Paul Fjelde

Paul Fjelde (August 12, 1892 – May 3, 1984) was a noted American sculptor and educator.

Background

Paul Fjelde was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was the son of Jacob Fjelde, who was a well-known sculptor in Norway when he emigrated to the United States in 1887. After Jacob’s untimely death at age 36, the Fjelde family moved to North Dakota in 1902. Margarethe Fjelde homesteaded with her four children in Burleigh County, North Dakota. Fjelde studied art in Valley City, North Dakota at the State Normal School, now the Valley City State University. He subsequently went to study under Chicago based sculptor Lorado Taft. He went on to study at the Minneapolis School of Art, Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, and the Art Students League of New York, at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.

Career

Fjelde taught at the Pratt Institute of Art and was a professor emeritus from that institution. Fjelde served as chairman of the Sculpture Department at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He was an instructor of sculpture at the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts. He was editor of Sculpture Review between 1951 and 1955.