Sculpture Society, New York, in 1905, and by it awarded honorable mention. Until her return from the East to St. Louis she was a regular exhibitor at the National Academy, and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

In 1906 her Boy Teasing a Turtle, a fountain figure exhibited in Paris at the Salon of 1903 and at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, in 1904, was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

In 1907 she exhibited three pieces at the Boston Art Club fine arts exhibition: Statuette of a Little Girl, The Naiade (statuette) and Portrait in Relief.

Her husband had a collection of platinum-print photographs of his wife's many pieces of work, pieces that were sold and scattered from New York to California. Among them, not already mentioned, was one which carried a strong appeal, Budding Womanhood, owned by David Belasco; a medallion portrait relief of Mrs. Hudson E. Bridge, and a life-size group of a French lady with her young daughter.

In 1915 Dr. Frank J. Lutz retired. He built up the St. Louis Medical Library later Library of the St. Louis Medical Society. In recognition of this service the society accepted a life-size bronze medallion of Dr. Lutz presented by members of the society in 1916. The members subscribed a minimum of one dollar each. They collected $163. Clara Pfeifer Garrett offered to make the medallion for $150. The model was completed on February 14, 1915, and accepted by the committee. It was then sent to New York and cast in bronze by the Gorham Company. On its return to St. Louis Garrett asked the privilege of entering the medallion in competition in the second annual Open Competitive Exhibition of the St. Louis Artists Guild. The committee, with the consent of Dr. Lutz, granted the request and the tablet won the first prize in sculpture, the Susan Rebecca Carleton prize of $100. In the Bulletin of the St. Louis Art League, Vol. 11, No. 2, is a photograph of the tablet and in a review of the exhibition: "Mrs. Garrett in her tablet to Dr. Frank J. Lutz shows praiseworthy capacity to carry a serious sculptural work through to completion in a thoroughly workmanlike manner."

Beverly Hills 1929–1941 From 1929 to 1941 Garrett lived in Beverly Hills, California.

Later life and death She died on May 15, 1946, in New York City.

Slides of Clara Pfeiffer Garrett's sculptures are available in the Garrett Family Papers, ca. 1860–1979 at University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center.