Alfred Nygard (left); Wife Anna Julia and son William (right)

Alfred Frederick Nygard (1861-1941) emigrated from Denmark and settled first in Grand Rapids where he worked for different furniture companies as a woodcarver. In 1893, he relocated to Detroit with his family and established a sculpture business with Emil Marty and Ernst Mildner (1895-1898) before working on his own. Nygard was a member of the Scarab Club, exhibited in the Michigan Artists Exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Art, and taught modeling and sculpture at the Detroit School of Design. In 1908, he donated several architectural casts to the Detroit Institute of Art. Nygard returned to Grand Rapids in 1929 and resided in the Clark Memorial Home until his death in 1941. He is buried in Oakhill Cemetery.

Notable Commissions:

Relief Work, Detroit Opera House (1898), A.W. Chittenden, architect
State Savings Bank (1900), McKim, Mead & White, architects
Scarab Club Gold Medal (1917)
Wax models for Fordson Village (Comissioned by Edsel Ford in 1918), Leonard Willeke, architect
Living and Dining Room Friezes, Edsel Ford Residence (1918) Leonard Willeke, renovation architect
Carved Reception Desk, Scarab Club (ca 1922)
“Yet” Sculpture, Metropolitan United Methodist Church (1928)

Advertisement, 1900

Entry, Exhibition Detroit Architectural Club, 1911

Leslie S. Edwards, author