Saturday, February 29, 2020

Standing Lincoln - Augustus Saint-Gaudens


We just learned about the statue of Charles Sumner by Anne Whitney.

Another famous American statue is Standing Lincoln made by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1887 in Chicago.

Saint-Gaudens was born in Ireland in 1848, but moved to New York when he was a baby.
Growing up he learned about sculpture, and when he was 19 he moved to Paris and Rome to learn more about art.

He came back to American and in his adult life became very famous for making sculptors of Civil War heroes like Abraham Lincoln or Robert Gould Shaw.

His Standing Lincoln statue of Abraham Lincoln in Chicago is one of his most famous.
It is sometimes called "Abraham Lincoln: The Man" and is 12 feet tall made of bronze.

Many people say it is the most important sculpture of Lincoln from this time, and shows him rising from a chair about to give a speech.
Saint-Gaudens was at Lincoln's inauguration when he became president, and also at his funeral.
He really liked Lincoln a lot, and tried his best to make a statue that would stand for a long time honoring Lincoln.

It was such a famous statue in Chicago that famous people like Jane Addams would walk to the statue sometimes to look at it and be inspired by Lincoln's life.


(from: wikipedia - abraham lincoln: the man)


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