Korczak & Chief Henry Standing Bear at
1948 dedication ceremony |
Without Korczak there would be no Crazy Horse Memorial. Its
history always will revolve around his own extraordinary story, which is reflected in his
log studio-home, workshop and sculptural galleries at Crazy Horse. His life and work are
an inspiration to many, especially to young people.
Although he became most famous as a mountain carver, he was a noted studio sculptor and member of
the National Sculpture Society before he came west. Crazy Horse represents only the second
half of his life, and he said it was the collective experience of the difficult first half
of his life which prepared him for Crazy Horse and enabled him to prevail over the
decades of financial hardship and racial prejudice he encountered trying to create an
American Indian memorial in the Black Hills. Born in Boston of Polish
descent, Korczak was orphaned at age one. He grew up in a series of foster
homes. As a boy he was badly mistreated, but he learned to work very hard.
He also gained heavy construction and other skills helping his tough foster
father. |
On his own at 16, Korczak
took odd jobs to put himself through Rindge Technical School in Cambridge,
Mass., after which he became an apprentice patternmaker in the shipyards on the
rough Boston waterfront.
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He experimented with woodworking, making beautiful furniture. At
age 18, he handcrafted a grandfather's clock from 55 pieces of Santa Domingo
mahogany. Although he never took a lesson in art or sculpture, he studied the masters and
began creating plaster and clay studies. In 1932 he used a coal chisel to carve his first
portrait, a marble tribute to Judge Frederick Pickering Cabot, the famous Boston juvenile
judge who had befriended and encouraged the gifted boy and introduced him to the world of
fine arts.
Moving to West Hartford, Conn., Korczak launched
a successful studio career doing commissioned sculpture throughout New England, Boston and
New York. His Carrara marble portrait, "PADEREWSKI, Study of an Immortal," won first prize
by popular vote at the 1939 New York World's Fair. |
Paderewski - 1939
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A childhood dream came true when he was asked to
assist Gutzon Borglum at Mount Rushmore during the
summer of 1939. Media reports about Korczak's World's Fair prize and work at
Rushmore prompted hereditary Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear to start writing to
the sculptor, appealing to him to create a memorial to American Indians. The two
eventually met and even toured potential carving sites.
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Noah Webster - 1942
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Back in Connecticut, Korczak spent two years carving his 13 1/2-foot Noah Webster Statue
as a gift to West Hartford. The work drew national attention but embroiled the community
and the sculptor in controversy, foreshadowing what was to come at Crazy Horse. At age 34,
he volunteered for service in World War II. He landed on Omaha Beach and, later, was
wounded.
At war's end he was invited to make government war
memorials in Europe. But he had decided to accept the invitation of Standing
Bear and other project supporters and to dedicate
the rest of his life to Crazy Horse Memorial.
Korczak arrived in the Black Hills on May 3, 1947. During nearly 36 years
Korczak refused to take any salary at Crazy Horse Memorial. He worked on the
project until his death October 20, 1982, at age 74. |
He is buried in the tomb
that he and his sons blasted from a rock outcropping near where the permanent
Indian museum will rise at the foot of the mountain carving. For the tomb door
he wrote his own epitaph and cut it from three-quarter-inch steel plate. It
reads:
KORCZAK
Storyteller in Stone
May His Remains Be Left Unknown
© Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation
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