Charles Henry Niehaus

American sculptor

Charles Henry Niehaus (January 24, 1855 – June 19, 1935) was an American sculptor.

Niehaus was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to German parents. He began working as a marble and wood carver, and then gained entrance to the McMicken School of Design in Cincinnati. He studied at the Royal Academy in Munich, Germany (1877–1881). The effect of the German study was that he retained much of the Neo Classical flavor in his art while most other sculptors of his generation were drawn towards Beaux Arts realism.

He returned to America in 1881. By virtue of being a native Ohioan, he was commissioned to sculpt two statues of the recently assassinated President James Garfield; one for Cincinnati (Garfield's home city), and the other, in another pose, for the National Statuary Hall Collection at the United States Capitol. He moved to Rome, Italy, where he worked on the commissions, and made a study of ancient sculpture. He modeled three major male nudes during his years in Rome, including The Scraper (1883) and Caestus (1883 1885). He returned to New York City in 1885, and opened a studio. In 1887, he created a statue of Ohioan William Allen, also for Statuary Hall. In later years, he was to place statues of Oliver P. Morton of Indiana (1900), John J. Ingalls of Kansas (1905), Zachariah Chandler of Michigan (1913), George W. Glick of Kansas (1914), Ephraim McDowell of Kentucky (1929), and Henry Clay of Kentucky (1929) in the collection. His work was also part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics. Monuments by Niehaus can be found in many American cities. Several of the works authored by him are equestrian statues. As was the case with other sculptors of his day he also fashioned a fair amount of architectural sculpture. In 1900 Niehaus married noted horticulturalist Regina Armstrong and moved to New Rochelle, New York. A resident of Cliffside Park, New Jersey, Niehaus died at his home there on June 19, 1935.