Archive for August, 2013
MacNeil’s “Standing Liberty Quarter” and “I’ve Got a Secret” April 4, 1966
Posted by: | Comments100 years after the birth of Hermon MacNeil and fifty years after the Standing Liberty Quarter was minted, Doris Docsher Baum appeared on the TV quiz show “I’ve Got a Secret” on April 4, 1966.
World War I Memorial – Flushing, New York by H. A. MacNeil
The original Penn Station (1910-1964) was built from beautiful pink marble similar in appearance to what can be found at Hermon MacNeil‘s World War I memorial bearing the names of Flushing’s dead in that conflict. MacNeil, a College Point resident, also designed the “Standing Liberty” quarter (the predecessor to today’s Washington Quarter), the Marquette Memorial in Chicago, and 4 busts in the Hall of Fame of for Great Americans, among many other works.
The traditional Roman fasces consisted of a bundle of birch rods tied together with a red ribbon as a cylinder around an axe. Though adopted by Italian fascism in the early 20th Century, the symbol seems to have avoided the stigma that the swastika acquired after its adoption by the Nazis.
[ SOURCE: http://forgotten-ny.com/2006/10/northern-boulevard-in-flushing/. ]
Doris Doscher (Baum) modeled for Karl Bitter’s Abundance in the Pulitzer Fountain at the Plaza Hotel in New York.
Doris Doscher was also model for Karl Bitter’s Abundance in the Pulitzer Fountain at the Plaza Hotel in New York.
Long Island Star-Journal, March 14, 1966 Article on Doris Doscher Baum (SLQ model) and John E. Troesh (Marquette model).
Finishing touches clean the marble niche where MacNeil’s Lincoln bust will greet Illini students in Lincoln Hall
A 1958 photo of lawyer Abe Lincoln (with NO beard) as he appeared at the time of the debates with Senator Stephen Douglas and as MacNeil portrayed him.
Hermon MacNeil’s bronze bust of self-educated Illinois Lawyer Abe Lincoln was returned to its gloriously restored niche in Lincoln Hall on the University of Illinois campus in Champaign-Urbana to begin its second century on the Illinois Circuit of higher education.
MacNeil’s standing Lincoln model from the Smithsonian Institute photo archives. The piece was made for a commission competition after 1906.
MacNeil originally sculpted a full length, standing model of the Illinois Lawyer that he later re-sculpted as a bust. From that piece he had Roman Bronze Works make eight castings of his Lincoln Lawyer. In 1928 at the recommendation of Lorado Taft, the University of Illinois purchased this one of the MacNeil sculptures of the younger Lincoln.
In 1929, MacNeil’s work provided an iconic centerpiece for the Grand Stairway foyer of newly designed building. On February 12, 2012, the restored bust was returned to its original niche, in the beautifully renovated Lincoln Hall.
For MORE history on the “Lawyer Lincoln” CLICK HERE
PHOTOS and MORE: The lead photo above and three photos below are from the website of the Lincoln Hall Renovation (CLICK HERE) project at the University of Illinois. They show the re-installation of MacNeil’s work. The University has now completed the $66.4 million dollar restoration (Fact Sheet) of Lincoln Hall. [SEE MORE MacNeil-Lincoln history below the photos]:
MacNeil’s restored bust of young Abe Lincoln was bolted to a marble plate that could be cemented into place.
The work crew of masons set the MacNeil’s Lincoln bust back into the niche at the Grand Staircase of Lincoln Hall
A worker sweeps the marble stairs of Lincoln Hall foyer as photographers get set to record the return of Hermon MacNeil’s bust of young Lawyer Abe Lincoln to its perch where a second century of Illini students will pass by.
Art and museum records locate four of MacNeil’s eight “Lincoln Lawyer” castings. the others “Lincoln Lawyer” busts by MacNeil appear incomplete as follows:
- University of Pennsylvania, Office of the Curator, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Control_Number: 77001611
- Beloit College, Wright Museum of Art, Beloit, Wisconsin – Control_Number: 75008855
- Amherst College, Mead Art Museum, Amherst, Massachusetts: Control_Number: 20090014
- Amherst College, Mead Art Museum, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002 Accession Number: S.1932.4 Source: Smithsonian American Art Museum ~ SIRIS
