The Mentor: Famous American Sculptors, Vol. 1, Num. 36, Serial No. 36Taft, Lorado
General
The Mentor: Famous American Sculptors, Vol. 1, Num. 36, Serial No. 36
Taft, Lorado
Sculptors -- United States; Sculpture, American
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.
[Illustration: 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
[Illustration: 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._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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