Jorgen Dreyer

Jørgen Christian Dreyer
Photo from Kansas City Life Insurance
Born	(1877-12-26)December 26, 1877 Tromsø, Norway
Died	November 17, 1948(1948-11-17) (aged 70) 3721 Michigan Avenue Kansas City, Missouri
Cause of death	Heart ailment
Resting place	Elmwood Cemetery
Nationality	American
Spouse(s)	Lorena McWilliams Dreyer (m. 1920–1948, his death)
Parent(s)	Hans and Regina Mikkelsdatter Dreyer
Signature

Jørgen Christian Dreyer (December 26, 1877 – November 17, 1948) was a Norwegian-born American sculptor. He emigrated to the United States in 1903 and worked as a professor of sculpture at the Kansas City Art Institute from 1907 to 1909. In his career Dreyer created a number of monumental sculptures, some of which are located in Kansas City, Missouri. His major works include: Life Drift; The Goddess of Dawn; Sphinxes (pair); Biology and Chemistry (pair of Atlas figures); Lionesses (pair); The Message (a bust of Archibald Butt); Bust of Sir Carl Busch; Mercury, god of commerce; and Bust of Major General Sterling Price.

Dreyer was born in Tromsø, Norway, on December 26, 1877. He was the son of Hans Dreyer and his wife Regina Dreyer (née Mikkelsdatter). He grew to become a tall man, of slender build, and had blue eyes and auburn brown hair. After schooling at the Latin School in Tromsø, he attended the Royal School of Art and Industries in Oslo. His first sculpture was in snow, of an old professor, which everyone recognized. So even though he had started in drawing and painting at the Royal Academy, he saw (and others recognized) that his true gifts were modeling and sculpting. He continued studies with Stephan Sinding, one of the greatest of European sculptors. Dreyer modeled a bust of an Ibsen character, which Ibsen saw at a school exhibition. Ibsen sought out Dreyer and complimented him in person.

After art school, Dreyer was considering a move to Paris to begin his career. But after a letter from his sister in Topeka, Kansas told of an awakening interest in art and a shortage of sculptors, the young sculptor decided to try America rather than the already overcrowded city of Paris. Dreyer went to America in 1903 and made Kansas City, Missouri, his home for more than 40 years.

He moved into a studio and an apartment at 407 Studio Building (previously at the northwest corner of 9th Street and Locust) in Kansas City. He was a sculpture professor at the Fine Arts Institute (which later became the Kansas City Art Institute) from 1907 to 1909. Dreyer was dismissed from the Art Institute because he used nude models, a charge for which Thomas H. Benton would also be dismissed from the Art Institute in the 1930s. He married Lorena E. McWilliams, one of his students, in 1918.