Abraham Lincoln
“The Standing Lincoln”
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1887
The view out my office window as I sit at my desk is like no other in Chicago. No, it is not one of those visually breathtaking sweeps of tall buildings that crown the city in urban majesty and have earned Chicago a reputation as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. My gaze from the third floor of the Chicago Historical Society’s museum falls instead on the magnificent bronze sculpture of Abraham Lincoln by Augustus Saint-Gaudens that stands at the southern entrance to Lincoln Park. “The Standing Lincoln,” as this work by Saint- Gaudens is commonly known, captures Lincoln not as commander-in-chief, but as a humble citizen who struggled to meet the moral, political, and social challenges of his time, an American whose words and deeds live on and define our own struggle to create a civil and democratic society. As a historian, I am grateful for this daily reminder out my window of how the past intrudes upon the present and the future and the importance for us as Chicagoans and as Americans to remember, to commemorate, and to venerate what has come before us.
In the museum profession, we are fond of saying that every artifact has a story; so too does this inspiring likeness of Lincoln. Born in Ireland in 1848 to a French father and Irish mother, Augustus Saint-Gaudens came to New York City when only six months old. His talent for sketching earned him recognition, and eventually an apprenticeship with a stone cameo cutter and admission to the drawing school at the Cooper Institute. In 1864, he left the Institute for the National Academy of Design. As a young man, Saint-Gaudens saw the Civil War unfold around him, witnessing soldiers marching through the streets, recruitment drives, and the draft riots in July 1863; he also claimed to have glimpsed Lincoln campaigning in New York City. The patriotic fervor of the time and the tragic death of Lincoln affected him greatly, and he won a number of commissions to create important memorials to Union heroes.
After brief stints at the Petite Ecole and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and several years in Rome cutting cameos, he returned to New York City. A founding member of the Society of American Artists, Saint-Gaudens’ Thirth-Sixth Street studio became a gathering place for a group of friends who helped shape his artistic vision--architects Charles F. McKim, Stanford White, H.H. Richardson, and sculptor Frederick William MacMonies. He won a commission for a statue of Union Navy Admiral David G. Farragut, which he completed in 1881 for Madison Square Garden. After completing “The Standing Lincoln” in 1887, Saint-Gaudens completed a number of CivilWar-related monuments: the memorial to Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, a unit made up of African American soldiers, for the Boston Common in 1897; the General John Logan Memorial for Chicago’s Grant Park in 1897; a sculpture of General William Tecumseh Sherman for Central Park in 1903; and “The Seated Lincoln,” for Grant Park in 1908. Saint-Gaudens also played an important role in helping to develop the plans for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and designed the exposition’s award medal.
Saint-Gaudens’ eleven-and-one-half foot Lincoln is considered one of the artist’s great masterpieces. Chicago lumberman Eli Bates pledged funds upon his death in 1881 for a fountain and a statue of Lincoln for Lincoln Park. Although he was invited by a committee to enter a competition for these commissions, Saint-Gaudens refused the invitation, but was nevertheless hired to create the sculpture. Saint-Gaudens completed most of the work on the sculpture in his summer studio and residence in Cornish, New Hampshire. Using the life mask and the casts of Lincoln’s hands made by Leonard Volk before Lincoln became president in 1860, Saint-Gaudens also examined photographs of Lincoln to ensure that he understood the martyred president’s features, and he also relied on his memory of seeing Lincoln campaigning and lying in state after his assassination. After initially considering depicting Lincoln seated, the artist chose a standing pose. He became especially concerned about how he would capture Lincoln’s imposing figure and hired Langdon Morse of Windsor, Vermont, as a model. Angular and the exact height of Lincoln (six feet four inches), Morse made numerous visits to Cornish, and his physique is embodied in “The Standing Lincoln.”
Completed in 1887, the bronze Lincoln stands before a chair on a granite block facing south. With bowed head, one hand clutching his coat and the other behind his back, and one leg slightly forward with his boot protruding over the edge, Lincoln appears lost in contemplation, almost in a trance—confident that he can meet the many challenges that burdened him but also humbled by his critical role in American history. Only a few photographs of Lincoln show him standing, and he appears stiff and formal (in part due to the long exposures that required holding still). But here Lincoln appears at ease, open, almost vulnerable, and one senses the full measure of him as a man literally and as a moral force. Saint-Gaudens depicts Lincoln in a private moment of relaxed thought that draws the viewer to his humanity. Lincoln’s open stance and posture are in sharp contrast to the chair, modeled after a seat from a Greek theater. Formal, imperial, and mythic in its form, the clawed-legged chair seems inappropriate for a champion of democracy and freedom. The pedestal sits on a raised, circular granite exedra designed by Sanford White of the New York architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White and Saint-Gaudens’ lifelong friend. Like a visual magnet, White’s exedra draws the visitor entering the park on the south to Lincoln. The interplay of the welcoming force of the sculptural environment and the arresting solitude and privacy of the figure is one of the dynamics that makes interacting with this sculpture so powerful.
The inscriptions on the exedra are especially important. On Lincoln’s left is inscribed: “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it,” the final words Lincoln delivered to more than one thousand five hundred Republican supporters crowded into the Cooper Institute on February 25, 1860, while campaigning in New York City (perhaps the young Saint-Gaudens and future Cooper Institute student heard Lincoln speak). On his right is inscribed: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in,” the final words of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, which he delivered on March 4, 1865. Together they reinforce Lincoln’s steadfast appeal to moral reasoning as the only course of action available to the nation, his determination to fulfill his duty, and, after four long years of war, his desire to heal a reunited America. At the base of the exedra, flanking Lincoln are two large bronze spheres with texts in relief: one features his famous address delivered at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863; the other is an excerpt from Lincoln’s well-known August 22, 1862, reply to Horace Greely’s newspaper editorial, wherein the President forcefully argues that he is determined to preserve the Union, not to destroy slavery.
Lincoln was no stranger to Chicago, making his first visit to the city on July 4, 1847, and his last on May 1,1865, to lie in state for twenty-four hours in the Cook County Courthouse. As a lawyer and a politician, he visited Chicago frequently, and no city outside Springfield, Illinois, or Washington D.C. played larger roles in shaping his political skills and moral vision. Indeed, it is alleged that Lincoln planned to live in Chicago after leaving office. Lincoln was also no stranger to the Chicago Historical Society. Elected as an honorary member on January 15, 1861, Abraham Lincoln had an enduring relationship with the Historical Society that continues today. While the historical record does not indicate that the Historical Society trustees chose in November 1927 to build a new history museum in the southwest tip of Lincoln Park to be close to Saint-Gaudens’ Lincoln, I like to think they did.
Standing like a lone sentinel, a friend to the institution that honored him, Lincoln watches over this venerable and vibrant historical society. Children play at his feet and the homeless sleep at his back and Lincoln waits, his powerful presence urging us today to fulfill the promise of freedom for all Americans.
Comments
Russell Lewis, on March 29, said:
Abraham Lincoln “The Standing Lincoln” Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1887
The view out my office window as I sit at my desk is like no other in Chicago. No, it is not one of those visually breathtaking sweeps of tall buildings that crown the city in urban majesty and have earned Chicago a reputation as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. My gaze from the third floor of the Chicago Historical Society’s museum falls instead on the magnificent bronze sculpture of Abraham Lincoln by Augustus Saint-Gaudens that stands at the southern entrance to Lincoln Park. “The Standing Lincoln,” as this work by Saint- Gaudens is commonly known, captures Lincoln not as commander-in-chief, but as a humble citizen who struggled to meet the moral, political, and social challenges of his time, an American whose words and deeds live on and define our own struggle to create a civil and democratic society. As a historian, I am grateful for this daily reminder out my window of how the past intrudes upon the present and the future and the importance for us as Chicagoans and as Americans to remember, to commemorate, and to venerate what has come before us. In the museum profession, we are fond of saying that every artifact has a story; so too does this inspiring likeness of Lincoln. Born in Ireland in 1848 to a French father and Irish mother, Augustus Saint-Gaudens came to New York City when only six months old. His talent for sketching earned him recognition, and eventually an apprenticeship with a stone cameo cutter and admission to the drawing school at the Cooper Institute. In 1864, he left the Institute for the National Academy of Design. As a young man, Saint-Gaudens saw the Civil War unfold around him, witnessing soldiers marching through the streets, recruitment drives, and the draft riots in July 1863; he also claimed to have glimpsed Lincoln campaigning in New York City. The patriotic fervor of the time and the tragic death of Lincoln affected him greatly, and he won a number of commissions to create important memorials to Union heroes. After brief stints at the Petite Ecole and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and several years in Rome cutting cameos, he returned to New York City. A founding member of the Society of American Artists, Saint-Gaudens’ Thirth-Sixth Street studio became a gathering place for a group of friends who helped shape his artistic vision--architects Charles F. McKim, Stanford White, H.H. Richardson, and sculptor Frederick William MacMonies. He won a commission for a statue of Union Navy Admiral David G. Farragut, which he completed in 1881 for Madison Square Garden. After completing “The Standing Lincoln” in 1887, Saint-Gaudens completed a number of CivilWar-related monuments: the memorial to Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, a unit made up of African American soldiers, for the Boston Common in 1897; the General John Logan Memorial for Chicago’s Grant Park in 1897; a sculpture of General William Tecumseh Sherman for Central Park in 1903; and “The Seated Lincoln,” for Grant Park in 1908. Saint-Gaudens also played an important role in helping to develop the plans for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and designed the exposition’s award medal. Saint-Gaudens’ eleven-and-one-half foot Lincoln is considered one of the artist’s great masterpieces. Chicago lumberman Eli Bates pledged funds upon his death in 1881 for a fountain and a statue of Lincoln for Lincoln Park. Although he was invited by a committee to enter a competition for these commissions, Saint-Gaudens refused the invitation, but was nevertheless hired to create the sculpture. Saint-Gaudens completed most of the work on the sculpture in his summer studio and residence in Cornish, New Hampshire. Using the life mask and the casts of Lincoln’s hands made by Leonard Volk before Lincoln became president in 1860, Saint-Gaudens also examined photographs of Lincoln to ensure that he understood the martyred president’s features, and he also relied on his memory of seeing Lincoln campaigning and lying in state after his assassination. After initially considering depicting Lincoln seated, the artist chose a standing pose. He became especially concerned about how he would capture Lincoln’s imposing figure and hired Langdon Morse of Windsor, Vermont, as a model. Angular and the exact height of Lincoln (six feet four inches), Morse made numerous visits to Cornish, and his physique is embodied in “The Standing Lincoln.” Completed in 1887, the bronze Lincoln stands before a chair on a granite block facing south. With bowed head, one hand clutching his coat and the other behind his back, and one leg slightly forward with his boot protruding over the edge, Lincoln appears lost in contemplation, almost in a trance—confident that he can meet the many challenges that burdened him but also humbled by his critical role in American history. Only a few photographs of Lincoln show him standing, and he appears stiff and formal (in part due to the long exposures that required holding still). But here Lincoln appears at ease, open, almost vulnerable, and one senses the full measure of him as a man literally and as a moral force. Saint-Gaudens depicts Lincoln in a private moment of relaxed thought that draws the viewer to his humanity. Lincoln’s open stance and posture are in sharp contrast to the chair, modeled after a seat from a Greek theater. Formal, imperial, and mythic in its form, the clawed-legged chair seems inappropriate for a champion of democracy and freedom. The pedestal sits on a raised, circular granite exedra designed by Sanford White of the New York architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White and Saint-Gaudens’ lifelong friend. Like a visual magnet, White’s exedra draws the visitor entering the park on the south to Lincoln. The interplay of the welcoming force of the sculptural environment and the arresting solitude and privacy of the figure is one of the dynamics that makes interacting with this sculpture so powerful. The inscriptions on the exedra are especially important. On Lincoln’s left is inscribed: “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it,” the final words Lincoln delivered to more than one thousand five hundred Republican supporters crowded into the Cooper Institute on February 25, 1860, while campaigning in New York City (perhaps the young Saint-Gaudens and future Cooper Institute student heard Lincoln speak). On his right is inscribed: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in,” the final words of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, which he delivered on March 4, 1865. Together they reinforce Lincoln’s steadfast appeal to moral reasoning as the only course of action available to the nation, his determination to fulfill his duty, and, after four long years of war, his desire to heal a reunited America. At the base of the exedra, flanking Lincoln are two large bronze spheres with texts in relief: one features his famous address delivered at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863; the other is an excerpt from Lincoln’s well-known August 22, 1862, reply to Horace Greely’s newspaper editorial, wherein the President forcefully argues that he is determined to preserve the Union, not to destroy slavery. Lincoln was no stranger to Chicago, making his first visit to the city on July 4, 1847, and his last on May 1,1865, to lie in state for twenty-four hours in the Cook County Courthouse. As a lawyer and a politician, he visited Chicago frequently, and no city outside Springfield, Illinois, or Washington D.C. played larger roles in shaping his political skills and moral vision. Indeed, it is alleged that Lincoln planned to live in Chicago after leaving office. Lincoln was also no stranger to the Chicago Historical Society. Elected as an honorary member on January 15, 1861, Abraham Lincoln had an enduring relationship with the Historical Society that continues today. While the historical record does not indicate that the Historical Society trustees chose in November 1927 to build a new history museum in the southwest tip of Lincoln Park to be close to Saint-Gaudens’ Lincoln, I like to think they did. Standing like a lone sentinel, a friend to the institution that honored him, Lincoln watches over this venerable and vibrant historical society. Children play at his feet and the homeless sleep at his back and Lincoln waits, his powerful presence urging us today to fulfill the promise of freedom for all Americans.