Feb

MacNeil Month ~ Week 3 ~~

By Dan Leininger, Webmaster

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Part 3 of

“Sculptor Americanus”

citing Memories of

Hermon A. MacNeil

by Cecelia W. M. MacNeil

~ The Antiques Journal, June 1974 ~

Page 32 of Cecelia MacNeil with Dr. Allen Nestle. “Sculptor Americanus: Hermon Atkins MacNeil”. (Third in a Series of Three), The Antiques Journal, June 1974, pp. 32-35, 51.

Cecelia MacNeil in her third article in her series on Hermon MacNeil offers closing comments from her days with the sculptor.

The Narrative of her article repeats much that is contained in the “AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH” dictated by MacNeil in 1943. The stock photos accompanying the text are illustrative examples. All predate the 1970s and are certainly not digital HD images as normally used on this cite.

As mentioned in the previous post, Cecelia was present when Hermon dictated these stories to his secretary, Marie Mutschler, to write down.

She then typed his story into a document containing 13 pages of single-spaced text. My mother had a copy of that AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. I believe she got that from my Aunt Jane, probably after Hermon’s death. A copy was placed in the “MacNeil Papers” at the Cornell University Library Archives. I visited there in 2014.

Page 33 of Cecelia MacNeil with Dr. Allen Nestle. “Sculptor Americanus: Hermon Atkins MacNeil”. (Third in a Series of Three), The Antiques Journal, June 1974, pp. 32-35, 51.

These were photocopies (xeroxes) of the original typing. I typed the document into a digital file. That made it easily retrievable, easily cited, and searchable.

Cecelia MacNeil’s articles all seem to rely on this document, especially the 2nd and 3rd issues. She and Dr. Nestle also cite the article noted in my post of Feb. 3rd, 2022. (Holden, Jean Stansbury (October 1907). “The Sculptors MacNeil“. The World’s Work: A History of Our Time XIV: 9403–9419.) [Retrieved from GOOGLE eBooks]

The incident of Hermon rummaging in his studio workroom to fine some of his medals won at world fairs is quoted there by Holden.

Another interview that seems to be drawn from is published by J. Walker McSpadden in Famous Sculptors of America published in 1924, pp. 307-326.

Page 34 of Cecelia MacNeil with Dr. Allen Nestle. “Sculptor Americanus: Hermon Atkins MacNeil”. (Third in a Series of Three), The Antiques Journal, June 1974, pp. 32-35, 51.

Yet, in the years that Cecelia cared for both MacNeils followed by the years she and Hermon were married, she probably heard some of these stories directly from Hermon.

Cecelia has done a faithful job of renewing the name of “Hermon Atkins MacNeil” in an era of forgotten Beaux Arts sculpture of the 1970s.

She closes the 3rd piece with thw story of the “STANDING LIBERTY QUARTER” and its TWO living models that MacNeil drew from in making.

Doris Doscher Baum, and Irene MacDowell were both models that posed for MacNeil’s conception of Lady Liberty. As discussed by the late Jay Cline in his book, Standing Liberty Quarters, both women can claim the honor of being the model for the Standing Liberty quarter. Cline spent an entire lifetime and career dealing in these beautiful examples of American Renaissance coinage.

Page 35 of Cecelia MacNeil with Dr. Allen Nestle. “Sculptor Americanus: Hermon Atkins MacNeil”. (Third in a Series of Three), The Antiques Journal, June 1974, pp. 32-35, 51.

CECELIA MAC NEIL’S CONTRIBUTION TO MacNeil Month 2022.

In my opinion, the greatest donation to our further understanding of Hermon MacNeil is shared in her first article in the series.

The story of “The Sun Vow” and her 12 birthday visit to see it. What a Birthday surprise. Her father’s visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art introduced the name of Hermon MacNeil. That familiarity probably chartered her path to being engaged as a home-nurse to both MacNeil Sculptors. Then developed a life phase where she and Hermon were both widowed and joined in marriage.