Willard N. Hirsch papers

Willard Hirsch (1905-1982) was born in Charleston, the oldest of four children. He attended public schools, graduated in 1923 from the High School of Charleston, and was enrolled at the College of Charleston. When he was 27, Hirsch moved to New York City, and studied at the National Academy of Design and the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design. Hirsch kept a studio in New York, where he was involved with the Works Progress Administration and the Federal Art Project. In 1942, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. Partially deaf, he was stationed at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina. He continued to hone his artistic skills by creating terra cotta busts of his commanding officer and others stationed on the base.

When he was discharged in 1944, Hirsch took up permanent residence back in Charleston. He established a studio on Charleston's Exchange Street, and later purchased a building at 2 Queen Street to continue sculpting.

Hirsch was a versatile sculptor, working with wood, terra cotta, bronze, steel, aluminum, brass, and sgraffito. He was selected for commissions in Charleston, as well as nationally. In 1941, while still living in New York, Hirsch was chosen to represent his home state of South Carolina in IBM's "Sculpture of the Western Hemisphere" collection. His bronze "Tennis Players" was the resulting commission. He sculpted mascots for South Carolina State College (now University) and Clemson University, as well as other work on Clemson's campus. His pieces also appear in the collections of the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, and two private schools in Charleston, Ashley Hall and Porter Gaud. Hirsch was commissioned to create busts of numerous individuals, including such notable South Carolinians as L. Mendel Rivers, J. Palmer Gaillard, and Laura Bragg. Religious works appear at Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim and Emanu-El Synagogue in Charleston, South Carolina, Woodsdale Temple in Wheeling, West Virginia, and Temple Oheb Shalom in Baltimore, Maryland. Hirsch's sculpture "Joy of Motherhood" was donated by Mordenai Hirsch to Brookgreen Gardens, and is only the third piece by a South Carolina artist installed there.

In 1949, Hirsch married Mordenai Raisin, the daughter of Rabbi Jacob Raisin and Jane Lazarus Raisin of Charleston. The couple had two children, Jacob (Jack) and Jane.