Chronology

1908
Born Marshall Maynard Fredericks on January 31 to Frank Arthur Fredericks and Frances Margaret Bragg, in Rock Island, Illinois.

1924
Attended John Huntington Polytechnic Institute in Cleveland, Ohio.

1930
Graduated from the Cleveland School of Art and was awarded the Herman Matzen Traveling Scholarship in Sculpture.  Traveled to Scandinavia and met Swedish sculptor Carl Milles.

1932-1942
Assisted Carl Milles in his Cranbrook Academy of Art studio and taught sculpture, wood carving and ceramics at Cranbrook School, Kingswood School and the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

1942
Volunteered for the U.S. armed services and was assigned to the Army Corps of Engineers in Arizona.

1943
Married Rosalind Bell Cooke.

1944
Served with the Intelligence Section of the Twentieth Bombing Squad in the India-Burma Theatre.

1945
Awarded rank of lieutenant colonel and discharged honorably from the service, returned to Michigan and established a studio in Royal Oak, Michigan.

1950
Established working studios in New York City and Norway to accommodate monumental castings.  Introduced and exported Norwegian granites to the United States.

1952
Received the Fine Arts Medal from the American Institute of Architects.

1958
The Spirit of Detroit is installed in front of the City-County Building (now the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center) in Detroit.

1964
Expanding Universe Fountain is installed and dedicated at the United States State Department Building in Washington, D.C.; Freedom of the Human Spirit, commissioned by the city of New York, is installed at the 1964 New York World’s Fair; the Cleveland War Memorial: Fountain of Eternal Life is dedicated on Memorial Day, May 30.

1965
Established the Disabled Americans Denmark Meeting, an exchange program between Denmark the U.S. for disabled young adults, in cooperation with the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, Urban Hansen, and with the patronage of Princess Benedikte of Denmark.

Began serving as acting Danish Consul for the state of Michigan.

1968-1998
Appointed by Danish King Frederik IX and served as Royal Danish Consul for the state of Michigan.

1974-1998
Served on the Board of Trustees of Brookgreen Gardens, Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

1975
Appointed by Michigan Governor William G. Milliken to serve on the Special Commission on Art in State Buildings.

1984
Received the Michigan Academy Award from the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters.

1988
The Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Gallery (later changed to Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum) was dedicated on May 15 at Saginaw Valley State University.

Named chairman of the Art Committee at Brookgreen Gardens.

1993
Invited by US Ambassador to Canada, James Blanchard, to participate in the Art in Embassies program in overseas embassies.

1995
More than two dozen Fredericks’ sculptures are displayed in the newly opened Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Requested by Millesġarden to enlarge a 1930s sketch model by Carl Milles into a bronze sculpture to be placed over the Nacka Strand, across the Fjord from Millesġarden.

1996
Torso of a Dancer was selected for exhibition in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC.

1998
Completed the full-scale clay model of last monumental work, The Poet: Lord Byron.  On April 4, Marshall Fredericks died at his home in Birmingham, Michigan