This Feb 27th of 2018 marks the 152 Anniversary of the birth of HERMON ATKINS MacNEIL. We celebrate with a little MacNeil history.
American sculptor of hundreds of pieces and monuments all over this country, 1st President of the Clan MacNeil Association of America,
Eight years ago this website started gathering the many images and stories associated with his life and work. The Clan name traces back to to the Island of Barra in the Western Hebrides of Scotland.
The Kisimul Castle in Castle Bay was restored by the MacNeil of Barra XLV –Robert Lister MacNeil. The story of the Clan and the Castle are told in his book, Castle in the Sea: The Macneil of Barra XLV, published in 1964. His son Ian Roderick Macneil, Chief, Clan Macneil, published a revised 2nd edition 1975.
The Kisimul Castle is featured in cameo on this postcard “The Macneil” by Raphael Tuck and Sons. (Publishers to their Majesties the King and Queen) as part of their series “SCOTTISH CLANS.” Series VI; Postcard 9481.
The reverse of this never used postcard contains a Clan history of the two branches of the MacNeils:
No Date is found on the Postcard
MacNeil Chief greets visitors arriving to the Kisimul Castle for the 2014 Gathering of the MacNeil Clan.
The 2014 Gathering of the Clan was celebrated at the Castle and across Barra. I had the priviledge to attend the festivities and to tour Scotland for three weeks with Donna, my wife. It was a memorable trip of a lifetime and an inauguration of our retirement years.
Webmaster, Daniel Neil Leininger in kilt at Kisimul Castle in the summer of 2014.
Purchase MacNeil Medallion On eBay
By · CommentsWill this “Confederate Defender” stay Standing?
By · Comments-
What is the future of this statue?
“Confederate Defender of
Charleston?”
Given the recent violence around Confederate monuments,
And the removal of others
one must wonder.
How long will this pair point out to
Fort Sumter Bay?
Since 1932 if this monument has stood in
Charleston harbor at Battery Park.
Twice it has been vandalized with spray paint.
In separate news: At the University of Texas – Austin, Confederate statues have been removed. University President Greg Fenves said in a statement that it has become clear “that Confederate monuments have become symbols of modern white supremacy and neo-Nazism.” (USA Today, Aug 22, 2017)
Is the sun setting on this piece by Hermon MacNeil?
only time will tell…
Hermon A. MacNeil’s words at the dedication:
“Its motif in brief, is that the stalwart youth, standing in front with sword and shield, symbolizes by his attitude the defense not only of the fort, but also of the fair city behind the fort in which are his most prized possessions, wife and family. And she, the wife, glorified into an Athena-like woman, unafraid, stands behind him with arms outstretched toward the fort, this creating an inseparable union of the city and Fort Sumter.”
“BLACK LIVES MATER. THIS IS THE PROBLEM RACISM”. SOURCE: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/statue-honoring-confederacy-defaced-charleston-park-article-1.2266043
MacNeil’s “Confederate Defenders” was completed as a studio model in 1931. This is is an autographed photo of the model of Confederate Defenders of Charleston Monument pictured in MacNeil’s studio in College Point, NY before completion of the full bronze sculpture as dedicated on October 20, 1932
“THE CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY FOUGHT THE CAUSE OF SLAVERY WAS WRONG.” SOURCE: The Blaze ( http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/07/11/charleston-confederate-monument-vandalized-again-this-time-with-obama-quote/ )
Can America as a nation get beyond the “birthmark of slavery” present throughout our founding, our history, our civil war, our Jim Crow apartheid, our Civil Rights violence, our ongoing racial prejudice, ethnic discrimination, black voter suppression, and claims of racial supremacy?
The answer is up to us.
“The cause for which they fought,
the cause of slavery was wrong.”
President Barack Obama ~ Eulogy for Rev. Pickney, Pastor of Emanuel AME Church 1.5 miles North of this statue
An excerpt From President Barack Obama’s
FAREWELL ADDRESS
January 10, 2017
“I am asking you to hold fast to that faith written into our founding documents; that idea whispered by slaves and abolitionists; that spirit sung by immigrants and homesteaders and those who marched for justice; that creed reaffirmed by those who planted flags from foreign battlefields to the surface of the moon; a creed at the core of every American whose story is not yet written; Yes we can.”
“BLACK LIVES MATER. // THIS IS THE PROBLEM #RACISM”. http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/06/21/21/29D7C09E00000578-3133597-Confederate_monument_vandalized-a-58_1434918039434.jpg
The Post and Courier ~ Charleston, SC
- “Reactions positive to Charleston mayor’s plan to add historical context to Confederate-era monuments”
- Updated
-
South Carolina lawmakers say Confederate monuments will stay in place despite calls for their removal
( Edit this Post )
Lincoln Hall Revisited ~ 2017~ 6 year Nose Check-up!
By · CommentsJuly 21, 2011. The restored bust on display at the Spurlock Museum at University of Illinois. After a thorough cleaning and patina restoration, MacNeil’s Lincoln bust went on public display for one year in the Spurlock Museum. This was the first showing of the piece in full circle — 360 degree visibility.
MacNeil’s Abe Lincoln (above) was cleaned and the patina restored in 2011 when Lincoln Hall was reconstructed for its 100th Anniversary.
After six years back in his old niche in the east foyer entrance of beautiful Lincoln Hall, I was curious about how much wear Lincoln’s “lucky nose” had sustained from student caresses on their way to exams and classes.
So, while traveling to visit family in Kentucky, Virginia, and NC in July 2017, we made opportunity to spend the night in Urbana, Illinois. We turned very appropriately onto “Lincoln Street” off of I-74 and found a motel for the night.
The next morning (Monday, July 31st) we ventured off toward the restored Lincoln Hall on the University of Illinois campus. Wiggling through blocks of summer street construction into Wright Street, we parked and walked toward the Main Quad.
Larado Taft’s Alma Mater
Lorado Taft’s powerful allegorical grouping “Alma Mater” (with Learning and Labor) at the corner of Eighth and Wright Street greeted us. (Taft was the alumnus who recommended MacNeil’s bust of Lincoln over other artists considered for placement in the Hall in 1924.) For More on Taft click HERE
We met an alumnae who had dropped her son off for summer workshops. She asked us to take her picture with the Alma Mater behind her. Turned out she was originally from Beresford, SD and planned to retire in the Black Hills. Small world.
Abe Lincoln’s nose has a well worn shine again. The patina restoration in 2011 has given way to the”petting” and “well wishes of 100’s of hands” seeking blessings from Old Honest Abe.
We walked into the old quadrangle at the center of campus. Walking the brick walks of the lush green lawn. we arrived at the east entrance of Lincoln Hall. We stopped to admire the terra-cotta bas-relief panels placed above the high windows of the building. They depict scenes from the life of the prairie lawyer memorialized in this beautiful hall.
The restored East Foyer of Lincoln Hall with its gilded vaulted ceiling and columns makes a dramatic setting for Hermon A. MacNeil’s bust of Abraham Lincoln as the famed prairie lawyer who left Illinois to lead the nation through the War to preserve the Union and the succession South states.
Entering the East Foyer, we could see the Lincoln bust before us. The magnificent Beaux Arts style of the ceiling formed a vaulted arch spanning above the wings of the white marble stairs and landing. This splendidly restored foyer dominated the life-size bust of our sixteenth President centered on the landing in its gold-leafed niche.
The tradition of touching Lincoln’s nose for “good luck” has passed on to another generation of Illini students since the restoration.
Even from the doorway a “bronze glow” could be glimpsed on Abe Lincoln’s nose. He was wearing his well-worn shine again. As predicted, the brown patina of the 2011 restoration had given way to the”petting” and “well wishes of 100’s of hands” seeking blessings from Old Honest Abe. The tradition has carried on to Lincoln Hall’s second century.
The bronze relief plaque containing the words of the Address at Gettysburg was on our right. The gold gilding of the column capitals and the rosettes in the vaulted arch of the ceiling, gave an inspiring elegance to this hall of remembrance.
In the elegance of this hallowed hall, Abe’s “accessible nose” adds a tactile legacy and fitting tribute to learning in the “Land of Lincoln.”
The MacNeil sculpture entitled “The Coming of the White Man” that sits atop the hill in Portland’s Washington Park was part of a larger celebration.
The Lewis and Clark Cennentenial Exposition of 1904 was Portland’s version of a “White City” — (Deja Vu Chicago’s Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1893! That Worlds Fair marked the 400th Anniversary of the voyage of Christopher Columbus in his discovery of the American continent.)
While the 1893 Fair focused the world’s spotlight on Chicago, this commemoration 1904-5 brought Portland and the West into the eyes of the young nation.
Webmaster Dan Leininger admires MacNeil’s Lewis & Clark Centennial sculpture in its wooded setting. The beauty of this piece is seen in the detail and emotion that is captured in the bronze.
Only three statues remain from the Portland exposition. All these surviving sculptures commemorate the 1804 Expedition from the Native American perspective. While MacNeil’s piece may be the most prominent, another noble native stands majestically nearby.
Down the hill to the east and south on a large rock out cropping, rests Alice Cooper’s rendition of “Sacajawea.” Her powerful, yet gentle, sculpture tells another tale of a heroic Native American. The native woman of this dramatic bronze raises her arm above the horizon pointing to the west as does the large mounting stone base. Clad in flowing leather skirts, she bears her infant son (Jean Baptiste) swaddled to her back.
On the base of the piece is the sculptor’s name: “Alice Cooper, Sc. 1905 Copyright”. On the opposite side the casting mark: “Henry Bonnard Bronze Founders, N.Y. 1905”
On the east side of the mounting stone a bronze plaque states the following story of this monumental piece:
ERECTED
BY THE WOMEN OF THE UNITED STATES
IN MEMORY OF SACAJAWEA
THE ONLY WOMAN
IN THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION
AND IN HONOR OF
THE PIONEER WOMEN OF OLD OREGON.
She carries her young and points the way.
According to a Wikipedia reference
The sculpture was commissioned for the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition (1905) by the Committee of Portland Women, who requested a sculpture of “the only woman in the Lewis and Clark Expedition and in honor of the pioneer mother of old Oregon.”[1] Funding sources included the Port of Portland and Women for Lewis and Clark Exposition, which was supported by women across the Western United States.[1] The sculpture was unveiled on July 6, 1905 and originally stood in the center of the exposition’s plaza.[2] Suffragists present at the dedication included Susan B. Anthony, Abigail Scott Duniway and Anna Howard Shaw.[1] The statue was relocated to Washington Park on April 6, 1906, upon the fair’s completion.[2] According to the Regional Arts & Culture Council, which administers the sculpture, Cooper was the first female artist to be represented in Portland’s public sculpture collection.[1]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacajawea_and_Jean-Baptiste
COMMENTS: Much of the Portland Fair celebrated American Progress in very masculine terms of discovery and expansion. In contrast the two statues by MacNeil and Cooper gave recognition to the perspective of the Native Cultures already existing in the Northwest.
Alice Cooper was a contemporary of Hermon MacNeil. Both were trained in the Beau Arts style of allegorical interpretation. She studied with Lorado Taft at the Chicago Art Institute where MacNeil met and married Carol Brooks, an earlier student of Taft. Cooper also studied in New York City at the Art Students League in MacNeil’s first year of teaching there, around 1900-1902. Their two careers had many overlapping places and periods
These two statues have remained as lessons in bronze on the history and expansion of America. Intriguingly, they tell their story more from the perspective of First Nation people. They are rich in the allegorical symbolism of the Beau Arts training from which these sculptors imagined and fashioned their tactical creative work.
We can be thankful for the empowering benefactors of the David Thompson Family and the Women of America and Oregon in particular. Without their vision and determination these pieces would not grace the Washington Park of Portland or the pages of www.HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com
For more story, stay tuned for PART THREE or visit the link below and the related postings listed for www.HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com
The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition: Portland’s “World’s Fair”
A never before seen or documented bronze piece from Hermon MacNeil’s earliest years as a sculptor has surfaced through a recent email message. The surprise came the other day to the website as a one line description and a surprising question.
“Black Pipe the Sioux” a small 6″ high, bas relief with the initials H M. 94.
Can you tell me more about Black Pipe?”Carol Miles
The request came from Massachusetts not far from where Hermon MacNeil was born and grew up in Chelsea (Everett, Malden). It included this photo:
Thus began an email correspondence with Carol Miles that linked Hermon Atkins MacNeil (1866-1947) with Henry Turner Bailey (1865-1931).
Link #1: Henry Turner Bailey — Both Bailey and MacNeil graduated of Massachusetts Normal Art School. They were classmates for at least three years until MacNeil graduated in 1886 followed by Bailey in 1887. Both began studies there in their late teen years.
According to Carol: “Henry became the first Supervisor of Drawing for the State of Massachusetts, and later Dean of the Cleveland School of Art. Henry’s papers are housed at the Univ. of Oregon Archives, Eugene. There is correspondence between the two men there.”
Link #2: Black Pipe sculpture –This bas relief of Black Pipe was acquired by Henry Turner Bailey, the grandfather of the current owner. It has been handed down through the family ever since.
I have found no previous mention or photo of this piece. I have seen another photo of a different sculpture of Black Pipe by MacNeil in the Smithsonian Institute collections online
MacNeil’s bronze of Black Pipe, a Sioux warrior he befriended in 1893 (source Smithsonian Archives)
( http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=MacNeil&start=20 ).
The story of Black Pipe is told in dozens of stories on this site. A search brings up 14 posts that can be viewed at this link. Only six stories appear on each page. Be sure to view all three pages.
BLACK PIPE link — BLACK PIPE in 14 STORIES
https://hermonatkinsmacneil.com/?s=Black+Pipe
:::::
The Smithsonian Collestions data base offers the following info on the photo of Black Pipe. See: [ http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=MacNeil&start=20 ]
The Soiux Brave Blackpipe [sculpture] / (photographed by A. B. Bogart) digital asset number 1
ARTIST:
MacNeil, Hermon Atkins 1866-1947
PHOTOGRAPHER:
Bogart, A. B.
TYPE:
Photograph
NOTES:
On photo mount label: H. A. MacNeil. Blackpipe the Soiux. Bogart. Classification number: 282. Accession: 4747[cropped].
TOPIC:
Ethnic–Sioux
Figure male–Head
IMAGE NUMBER:
SSC S0001642
SEE MORE ITEMS IN:
Photograph Archives
DATA SOURCE:
Archives and Special Collections, Smithsonian American Art Museum
