Bigfork and the search for Oskar J.W. Hansen’s missing masterpiece

Could an important piece of missing American art be hiding in Bigfork? Aaron Street sure thinks so.

Street, the founder of the Oskar J. W. Hansen Archives is hot on the trail of the accomplished American sculptor’s first work, a bust of Christ carved from a block of Greek marble more than a century ago, and his search points straight to Bigfork.

Street has reason to believe the missing sculpture was documented to be in Bigfork as recently as 1994, but that is where the trail grows cold.

Now, Street is asking for the public’s help in locating the historic bust before it disappears forever.

Born in the remote Arctic Circle fishing village of Oksnes, Norway to an unwed mother in 1892, there is conjecture that Hansen was the illegitimate child of Oscar II, the King of Norway and Sweden, but those claims have not been substantiated.

Hansen’s life was a fascinating one. 

    Oskar J. W. Hansen’s Winged Figures of the Republic rise above the Hoover Dam. (photo provided)
  

Raised by a foster family, Hansen was sent to sea as a cabin boy on a series of merchant ships in the early 1900s.

During his time at sea, Hansen befriended a ship’s carpenter, and while in port in Greece, the two explored ancient archeological sites and museums full of classical sculpture. 

Once back on the ship, the carpenter taught Oskar how to use some of his carpentry tools to carve a block of Greek marble.

It was that block of marble that became the missing bust of Christ that Street believes to be in Bigfork, but we will get there.

Young Hansen’s voyages included several trips around the globe, a tour with the French Foreign Legion in Morocco, trips to Italy, Greece, and Egypt and even a stint studying with master sculptor Auguste Rodin in France.

Hansen’s days at sea ended when he claimed to have swam ashore in North Carolina at age 18, traveled to New York and joined the US Army, where he would soon see action in Mexico.

According to Hansen’s accounts, he joined up with notorious Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa before being captured and sent to a military prison. Hansen then escaped prison and snuck through the Mexican jungle back to safety in Texas.

After leaving the army, Hansen moved to Illinois, where he got married, became a US citizen and attended Northwestern University with plans to become a minister.

He rejoined the army in time to serve with distinction during World War I.

It was during this time in Illinois that Hansen met and befriended an alleged defrocked Anglican priest from Scotland, Dr. Eugene Cosgrove.

Those who know their local history should quickly discern this is where the story begins its intersection with Bigfork.

Hansen would go on to become a renowned sculptor, designing and constructing monuments at Yorktown, Vir., the Hinsdale (Ill.) Victory Monument and, most famously, the “Winged Figures of the Republic’’ bronze statues and the terrazzo 26,000-year “Star Map” that adorn the Hoover Dam.

Unfortunately, a series of failed marriages and an over-investment in gemstones forced Hansen to declare bankruptcy and, after his death in 1971, Hansen was buried in an unmarked grave as his widow scrambled to sell off his artwork to help pay his debts.

In the years following Hansen’s death, his incredible life story and his artwork rapidly disappeared.

His descendants are largely estranged.

Fifty years after his death, there are no records of any art galleries or auctions with Hansen art and his Wikipedia page is only two sentences long. His story was almost completely lost.

That is until Street took up the cause.

A LAWYER, entrepreneur, author, and history researcher based in Minnesota, Street has been fascinated by Hansen and his works ever since he adorned the wall of his childhood bedroom with a poster of the Winged Figures of the Republic.”

Street is now working with Oskar Hansen’s family to research and collect information about Hansen and his art with plans to publish a biography and create public awareness of who he considers one of the most interesting, important, and as-yet uncelebrated artists of the 20th century.

Part of this effort includes tracking down several of Hansen’s lost works.

How does this all lead to Bigfork, one might ask. It all revolves around Dr. Cosgrove.

In an obscure 1932 Norwegian-language interview, Hansen spoke of how he created the statue and said that it then resided in a church in Hinsdale, Illinois.

After a search of all of the churches in the area turned up empty, Street noticed that the minister who officiated Hansen’s 1929 wedding was Rev. Eugene Cosgrove of the Unitarian Church of Hinsdale.

With Cosgrove obviously a close friend of Hansen, Street began looking into Cosgrove’s history and found that, upon his retirement from the ministry in 1934, he retired to Bigfork, where he purchased land and operated a spiritual retreat known as Journey’s End.

“My research into Eugene Cosgrove clarified why he and Oskar would have been friends with their overlapping interests in mystical topics. It also made me wonder whether Oskar’s Head of Christ statue wasn’t a gift to the Unitarian Church of Hinsdale but instead to Cosgrove himself,” Street speculated. “Maybe Rev. Cosgrove took the statue with him when he moved from Illinois to Montana, and that’s why the church had no record of the bust.”

Then Street hit paydirt.

In a July 1994 article by Marc Wilson in the Bigfork Eagle about Hansen’s retreat being turned into what is now Wayfarers State Park, Street (with the help of local historian Kyle Stetler) found a sentence that mentioned several of Cosgrove’s possessions that were still entrusted to the Bigfork Masonic Lodge, including “...a bust of Christ done by artist Gutzon Borglum.”

While no known images of the Hansen bust exist, Street believes he has found the final puzzle piece.

“I have reason to believe that article was mistaken and that sculpture is actually the missing Hansen piece,” Street said. “Until someone finds it and I can examine the sculpture, it is impossible to know for certain and I am doing everything I can to find it.”

That is where Street is asking for the public’s help.

The 1994 article is the last time he can find mention of the statue he believes to be Hansen’s bust of Christ and its last known whereabouts.

Street is hoping that someone in the area not only knows where it is, but still has the statue.

“So far, this is all just informed speculation. I don’t have any documents that link the statue specifically to Cosgrove or Bigfork, but there is a pretty good trail of hunches that make me pretty sure it made its way to Cosgrove and Montana. The description of the bust from the 1994 article makes me very optimistic that it is describing the piece I am looking for,” Street said. “Even if the piece is by the artist the article attributes it to, then it still needs to be found. It is a valuable piece of sculpture that the owner should be aware of. If it can be found, I would just love to see it and document its existence. Of course, I am extremely open to buying it, but just locating it would be an accomplishment.”

For Street, finding the statue is not only a search for history, but it is also a last, desperate effort to rekindle interest in and preserve the memory of an all-but-forgotten American artist.

“Hansen was not just a prominent sculptor, he was also a very fascinating person whose story needs to be told and whose art needs to be reconsidered,” Street said. “He is a man who needs to be remembered.”

Anyone with information about the missing statue can contact Street by email at aaron@oskarjwhansen.org or by phone at (612) 877-0199.