Lost Works of Rudolph Thiem
If you happen to know the whereabouts of any of Rudolph Thiem's lost pieces,
please send a message using the contact form on the Contact page of this website. Here is a shortlist of important Thiem sculptures or designs that have gone missing over time. “Group of Cotton Yardmen”— three cotton press workers, white and African American. New Orleans, 1882. Plaster. Thiem and his business partner Paul Riess offered this plaster piece in a raffle to benefit victims of the 1882 flood in New Orleans and southern Louisiana. On this website’s page Bronze & Wood, a copy of the bleached-out photograph of the plaster cast that was printed on the raffle ticket can be seen. It is not known if the fascinating plaster model was ever cast in metal. Statue of Robert E. Lee. New Orleans, 1883. By Thiem and founder Paul Riess. This is a “full-length” sculpture in “red bronze.” Height, four feet three inches. Lee is dressed in ordinary military garb, with a felt hat, sword in a scabbard, and a sash. The statue was exhibited at the American Exhibition, New Orleans, 1885-1886. There is no known image of this sculpture. Fire Basket. For use in a fireplace or open door stove. Hamilton, Ohio, 1888. The back of the basket is a relief showing three blacksmiths beating out a piece of body armor with hammers. Iron. Design patented by Lazard Kahn and Rudolph Thiem, June 5, 1888. The photograph accompanying the U. S. patent indicates that a prototype of this object was cast in iron. Whether it ever went into production is not known. Portrait Medallion of Colonel Ferdinand Van Derveer. Cast in bronze in 1897 in Hamilton, Ohio, and in that year affixed to the 35th Ohio Volunteer Infantry monument on Snodgrass Hill, Chickamauga National Military Park, Georgia. The medallion was pried off the monument and stolen in 1994. An additional photograph of the monument is reproduced on this website’s page Bronze & Wood. |