A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Willard Hirsch was born in 1905. He studied art at the College of Charleston, Beaux Arts Institute of Design, and National Academy of Design, New York City. Hirsch exhibited at the National Academy routinely from 1935 to 1942, but remained a lifelong resident of Charleston. He taught art for many years at the College of Charleston and the Gibbes Museum of Art school. His bronze sculptures are found in many public places in Charleston and lowcountry South Carolina, notably in Washington Park, White Point Gardens, Gibbes Museum of Art, and Brookgreen Gardens, near Myrtle Beach. Hirsch was also commissioned to create bas relief designs for South Carolina National Guard armories throughout the state.

Biography courtesy of The Charleston Renaissance Gallery, www.antiquesandfineart.com/charleston