64

Robert Berks.

Archive of drawings and documents for his Linnaeus monument at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Various places, 1981-1983 and undated
Several hundred items (0.6 linear feet); condition generally strong, a few items folded, intermittent foxing, wear and offsetting.

The sculptor Robert Berks (1922-2011) of Orient, NY created numerous monuments, most famously the large bust of John F. Kennedy which graces the Kennedy Center in Washington. One of his  other notable commissions was an enormous monument to the botanist Carl Linnaeus for the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, IL, completed in 1983. This lot includes:

40 large sketches, most pencil with some other media, up to 24 x 25 inches.

26 smaller sketches, up to about 12 x 18 inches.

Pair of duplicate transparencies titled "Footprint of the Linnaeus Monument," 19¾ x 26 inches, 24 May 1982.

Pencil drawing of Berks modeling the Linnaeus sculpture, inscribed "To Bob, of whom I stand in awe. Rosalind," 21 x 18 inches. The artist may be sculptor Rosalind Cook, who also had a large Linnaeus monument on her resume. 

The Botanic Garden's blueprints for the site, and official press kit for the monument's unveiling.

Approximately 300 photographs of the monument in progress, most about 8 x 10 inches and a few larger; light curling.

With--a folder on the relationship of Berks with the Clinton White House, 1993-2000. He presented small busts of Presidents Lincoln, Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy to the White House over the years. Includes 3 Autograph Letters Signed to Berks from Rex Scouten, Curator of the White House, 1993-1995; several holiday cards and notes with Bill Clinton's printed signatures; 4 official White House photographs of Berks and Clinton in the Oval Office; and 2 two retained drafts of letters from Berks to Clinton.

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