Title: The Mentor: Famous American Sculptors, Vol. 1, Num. 36, Serial No. 36
Author: Taft, Lorado
Language: English
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THE MENTOR

“A Wise and Faithful Guide and Friend”

    Vol. 1                          No. 36



FAMOUS AMERICAN SCULPTORS

    JOHN QUINCY ADAMS WARD

    FREDERICK WILLIAM MACMONNIES

    GEORGE GREY BARNARD

    DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH

    AUGUSTUS SAINT GAUDENS

    PAUL WAYLAND BARTLETT

[Illustration]

_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

[Illustration: 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

[Illustration: PAUL WAYLAND BARTLETT AND JOHN QUINCY ADAMS WARD]

[Illustration: 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.

[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._]

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.

[Illustration: DEACON CHAPIN, BY SAINT GAUDENS

_At Springfield, Massachusetts._]

Indeed, in reviewing the life of this great artist, one asks what
other sculptor of modern times has produced such a succession of
notable achievements as the “Farragut”; the “Lincoln” of Chicago; the
“Deacon Chapin” of Springfield, Massachusetts; the “Adams Memorial”
in Washington; the “Shaw Memorial”; the “Logan”; the “Sherman”, and
finally the seated “Lincoln.” Add to this the countless exquisite
medallions, the delightfully decorative high relief portraits, and,
perhaps most beautiful of all, that angelic brood of which the “Amor
Caritas” is the type and culmination, and where shall we look for a
more individual expression? Rodin himself, with all his contortions,
has not produced so much beauty nor demonstrated himself more
“original.”

[Illustration: Copyright, 1905, by De W. C. Ward.

AUGUSTUS SAINT GAUDENS IN HIS STUDIO

_From a painting by Kenyon Cox._]

To different moods these great works make their differing appeals.
The heroic “Lincoln,” with its strong, gaunt frame and its majestic
head bowed in sympathetic tenderness; the sturdy “Chapin,” wrapped in
a voluminous cloak and self sufficiency; the mysterious, inscrutable
genius of the Adams tomb; the rhythmic momentum of the colored regiment
with its fated leader riding serenely, square shouldered, and level
eyed to his doom; the glorious “Victory” of the Sherman group, the most
spiritual, most ethereal of all sculptured types,--what an array are
these! What wealth to have brought to our national ideals!


DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH

[Illustration: BIRTHPLACE OF G. G. BARNARD

_Barnard was born at Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, where his parents were
temporarily residing in 1863. The sculptor is really a Westerner._]

Worthy successor to the great artist who put us all under such heavy
obligations is Daniel Chester French, whose work is known throughout
the land. French was born at Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1850, and
grew up in Concord, Massachusetts, amid ideal surroundings. His first
youthful effort in sculpture, “The Minute Man of Concord,” was a
success, and his busy life has known no failures. No other American
sculptor has produced so much, and we can name here but a few of his
most important works.

[Illustration: MINUTE MAN, BY FRENCH

_At Concord, Massachusetts._]

[Illustration: Reproduced from American Sculpture, by Lorado Taft.
Copyright, 1903, by The MacMillan Co.

ALMA MATER, BY FRENCH

_Adorning the approach to the Library of Columbia University, New York
City._]

[Illustration: DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH

_French is well known as a sculptor in both America and Europe._]

Best beloved is the noble “Death and the Young Sculptor,” designed as a
memorial to the sculptor, Martin Milmore. In this poetic group we have
unquestionably one of the highest expressions of a purely American art.
Other works of interest are the ascetic “John Harvard” of Cambridge;
a vigorous “General Cass” and the touchingly sympathetic “Gallaudet”
group, both in Washington, D. C.; the “O’Reilly” monument of Boston;
the equestrian “Washington” in Paris and Chicago; “General Grant” in
Fairmount Park, Philadelphia; and “General Hooker” in Boston. Among
his most recent works are a “Lincoln” for Lincoln, Nebraska, and an
“Emerson” for Concord.

The Columbian Exposition was crowned by French’s gigantic and truly
monumental “Republic,” a superb figure which reappears, comfortably
seated for all time, in the “Alma Mater” of Columbia. French does not
disdain architectural sculpture, and has made beautiful groups for the
Custom House of New York, the postoffice of Cleveland, and the pediment
of the Brooklyn Institute. In the recent Parkman and Melvin memorials
he has shown a treatment peculiarly adapted to the stone, a most
valuable suggestion to our younger men. No one has greater influence
upon the trend of American sculpture than has French, and many there
are who owe to him their successful beginnings.


FREDERICK MACMONNIES

[Illustration: FREDERICK WILLIAM MACMONNIES]

[Illustration: HORSE TAMERS, BY MACMONNIES

_Two groups, one of which is shown, that adorn an entrance to Prospect
Park, Brooklyn. They formed part of the sculptor’s remarkable exhibit
at the Paris Exposition of 1900._]

When in 1884 Frederick MacMonnies arrived in Paris he was equipped
as no American had ever been before. He was twenty-one years old,
and had already spent five years in the studio of Saint Gaudens,
besides learning to draw like a skilled painter. His progress was
proportionate, and it has been his joy ever since to meet his European
competitors upon their own field and to rival them in whatever they
undertake. If there is nothing distinctively American in his art, it is
sculpture of the highest degree of workmanship, an international coin
that passes current wherever good art is known.

[Illustration: BIRTHPLACE OF D. C. FRENCH

_French was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, on April 20, 1850_]

[Illustration: THE HEWER, BY BARNARD

_The plate on the pedestal says_, “_Erected in memory of William Parker
Halliday, and presented to the city of Cairo, Ill., A. D. 1906, in
token of his unswerving faith in her destiny._”]

No one has ever worked quite so feverishly as did MacMonnies during
those wonderful first years of his career, and no one has ever done so
much in the time. The list is too long even to chronicle here, much
less to comment upon. Beginning with the “Nathan Hale” and “Stranahan”
of the Salon of 1891, the sculptor came insistently into national view
in 1893 with his great Columbian fountain, the jewel of the Chicago
Exposition. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, and the young
sculptor rose serenely and triumphantly to the occasion. The memory of
that exquisite twilight vision remains a delight to all who saw it.
Orders followed in rapid sequence, and brought more successes,--the
archaistic “Shakespeare” of the Congressional Library; the irresistible
“Bacchante”; “Sir Henry Vane” of Boston; and the sculptor’s various
contributions to Prospect Park, Brooklyn,--the Memorial Arch, with its
gigantic army and navy groups, and its glorious Quadriga above, and the
“Horse Tamers.”

Upon the exhibition of these works at the Paris Exposition of 1900
MacMonnies decided that he wanted a rest, which in the case of one of
his nervous temperament meant merely a change. He dropped his modeling
tools absolutely, and for a number of years gave himself up to the joys
of painting. All sculptors dream of this; but he could really do it.
His work on canvas is no less masterly than his sculpture. Of late he
has returned to his first love, and we look forward eagerly to the new
products of his studio.


THE BOLD ORIGINALITY OF BARNARD

[Illustration: GEORGE GREY BARNARD]

George Grey Barnard is a Westerner, although he chanced to be born in
Pennsylvania, where his parents were temporarily residing in 1863. The
sculptor’s father is a clergyman, and the fortunes of the ministry
afterward led him to Chicago, and thence to Muscatine, Iowa, where the
son passed his boyhood. One cannot doubt that these circumstances had
their profound influence upon the character of the young artist. In it
is something of the largeness of the western prairies, something of the
audacity of a life without tradition or precedent, a burning intensity
of enthusiasm; above all, a strong element of mysticism which permeates
all that Barnard does or thinks.

[Illustration: Reproduced from American Sculpture, by Lorado Taft.
Copyright, 1903, by The MacMillan Co.

MICHELANGELO, BY BARTLETT

_A vivid representation of the mighty Florentine, is one of the bronze
effigies that decorate the rotunda of the Congressional Library._]

The stories of his student struggles in Chicago and Paris are familiar.
The first result of all this self sacrifice became tangible in that
early group, a tombstone for Norway, in which the youth portrayed
“Brotherly Love,” a work of “weird and indescribable charm.”

In 1894 Barnard completed his celebrated group, “Two Natures,” upon
which he had toiled, in clay and marble, for several years. This
masterful achievement gave him at once high standing in Europe, and
his work has never since ceased to interest the cultivated public
of the world’s capitals. Then followed an extraordinary “Norwegian
Stove,” a monumental affair illustrative of Scandinavian mythology; and
“Maidenhood” and the “Hewer,” two of the finest nudes thus far produced
in America.

The great work of Barnard’s recent years has been the decoration of the
Pennsylvania capitol. It has been said of him that he was “the only one
connected with that building who was not smirched”; but his part is a
story of heroism and triumph. The writer has not yet seen the enormous
groups in place, but is familiar with fragments that have won the
enthusiastic praise of the best sculptors of Paris. They are inspiring
conceptions which point the way to still mightier achievements in
American sculpture.


THE VIGOR OF BARTLETT

[Illustration: LAFAYETTE, BY BARTLETT

_In the square before the Louvre, Paris_]

Paul Wayland Bartlett was born in 1865 of artistic ancestry, his father
being Truman Bartlett, teacher and critic. The boy grew up in Paris,
entering the Beaux-Arts at the age of fifteen, and working also at the
Jardin des Plantes under the helpful guidance of Frémiet, the great
animalist. His art has always offered an interesting blend of the two
influences, animal forms appearing in nearly all his compositions.

Bartlett’s first important exhibit was the “Bohemian Bear Trainer”; the
second, the Indian “Ghost Dancer,” shown at the Chicago Exposition.
Soon followed those striking works for the Congressional Library,
his “Columbus” and “Michelangelo.” The former shows the discoverer
in a new light,--no longer the gentle dreamer, the eloquent pleader,
the enthusiast, nor yet the silent victim in chains, but a hero of
might and confidence, hurling proud defiance at his calumniators.
The “Michelangelo” is, if possible, an even more vivid though less
vehement presentation of its theme. The short, gnomelike figure with
stumpy legs; the big, powerful hands; the stern face, rough hewn, with
its frown and tight lips,--all these combine to make this at first
sight a not very winning presentation of the great master; but it has
the quality that will outlive all others. It was left to an American
sculptor to grasp his character profoundly, and to create an adequate
representation of the mighty Florentine.

Bartlett’s young “Lafayette” stands in one of the most coveted sites in
all Paris, in the square before the Louvre. It is well worthy of the
honor, and is a monument to the artist’s capacity for “taking pains,”
representing as it does many years of study and experiment.

Bartlett collaborated with Ward upon the pedimental group of the New
York Stock Exchange, and a logical result of the good work done there
was the commission to design the long awaited pediment for the House
of Representatives in Washington, a gigantic undertaking of great
significance, which is now in progress.

To select these six names out of a hundred seems invidious. One wants
to talk of Herbert Adams and his beautiful busts, of Karl Bitter and
all the fine things he has done, of MacNeil and Grafly and Aitken and
the Piccirillis and the Borglums and all the rest, of the Boston men,
of the women sculptors, even of the little western group; but space
fails. They are all working enthusiastically for the love of their art
and for the fair fame of America.

[Illustration: BLACK HAWK, BY LORADO TAFT

_A concrete work of gigantic proportions, overlooking Rock River,
Illinois._]

  SUPPLEMENTARY READING--“History of American Sculpture,” Lorado
  Taft; “American Masters of Sculpture,” Charles H. Caffin.

  MAGAZINE ARTICLES--“George Grey Barnard, Sculptor,” G. B.
  Thaw _World’s Work_, December, 1902; “Daniel Chester French,
  Sculptor,” Lorado Taft _Brush and Pencil_, Vol. 5; “Bartlett”
  (“Some American Artists in Paris,”) Francis Keyser, _Studio_,
  Vol. 13; “Frederick MacMonnies, Sculptor,” H. H. Grier, _Brush
  and Pencil_, Vol. 10; “Augustus Saint Gaudens,” Kenyon Cox,
  _Century_, Vol. 13; “The Work of J. Q. A. Ward,” Russell Sturgis,
  _Scribner’s_, Vol. 32.



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_Editorial_

“Seek knowledge wherever it can be found throughout the world.” So
spoke Mutsuhito, late Emperor of Japan. It was a favorite maxim of his,
and one frequently repeated by his subjects. It might well be a legend
of The Mentor, for the wise thought beneath that injunction of the
emperor’s is just what inspired The Mentor plan.

       *       *       *       *       *

The method pursued in The Mentor finds, too, a striking parallel in
Japanese life. In seeking knowledge and in the enjoyment of beautiful
things, the Japanese set their minds on “one thing at a time.” Their
habit of thought and their method of study are such as might be
expressed in The Mentor principle, “Learn one thing every day.”

       *       *       *       *       *

The thoroughness of the Japanese is well known. Their intelligence,
enterprise, and up-to-dateness have been illustrated many times in
the arts of peace and in the science of war. In this one particular
principle of concentration in study, and single mindedness in the
enjoyment of beautiful things, the Japanese may well be taken as a
model for the rest of mankind.

My friend Takashima showed me lately a beautiful vase. It stood on a
pedestal in a room that seemed to me empty. Simple matting covered the
floor; simply decorated screens covered the walls; a few pieces of
furniture, equally simple, were all that the room contained--beside
that vase. “Is it not beautiful?” he said, and then he gave me its
history, telling me who, among the early masters of Chinese pottery,
had designed and shaped this exquisite work of art. I remarked on the
reverence that he showed for a single work of art in devoting a room
to it alone. “Enjoy one thing of beauty at a time,” he said. “I could
not enjoy this vase in a room filled with miscellaneous things. As well
go to a shop. The mind would be in chaos--knowing nothing well and
appreciating nothing to the full.”

       *       *       *       *       *

Such had always been Takashima’s habit. He said it was a habit of his
people. “Why,” he asked, “should you have more than one thing of beauty
in your room at a time? Enjoy it to the full. Then place something else
there, but, before removing it, get out of it all that there is in it
of beauty and of knowledge. You cannot do this in the confusion of a
room filled with many varied things.” The incident was so strikingly in
accord with The Mentor idea that it seemed as if Takashima might the
next moment have added the phrase, “Learn one thing every day.”

       *       *       *       *       *

And so the principle underlying the plan of The Mentor Association is
one approved and exercised by a nation of intelligent people. How many
other people follow this direct and simple path to knowledge we cannot
say, but that it is not only the direct and simple way, but the one
satisfying and effective way of acquiring knowledge, is plain. On that
principle The Mentor Association is founded, and by following that
principle, the members of the Association can add day by day to their
store of knowledge, and can fully and intelligently enjoy the beautiful
things in art.

[Illustration: COPYRIGHT 1903 THE MACMILLAN CO

HENRY WARD BEECHER--JOHN QUINCY ADAMS WARD

REPRODUCED FROM “AMERICAN SCULPTURE” BY LORADO TAFT]



Famous American Sculptors

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS WARD

Monograph Number One in The Mentor Reading Course


The life of John Quincy Adams Ward was a long record of dignified
success. Born in the beginning of the last century, at the time when
American sculpture was in a very elementary stage, he lived to see
this art mature into something of which our country may well be proud.
Quiet simplicity and impressiveness of mass characterize Ward’s work.
Everything he did was big and effective.

John Quincy Adams Ward was born on June 29, 1830, near Urbana, Ohio.
He was a boy that enjoyed play; but he did not neglect his work. He
loved the open air. Riding, hunting or fishing--he liked them all. He
received his education in the village schools.

One day the young boy found some clay on his father’s farm. He took a
handful of it and modeled the face of an old negro who lived nearby.
Everyone who saw this early attempt said that it was “wonderful.” It
may have been. At any rate, Ward did not immediately begin to dream
of becoming a great sculptor. In this he differed from most beginners
whose first work is called great by their friends.

Not until he was nineteen years old did he really find out his destiny.
In 1849 he paid a visit to a sister in Brooklyn. One day he happened
to pass the studio of the sculptor H. K. Browne. The door of the
studio was open, and Ward glanced inside. The scene fascinated him. He
returned to the place again and again. Finally he found his way into
this world of mystery, and at length by some miracle became one of the
sculptor’s pupils.

It would have been hard for Ward to have found a better master in
all America. He studied under Browne from 1850 to 1857. He learned
everything, from kneading clay to marble carving. By 1861, when he
opened a studio of his own in New York City, he had executed busts
of Joshua R. Giddings, Alexander H. Stephens, and Hannibal Hamlin,
prepared the first sketch for “The Indian Hunter,” his great work now
in Central Park, New York City, and made studies among the Indians
themselves for this work.

From that time on success was his. He worked hard and conscientiously.
His statues of Washington, Beecher, and Horace Greeley are all
recognized as great pieces of portrait sculpture. Unlike many of the
early sculptors of America, he acquired his training, his inspirations,
and his themes from his own country.

When the National Sculpture Society was organized in New York in 1896,
Ward was elected to be the first president. He died in New York City on
May 1, 1910.

    PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
    ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 1. No. 36 SERIAL No. 36
    COPYRIGHT 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.



[Illustration: THE SHAW MEMORIAL--AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS]



Famous American Sculptors

AUGUSTUS SAINT GAUDENS

Monograph Number Two in The Mentor Reading Course


St. Gaudens is the name of a little town in the south of France and
close to the foot of the Pyrenees. A humble shoemaker named Bernard
Paul Ernest dwelt there, and in 1848, after he had moved to Dublin,
Ireland, he had a son, to whom he gave the name Augustus. The mother of
the boy was a native of Dublin; her maiden name was Mary McGuinness.
Such was the origin of a master in sculpture, Augustus Saint Gaudens.
His parents came to America when he was an infant, and after a short
stay in Boston took up their residence in New York City. Augustus Saint
Gaudens attended school until he was thirteen. Then he was apprenticed
to a cameo cutter named Avet. After three years’ service he left his
master and found employment with a shell cameo cutter named Le Breton,
with whom he worked for several years. During this time young Saint
Gaudens was studying drawing at night; first at Cooper Union, and then
for two years at the National Academy of Design.

Augustus Saint Gaudens was always a thoughtful, quiet youth, with
extraordinary power of concentration. He pursued the art of modeling
with great enthusiasm. It was said of him that his sense of form and
of objects in relief was so vivid that with his eyes closed he could
fairly “see with his fingers.” His cameo cutting naturally assisted him
in the perfection of art in high and low relief.

When twenty years old Saint Gaudens was already a well trained artist.
He went to Paris and worked in the School of Fine Arts in the studio
of M. Jouffroy. There he studied the human figure in all phases, and
quickly mastered it. A residence of several years in Italy followed,
with constant art activity and steady artistic growth. He came back to
the United States in 1874, and his first work was a bust in marble of
William M. Evarts. Then came a commission for a large decorative relief
for St. Thomas’ Church, New York City, and in 1878 he began work on
the statue of Admiral Farragut that now stands in Madison Square, New
York City, which is one of the most widely known and admired of all his
works.

The years that followed were full of distinguished achievements. His
“Lincoln,” which was unveiled in Lincoln Park, Chicago, in 1887, has
been hailed as the greatest portrait statue in the United States.

Saint Gaudens was not only the most skilful of American sculptors, but
also the most versatile. This will be appreciated by anyone who looks
first at the Farragut statue, then at the severe, imposing character
of Deacon Chapin, a statue that is often called “The Puritan.” Let
him then contrast the stirring Shaw Memorial, on Boston Common, with
the strange, mysteriously beautiful figure in Rock Creek Cemetery,
Washington, D. C., that has been called variously “Grief,” “Death,” and
“The Peace of God.”

Saint Gaudens enjoyed the distinction of being America’s leading
sculptor for many years before he died. His life was crowned with
honors, sweetened by many fine friendships, and enriched and mellowed
by broad, liberal, mature art intelligence. He was a great master of
art in thought and in expression. He died in New York City in 1907.

    PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
    ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 1. No. 36 SERIAL No. 36
    COPYRIGHT 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.



[Illustration: DEATH AND THE YOUNG SCULPTOR. BY DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH]



Famous American Sculptors

DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH

Monograph Number Three in The Mentor Reading Course


Nature smiled on Daniel Chester French. All the circumstances of his
birth and breeding conspired to help his development. He was born at
Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1850. Among many well known relatives he
numbered Daniel Webster and John Greenleaf Whittier. His ancestors were
men who stood high in the communities in which they lived. His father
was a lawyer, a judge, and assistant secretary of the United States
treasury. He was always interested in public welfare, and was known for
his good taste and good works. His descendants said that he “beautified
every place in which he lived.”

Daniel Chester French showed ability at an early age, but no particular
leaning toward sculpture. He was simply a bright, good-looking boy,
with a liking for outdoor life and exercise. One day, when about
nineteen years old, during a period of work on his father’s farm,
he showed his parents a queer figure of a frog that he had cut out
of a turnip; “Daniel, there is your career!” were the words that
expressed the feelings of both father and mother. The farm was near
Concord. There dwelt Miss May Alcott, the “Amy” of “Little Women,” and
an artist of some ability. She encouraged young French in his study
of drawing and modeling, and he plunged into his art career with an
enthusiasm that bordered on boyish frenzy. His nature was ardent and
poetic, and it carried him into forms of expression that were doomed
to disappointment. The best thing for him was a visit that he made to
the veteran sculptor J. Q. A. Ward. This took place when he was staying
with relatives in Brooklyn, New York, and it opened the boy’s eyes
to the fuller meaning of sculpture. Months of earnest work followed,
during which Daniel French’s talents rapidly ripened.

When he was only twenty-three years old he received a commission of
real national importance, that of modeling the statue of “The Minute
Man.” This interesting piece of sculpture, now well known, was unveiled
at Concord in 1875. In celebration of it Ralph Waldo Emerson and George
William Curtis made speeches, and James Russell Lowell read a poem. At
this time Daniel French had sailed for Italy, where he remained for
a period in study. In 1879 he modeled a bust of Emerson from life--a
work so vivid and lifelike that the poet-philosopher said, “The more
it resembles me, the worse it looks,” and then added, with a nod of
approval, “That is the face that I shave.”

French’s art took rapid strides. He is known today equally well by
his fine portrait busts and his great allegorical compositions. One
of the most imposing of his compositions is the great heroic female
figure entitled “Alma Mater,” seated at the approach to the library of
Columbia University, New York. No American sculptor is better known
than Mr. French in his home land or abroad. He bears high honors on
both continents.

    PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
    ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 1. No. 36 SERIAL No. 36
    COPYRIGHT 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.



[Illustration: COPYRIGHT 1903 THE MACMILLAN CO.

NATHAN HALE--FREDERICK MACMONNIES

REPRODUCED FROM “AMERICAN SCULPTURE” BY LORADO TAFT]



Famous American Sculptors

FREDERICK MACMONNIES

Monograph Number Four in The Mentor Reading Course


To many Americans the name of Frederick MacMonnies became known by
the imposing Columbian Fountain at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893.
The composition was a majestic barge, on which Columbia sat enthroned
on high. At the prow was a fine figure of Fame with trumpet upraised.
On the stern Father Time watched the progress of the barge, which was
urged on by the oars of eight women of great beauty representing the
Arts and Industries. The work had style, and it was also imposing in
its massed effect. MacMonnies was only twenty-seven years old when this
commission was given to him in 1891. He got it largely through the
influence of his instructor, Augustus Saint Gaudens. All the summer of
1893 people were asking about the young sculptor. They found that he
was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1863, of Scottish parentage. He came
by an art inheritance from one of his parents at least,--his mother,
Juliana Eudora West, a niece of the famous early American painter,
Benjamin West.

Frederick MacMonnies had to leave school when a mere boy and earn his
living as clerk in a jewelry store. He found time to study there, and
when he was sixteen years old he attracted the notice of Saint Gaudens,
who took him into his studio as an apprentice. That was the beginning
of MacMonnies’ fame. He could scarcely realize at that age what a few
years’ training under Saint Gaudens would mean. He worked hard in the
studio and in the classes of the Academy of Design and Art Students’
League; so that when in 1884 he was able to go abroad he had a ground
knowledge of modeling that fitted him to make the most of his study in
foreign schools. He had been in the fullest sense “put in right” by
Saint Gaudens. Through all the years of his study he had the advantage
of close, familiar association with the greatest artists of this
country and some of those abroad. MacMonnies went at once to Paris and
joined the School of Fine Arts, where he made friends, and his progress
was rapid. Back and forth he went during the next few years, from Paris
to New York, according as his means and his plans of work required.

He got his first commission in 1889,--an order for three life-sized
angel figures in bronze for Saint Paul’s Church, New York City. This
brought him commendation, and, with the help of the great Saint
Gaudens, other commissions were placed in his hands, notably the Nathan
Hale statue, which stands in City Hall Park, New York City, and the
portrait statue of James S. T. Stranahan of Brooklyn. These works
preceded the Columbian Fountain, and since MacMonnies’ name has come to
be known they are counted among his most admired creations.

In 1894 the famous Bacchante appeared,--the dancing, laughing girl that
attracted so much public comment for a time.

Mr. MacMonnies is known by many figures and compositions in public
places, notably the groups in bronze of the Army and the Navy on the
Brooklyn Memorial Arch at the entrance to Prospect Park.

    PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
    ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 1. No. 36 SERIAL No. 36
    COPYRIGHT 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.



[Illustration: THE TWO NATURES, BY GEORGE GREY BARNARD]



Famous American Sculptors

GEORGE GREY BARNARD

Monograph Number Five in The Mentor Reading Course


Success is deserved by hard work, although it does not always follow.
But in the case of George Grey Barnard hard work combined with genius
made him one of the great sculptors of America, and one of whom this
country may well be proud.

George Grey Barnard was born at Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, on May 24,
1863. His father was a clergyman at Muscatine, Iowa, where the sculptor
passed his boyhood. He delighted in stuffing the skins of birds and
animals, and became quite an expert taxidermist. He also liked to model
animals; and a bust of his little sister convinced his family that he
should turn his talents to some trade in which he could make a good
living.

So he became apprentice to an engraver. Later he moved to Chicago. Here
it was that the first desire to become a sculptor entered his mind. For
a long time he debated the question. If he remained at his trade, he
could rest assured of a good income all his life; while if he decided
to study sculpture, he would practically have to starve for a few years.

At last he entered the Art Institute of Chicago. He had been there
about a year and a half, when a bust of a little girl brought him three
hundred and fifty dollars. He decided to go to Paris on this small sum.
He set off in 1883, and began study in the Atelier Cavelier of the
Beaux Arts.

Barnard worked hard, and denied himself all the luxuries, and even
many of the necessities of life. His first year in Paris cost him just
eighty-nine dollars, so it can be imagined what self-denial the young
man must have practised for the sake of his art. Barnard took life
seriously; but he never complained.

His first noteworthy production was “The Boy,” which he finished in
marble in 1885. The following year he made a heroic-sized statue of
Cain, which he afterward destroyed. “Brotherly Love,” a tombstone
executed at the order of a Norwegian, he modeled in 1887. This was the
best thing he had done up to that time.

Other works followed in rapid succession,--“The Two Natures,” in
the Metropolitan Museum of New York City; “The Norwegian Stove,” an
allegorical fireplace; “The God Pan,” in Central Park, New York City;
“The Hewer,” at Cairo, Illinois; “The Rose Maiden,” and the simple and
graceful “Maidenhood.”

All of these were successful, and in 1902 Barnard received the reward
for all his hardships and struggles. He was selected to execute all
the sculptured decorations for the new capitol for the state of
Pennsylvania at Harrisburg. And the work he did there promises even
greater from this sculptor in the future.

    PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
    ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 1. No. 36 SERIAL No. 36
    COPYRIGHT 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.



[Illustration: COPYRIGHT, 1902. DETROIT PHOTO CO.

PRIMITIVE MAN. BY PAUL WAYLAND BARTLETT]



Famous American Sculptors

PAUL WAYLAND BARTLETT

Monograph Number Six in The Mentor Reading Course


Everyone knows the saying, “Genius is the capacity for taking infinite
pains.” If this adage is true, then Paul Wayland Bartlett is a great
genius; for in everything this sculptor does he pays the closest
attention to details. He attends personally to every part of his work.
And this “capacity for taking pains” accounts largely for his success.

Paul Wayland Bartlett was born amid scholarly surroundings at New
Haven, Connecticut, in 1865. He was the son of Truman H. Bartlett of
Boston, an art critic and sculptor. Many years ago Bartlett and his
mother went to live in Paris. Here the young man found his vocation.
When he was only fifteen years old he entered the École des Beaux Arts.
He quickly became an excellent modeler. He worked hard, and in addition
took up a course on animal sculpture. As he could thus help other
sculptors as an animal specialist, he was able to earn money to carry
on his studies.

Bartlett tells about the time when he and a friend, M. Gardet, used
to go around “doing animals” wherever they got the opportunity. Among
the modernized decorations of the Porte St. Denis is a lion, “fierce
and terrible,” which is the work of his hands. An “Orpheus” in the
Luxembourg has attached to it a three-headed dog that he modeled. And
he created on one occasion for the Exposition of Amsterdam an elephant
of gigantic proportions.

Bartlett lived during this time in a quaint little street off the
Rue de Vaugirard, where he had a little vine-covered studio. It was
there that he began “The Bear Tamer,” which is now in bronze in the
Metropolitan Museum of New York City. He spent a year upon it, and then
became dissatisfied with it and spent another year in changing the
composition.

Many works followed this successful effort. First appeared the “Ghost
Dancer,” a vicious looking savage. Then came the equestrian statue of
Lafayette, presented to the French republic by the school children of
America; the powerful and virile Columbus, and the Michelangelo, both
of which are in the Congressional Library at Washington; the lifelike
“Dying Lion,” and many others.

Besides these works Bartlett has modeled beetles, fishes, reptiles, and
crustaceans. Here his skill with patinas (the coloring of bronzes) is
shown. A wealth of color is seen in his small figures of beetles and
snakes.

Bartlett’s work is not finished. More and greater is still to come. No
man is better equipped for his work than he.

    PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
    ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 1. No. 36 SERIAL No. 36
    COPYRIGHT 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.





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