File:Statues of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln Memorial (1922) (14591437090).jpg

Identifier: statuxxxxxxflinc (find matches)
Title: Statues of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln Memorial
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection
Subjects: French, Daniel Chester, 1850-1931 Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 Presidents in art Presidents Marble sculpture, American Lincoln Memorial (Washington, D.C.) Large-scale sculpture
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Contributing Library: Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection
Digitizing Sponsor: State of Indiana through the Indiana State Library

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The right hand of Abraham Lincoln, a detailfrom three-foot working model of the statue for the His every move was calculated, for he had to be adiplomat, contractor, publicist and businessman aswell as a consummate artist. Youngest of four children in a well-to-do New Eng-land family, he was born in 1850, early enough to haveheard and read reports of battles and casualties duringthe Civil War, early enough to bring his own livingperspective to the Gettysburg Address. Much of his youth was spent in Concord, Massa-chusetts, where he was introduced to sculpture byMay Alcott, sister of the popular novelist. With littleformal training and no academic study, he embarkedon a career that would bring him fame and fortune,both richly earned. By the age of 40, he had producedjust seven monuments. However, the popularity of theMinute Man in Concord and the John Harvard atHarvard University carried the late-flowering Daniel 56
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Memorial. As modeling references, painstakingFrench even made several castings of his own hands. French to the forefront of the American art world. During his next 40 years—he was active until hisdeath at 81 in 1931—his productivity exploded. Morethan 100 of his sculptures decorate public buildingsand parks in more than 35 cities from San Franciscoto Boston, from St. Paul to Atlanta. Of necessity, French was a disciplined man. Thepreparation of iron armatures, building up the claymodels, roughing out surfaces and casting the finishedstatue in plaster were chores handled by apprenticesand assistants. French would create the first small claysketch alone and then perform only the final model-ing on the enlargements. No clay was ever cast in plas-ter without the sculptors personal attention to themodeling. He often was at work on three commissions,in various stages of completion, at the same time. The story of the Lincoln statue begins in 1901 with recommendations of four distinguishe

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