| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office.
See SOS! files at the National Museum of American Art in Washington, DC for further information.
The statue is of bronze and the base is of North Carolina granite. Statue was moved to this location in 1935. Jonas (10/30/1840-1/15/1896) came to Racine from Bohemia in 1863 after being banished from Prague by the Austrian government. He established and edited Slavie, the first known Czech newspaper in the United States. In 1876, he edited the first known English-Bohemian dictionary published in the United States. From 1876-1880 he served on the Racine Common Council. He was elected to the state Assembly in 1878. In 1883, he was elected to the state Senate. On 11/17/1886, he was appointed Consul to Prague by President Cleveland and served until 7/16/1889. In 1891, he was elected Lt. Governor of Wisconsin. In 1894, he was appointed Consul General at St. Petersburg, Russia and was later transferred to Crefeld, Germany where he died.
Resurveyed 2013; no visible changes.
The Karel Jonas statue was cast in 1912 and relocated to its existing site in 1935. The cast bronze statue depicts a standing Karel Jonas. The figure is formally clad and is holding a book. The statue stands on a large, squared granite base with the words "Karel Jonas" in relief across its north side. A three-stepped pedestal forms the base of the structure.
No information was found to suggest that the Karel Jonas Monument or its sculptor, Mario Korbel, is of great significance to the history of art or outdoor sculpture in the City of Racine, Racine County, or the State of Wisconsin.
The Karel Jonas Monument has no direct historical association with Karel Jonas, as it was cast more than a decade after Jonas' death in 1896 and is entirely commemorative in nature. No information was found to suggest that its sculptor, Mario Korbel, is of great significance to the history of art or outdoor sculpture in a local, regional, or statewide context.
As a property possessing high artistic value, the Karel Jonas Monument is recognized as the work of Bohemian-born sculptor Mario Korbel (1882-1954). Korbel studied sculpture in Bohemia (today's Czech Republic) and immigrated to the United States at the turn of the century where he lived in New York and Chicago. In 1910, Korbel was asked to design a monument to Racine's own Karel Jonas, a nationally recognized Bohemian-American politician. The work was financed by donations from Racine's Bohemian citizens and organizations. During his lifetime, Korbel was a member of the National Sculpture Society and the National Academy of Design. Korbel's bronze miniatures can be seen in museums throughout the US and Canada' some of his monumental bronzes include Black Angel in Iowa City, the McPhee Memorial in Denver, the Illinois Monument in Georgia's Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, and Alma Mater at the University of Havana. Although the statue is in good condition, its integrity is significantly diminshed due to its 1935 relocation from its original site in a small lakefront park to the middle of a busy commercial intersection. The relocation was precipitated by the construction of a new water works facility adjacent to the monument's original location and at the request of some of the city's Bohemian citizens. In addition to its diminished integrity, no information was found to suggest that the Karel Jonas Monument was anything more than a "typical example of sculpture design" of the 1910s.
This property was previously surveyed in 1979; no changes are visible. The AHI record was updated with the new survey date and unchanged appearance. |
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