Clara Pfeifer Garrett

Clara Pfeifer Garrett was a sculptor who was active in St. Louis in the early 1900s. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Garrett moved to St. Louis with her family when she was young. In 1893, Garrett began studies at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts under Robert P. Bringhurst. She excelled as a student and won numerous awards and scholarships, including the School of Fine Arts Prize in 1897.

Upon graduating, Garrett assisted Bringhurst with his work on the Art Building at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1898, and soon opened her own studio in St. Louis, where she began work on several large-scale commissions for schools.

In 1902, Garrett fulfilled a lifelong ambition to study abroad and moved to Paris to attend the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where she studied under Antonin Mercié and Laurent-Honoré Marqueste. She also developed a working relationship with the French sculptor Emile Bourdelle, who critiqued her work on occasion. While in Paris, Garrett exhibited in the Paris Salon, Champs-Elysees in 1903, 1904 and 1905. One of her sculptures, Les Crysalides, was also exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1904. 

In 1906, Garrett married Edmund A. Garrett, son of the American artist Edmund Henry Garrett, in London. The couple briefly lived in New York before returning to St. Louis.

Garrett specialized in portrait busts, figure statues and friezes, and preferred children as subjects. She received a number of awards for her work, including a Bronze Medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904 and Honorable Mention from the National Sculpture Society in 1905. She was a member of the St. Louis Artists’ Guild, and the winner of the Guild’s Sculpture Prize in 1915. 

Many of Garrett’s sculptures went to schools and parks in St. Louis, including The Awakening of Spring, affectionately known as "Carrie Kingsbury," which is stationed at the entrance to Kingsbury Place on Union Avenue in the city’s DeBaliviere neighborhood.

Garrett remained active in St. Louis until 1929, when she relocated to California. Today, her work can be seen in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.