George Washington Carver: Preparatory Sketch

Object NameDrawing

Artist / Maker Christian Petersen (Danish - American, 1885 - 1961)

Datec. 1949

OriginU.S.A.

MediumPaper, black graphite or conte pencil

Dimensions5 3/4 x 9 in. (14.6 x 22.9 cm)

ClassificationsDrawings

Credit LinePurchased by University Museums from Mary Petersen by the Christian Petersen Memorial Fund. In the Christian Petersen Art Collection, Christian Petersen Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberum92.112

Status

Not on view

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Label TextOne of the most important graduates of Iowa State College was the agricultural scientist, George Washington Carver (born around 1861, died in 1943). Born in Missouri, he showed a naturalist’s instincts even as a boy. Refused admission to most colleges because of his race, Carver enrolled at Simpson College at Indianola then transferred to Iowa State in 1891 where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1894, followed by a Masters in 1897. While a graduate student, Carver taught classes and conducted experiments, beginning a lifelong series of accomplishments. He was invited in 1897 by Booker T. Washington to join the faculty at the Tuskegee Institute as director of their Department of Agriculture. He was a pioneer of crop rotation, teaching Southern farmers that the nitrogen depletion of their soil could be alleviated by alternating crops of cotton one year, peanuts or some other legume the next. The ensuing richness of the harve3st led Carver to experiment in finding hundreds of uses for the peanut and for other crops he encouraged, such as sweet potatoes, soy beans and pecans. He was recognized in 1923 with the Spingarn Medal of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and in 1943, his birthplace was dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt as the George Washington Carver National Monument. Petersen’s full figure sculpture of George Washington Carver, for which this is a preparatory sketch, depicts the scientist holding the product for which he found so many uses. The artist hoped that his statue would be a model for a full-size bronze, but those hopes were never realized (although his sculpture has since been pointed-up then been cast in bronze for the Seed Sciences Lab on campus). In addition to his scientific achievements, Carver was also known for his spirituality, a characteristic Petersen captures in his portrait. He showed his sculpture to his Danish-American friend August Bang, who recalled their conversation. “’When I look upon Carver as you have him here,’ I said, ‘the words which were written at his death came to mind: “he wandered with God.”’ “That is just what I have tried to say,” answered the artist. Petersen may have identified with his subject because Carver was also a painter and a member of the Royal Society of Arts in London.

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