THE MENTOR, No. 36,
Famous American Sculptors

The Mentor

“A Wise and Faithful Guide and Friend”

FAMOUS AMERICAN SCULPTORS

By LORADO TAFT

Sculptor, and Author of “History of American Sculpture”

The story of American sculpture is a brief one compared with the chronicles of other lands. Our first professional sculptors, Horatio Greenough and Hiram Powers, were both born in 1805. In European countries the records of the last hundred years are but fragments, brief sequels to the story of ages of endeavor. It is difficult to realize that our actual achievement, from the very kindergarten stage of an unknown art to the proud eminence held by American sculpture in the Paris Exposition of 1900, was the work of but three score years and ten—was seen in its entirety by many living men.

BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN SCULPTURE

BIRTHPLACE OF J. Q. A. WARD

Ward was born in 1830, on a farm in the neighborhood of Urbana, Ohio.

The beginnings of all arts in this country have been timid and imitative. Literature, music, and painting had something to found themselves upon in the national tradition; but sculpture was never abundant in England, and this art, usually one of the earliest, was the last to appear in America. Its first inspirations were Italian, and for half a century American sculpture was a crude parody on the art of Canova and Thorvaldsen. Many of our sculptors, like Powers, Greenough, Crawford, Story, Randolph Rogers, Rinehart, Ball, Mead, and Harriet Hosmer, made their homes in Florence and Rome, and welcomed the ever swelling tide of American travel with wistful greetings. Perhaps their influence was greater there upon the receptive travelers than it could have been at home; but one cannot help feeling a high regard for men like Palmer, John Rogers, and Ward, who “held the fort,” developing the native material of their own land.

About the time of the Centennial, France was suddenly discovered by our young sculptors. Her opportunities were appreciated, and soon the entire stream of students was diverted thither from Italy and Germany. Saint Gaudens was the first important product of the American-French school of sculpture, and his talent and training together offered an irresistible argument for the new methods.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS WARD

PAUL WAYLAND BARTLETT AND JOHN QUINCY ADAMS WARD

WASHINGTON, BY WARD

On Wall Street, New York City. The pedestal bears the inscription: “On this site, in Federal Hall, April 30, 1789, George Washington took the oath as the first President of the United States of America.”

Before speaking further of our greatest sculptor, a few words should be devoted to the last and most distinguished of the pioneers, John Quincy Adams Ward (1830-1910), who was privileged to see the triumphs of American sculpture at home and abroad, and to participate in them to the end. Always keenly alive and vibrantly responsive to the forces at work about him, he was ever a contemporary of the youngest men of his profession. Ward’s earliest success, “The Indian Hunter” in Central Park, New York City, was the result of a long journey among the red men. Its intensity is an unconscious revelation of the man who made it: no lackadaisical dreamer could have conceived the idea, much less have carried it to its happy realization. The emotion of war times found expression in “The Freedman,” and later in a notable series of memorials to heroes of the conflict, culminating in the great “Henry Ward Beecher” of Brooklyn, one of the most impressive portraits in this country. None but a big man could have grasped that character; none but a strong nature could convey to others that impression of exuberant vitality and of conscious power. The great preacher stands solidly upon his feet, enveloped in a heavy overcoat and cape, his hat in hand. The poise is superbly confident; the leonine head uplifted as if in command rather than in exhortation.

THE WARRIOR, BY WARD

One of the three figures that adorn the base of the Garfield statue at Washington. The other two are the “Statesman” and the “Student.”

New York City has many of Ward’s works. His “Pilgrim” and “Shakespeare” in Central Park are well known. His “Horace Greeley” is the last word in faithful characterization, as vivid as his Wall Street “Washington” is noble and detached. The admirable equestrian “General Thomas” and the “Garfield” monument in Washington are equally familiar. The uprightness and dignity of the whole life of the sculptor left their impress upon every portrait he modeled. Some are greater than others; but they are men, everyone of them. They stand firmly on their feet, and they make no gestures, no attempt to win us. There is no restlessness, no anxiety; you feel eternity in their attitudes, in their composure. Above all, the sculptor has known how to endow each with an individual intelligence.

SAINT GAUDENS, THE MASTER

GRIEF, BY SAINT GAUDENS

This mysterious figure is sometimes called “Death,” or “The Peace of God.” It is in Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, and is a memorial to Mrs. Adams.

Augustus Saint Gaudens, like so many of our best citizens, was a product of another land; of two others, in fact. Born in Dublin in 1848 of a French father and an Irish mother, he represented an unusually fortunate combination of two artistic races. The humble family settled in 1850 in New York, where the boy was early apprenticed to a cameo cutter, supplementing his childish efforts with a rigorous training in the drawing classes of Cooper Union. In 1880, after some years abroad, he exhibited at the Salon his remarkable figure of Admiral Farragut, now in Madison Square, New York, which still remains one of his finest works. This statue—and its harmonious pedestal—met with instant success, and was followed by a series of triumphant works, so novel and original, so significant and admirably perfected, that the master’s position at the head of the profession in this country was constantly reaffirmed to the day of his death.

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