Rare Arts & Crafts Byrdcliffe Bronze Ram Letter Opener

This is an original cast bronze letter opener by the well known listed sculptor Bruno Zimm.

According to AskArt:

A sculptor in classical style, Bruno Zimm completed numerous public works including the Slocum Memorial and Memorial Fountain in New York, the Finnegan Memorial in Houston, Murdock Memorial in Wichita, a bust of Robert E. Lee at Baylor College in Texas, 14 Stations of the Cross at St. Clement's Church in Philadelphia, the Fine Arts Building of San Francisco.

He was a member and exhibitor of the National Sculpture Society and a founder and trustee of The Woodstock Guild of Craftsmen---the Byrdcliffe Art Colony, and the Woodstock Memorial Association.  In that area, he also cataloged and collected fossils from rocks, a collection subsequently purchased by the Smithsonian Institution.  He also served as President of the Woodstock Library for several terms and was responsible for that entity becoming part of the State Library Association.

Bruno Zimm was born in Hoboken, New Jersey.  At a young age, he showed talent for sculpture, and at age fifteen met Karl Bitter, much respected sculptor of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.   Bitter employed Zimm as a studio assistant for a year and then sent him to Chicago to supervise Bitter's entry at the Chicago Exposition of 1893.  From there, Zimm studied in New York at the Metropolitan Museum and the Art Students League and later with Augustus Saint-Gaudens.  In 1900, he earned the Silver Medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1900. 

Bruno Zimm died on November 24, 1943, and he is buried in Woodstock.

Sources include:
Anita Smith, Woodstock History and Hearsay, p. 159-160
Glenn Opitz, Dictionary of American Sculptors

This measures 11 5/16" long and 1 3/16" wide.

This weighs about 3.78 ounces.

THIS ITEMS CONDITION REPORT