Aksel (Axel) Einar (Ejnar) Utzon-Frank (30 March 1888 - 15 July 1955) was a Danish sculptor and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. During his lifetime, he produced many sculptures, some of which stand as public monuments. Utzon-Frank was son of Jens Christian Frank and Anna Cathrine Utzon. Anna Cathrine was sister to the grandfather of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jørn Utzon.
Einar Utzon-Frank was born in the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen in 1888,[1] the son of Jens Christian Frank and Anna Cathrine Utzon.[2]
Utzon-Frank began his artistic life as a painter but changed direction to become a sculptor.[3] He was admitted to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1906,[4] where he became a close friend of the somewhat older Kai Nielsen. However, the two friends followed diverging paths through their creative careers, with Nielsen following a lush modernism in contrast to Utzon-Frank's clear, cool classical style which follows the tradition of Bertel Thorvaldsen.[5]
From 1912 to 1913 Utzen-Frank travelled around Europe, visiting Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Florence, Rome, Naples, Paestum, Paris and later Italy, Greece and England,[6] and many of the classical influences from his travels are evident in his work.
At the end of the 1930s he was commissioned to recast the Equestrian statue of Christian V — originally erected between 1687 and 1688 on Kongens Nytorv and made from gilded lead by Abraham-César Lamoureux— in bronze, which he did between 1939 and 1942. His work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.[7]
In 1918 at the age of 30, Utzon-Frank was appointed a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen, a post in which he remained until 1955. In his teaching, he laid emphasis on solid craftsmanship skills. He was a teacher and educator of great importance and came to dominate several generations of sculptors, including Henry Heerup, Sigrid Lütken, Janus Kamban, Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen, Gestur Þorgrímsson[8] and Douglas Robertson Bisset.[9]
Utzon-Frank married Gerda Harriet Margrete Christensen on 4 December 1908. Their daughter Grete Utzon Frank was born on 8 February 1909 in Copenhagen, and she married painter and author William Flemming Bergsøe on 21 March 1930.[10]
His best-known works include: