Who was the principal sculptor of Mount Rushmore National Memorial?

Gutzon Borglum was the principal sculptor of Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

Borglum directed the carving of the colossal presidential heads in South Dakota’s Black Hills from 1927 until his death in 1941. The monument depicts George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Borglum selected the final concept and supervised the engineering, blasting, and carving work.

The project was proposed by South Dakota historian Doane Robinson as a way to attract visitors to the state. Borglum’s design shifted from regional figures to presidents associated with the nation’s founding, growth, development, and preservation.

Borglum died before the monument was fully completed, and his son Lincoln Borglum helped oversee the final work. The monument’s planned lower bodies and entablature were never finished because of funding limits and the death of the senior sculptor.