Jacob Fjelde

Jacob Fjelde
Monument to the 1st Minnesota Infantry at Gettysburg National Battlefield
Born	Jakob Henrik Gerhard Fjelde (1855-04-10)April 10, 1855 Ålesund, Norway
Died	May 5, 1896(1896-05-05) (aged 41) Minneapolis, Minnesota
Occupation	sculptor
Children	Paul Fjelde

Jacob Fjelde (10 April 1859 – 5 May 1896) was a Norwegian-born, American sculptor. He is remembered as both a prolific portraitist and the creator of public monuments. One of his better known works is the one dedicated to the 1st Minnesota Infantry (1897) located at Gettysburg Battlefield where its 262 members suffered 215 casualties.

Jakob Henrik Gerhard Fjelde was born at Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. His father, Paul Gerhard Michelet Fjelde (1827–1873), was a skilled carpenter and wood carver. He had moved to the United States in 1872, but died the following year. Jakob Fjelde was a pupil of Brynjulf Bergslien during 1878. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen from 1879 to 1881 and was a student of Vilhelm Bissen 1880–1882. He travel abroad, living in Rome from 1882 to 1884. Fjelde lived and worked to Bergen, Norway from 1884 until 1887 when he immigrated to the United States. After arriving in America he settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The following year he married the Danish-born Margrethe Madsen. They eventually had four children. He was the father of sculptor Paul Fjelde and the brother of artist Pauline Fjelde. His grandsons included Ibsen scholar Rolf G. Fjelde.

At the Industrial Exposition in Minneapolis during 1889 and 1890, Fjelde presented 18 busts and relief portraits, including marble busts of Sven Oftedal and Georg Sverdrup, both of whom would serve as Presidents of Augsburg College and were founders of the Lutheran Free Church . At the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago during 1893, he presented a bust of the Norwegian-American politician Knute Nelson.