About Gertrude Colburn
Lived 1886 – 1968 (aged 81–82). Gertrude Colburn was an American sculptor.
Gertrude Biggs Colburn (1885 – November 10, 1968) was an American dancer, dance teacher and sculptor.
Colburn was born in Baltimore, the third of four daughters born to artist Alfred Bland Biggs (1856–1887) of Winchester, Virginia and Martha Virginia Dumax of Maryland. Her father died when she was young; her mother, just 28 when she was first widowed, supported herself and her four daughter creating trousseaus for Baltimore's wealthiest families. She eventually had a large staff of 30 sewing her designs.
Colburn studied at Western High School in Baltimore and the Louis H. Chalif Normal School of Dancing in New York. In 1918, she married dentist Walter Herbert Colburn. Her sculptures, often depicting dancers in motion, were created in bronze, plaster, and ceramics, in a broadly Art Deco style.
Colburn's plaster cast of the hands of the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862–1947) now belongs to the Preservation Society of Newport County in Rhode Island. It was formerly in the collection of the radio soprano Jessica Dragonette and the University of Wyoming at Laramie.
Colburn died in Morristown, New Jersey, after a short illness, aged 82.
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Important facts
People in Gertrude Colburn's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Gertrude Colburn's
Frequently asked questions
Who was Gertrude Colburn?
American sculptor
When was Gertrude Colburn born?
Gertrude Colburn was born in 1886.
When did Gertrude Colburn die?
Gertrude Colburn died in 1968.
What was Gertrude Colburn's occupation?
Gertrude Colburn was a sculptor.
What nationality was Gertrude Colburn?
Gertrude Colburn was American.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Gertrude Colburn. https://biography.guide/gertrude-colburn/
MLA: "Gertrude Colburn." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/gertrude-colburn/.
Chicago: "Gertrude Colburn." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/gertrude-colburn/.
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