WELCOME to the “Hermon A. MacNeil” — Virtual Gallery & Museum !

~ This Gallery celebrates Hermon Atkins MacNeil,  of the Beaux Arts School American classic sculptor of Native images and American history.  ~ World’s Fairs, statues, monuments, coins, and more… ~ Hot-links ( lower right) lead to works by Hermon A. MacNeil.   ~ Over 300 of stories & 4,000 photos form this virtual MacNeil Gallery stretching east to west  New York to New Mexico ~ Oregon to S. Carolina.   ~ 2016 marked the 150th Anniversary of Hermon MacNeil’s birth. ~~Do you WALK or DRIVE by MacNeil sculptures DAILY!  ~ CHECK OUT Uncle Hermon’s works!     Daniel Neil Leininger, webmaster

DO YOU walk by MacNeil Statues and NOT KNOW IT ???

Archive for February, 2023

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY

UNCLE HERMON”

HE WAS BORN 157 YEARS AGO TODAY

FEBRUARY 27TH, 1866

Hermon Atkins MacNeil (American, 1866-1947) CAROL BROOKS MACNEIL, N.D. Bronzed plaster 14 1/2″ x 8″ x 7 1/2″ Signed: H. A. MACNEIL. Photo by JOEL ROSENKRANZ 1986 (#5430)

THIS UNDATED CLAY PORTRAIT BUST OF

“CARRIE” BY HERMON

“Brooks-by-MacNeil” Portrait

closes Brooks~MacNeil Month ~~ on Feb. 27, 2023

Thanks, Joel Rosenkranz

This photo was included in an email to Jim Haas, MacNeil biographer, and myself from Joel Rosenkranz.

Hi Jim & Dan:

The upcoming exhibition on A.F Brooks in Kenilworth prompted me to go through photos I took in 1986 when I first visited descendants and purchased a variety of work including this portrait of Carol Brooks by Hermon.

It is plaster with a colored bronze surface.

I sold it in 1987 and have no idea where it is now but at least there is this record.

Best, Joel 

 

So on this the 157th Anniversary of Hermon MacNeil’s birth, this portrait seems an appropriate “Last Look” for our Brooks~MacNeil Month of 2023. 

Sculpted in clay, finished with bronze patina, the piece radiates a lot of love and care.  Bearing no date by Hermon clay-portrait Bust of Carol (Carrie) Brooks MacNeil 

NO DATE?  Made by her husband, Hermon MacNeil at an unknown date. 

WHAT Features might date it?

  • it appears to be a “young Carrie” Possibly, dating to her early days before marriage? 
  • clay, but finished lovingly in a bronze  patina;
  • but never cast in bronze, which is an expensive process.
  • seems to come from a period of a young sculptor, with more talent and more love than cash.
  • preserved in unknown hands for 80+ years
  • photographed and purchased by Joel Rosenkranz in 1986
  • then sold in 1987
  • NOW IN A PRIVATE COLLECTION, SOME WHERE, but
  • HERE on //HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com FOR ALL TO ENJOY

ALL Offered to you NOW as a  celebration of Carol “CARRIE” Brooks MacNeil.

AS OUR FINALE TO THIS

“2023 MACNEIL-BROOKS MONTH” 

 

On the 157th Anniversary of

“Uncle Hermon MacNeil’s birth

February 27th, 1866.

 

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~ 

Appeal: 

If you have any history or insight about this piece

by Hermon MacNeil, PLEASE COMMENT HERE

or email us at HAMacNeil@gmail.com

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#1. A “Tortoise and Hare” are hiding at the Supreme Court

That’s no FABLE, Aesop! 

They’ve been there for 91 years. Hiding on back of the building.

Can you see them there?

The ‘Hare’ of Aesop’s fable as to ‘Slow but Steady’ Justice.

The ‘Tortoise’ of Aesop’s fable as MacNeil’s Finale of Justice.

Maybe this

HELPS?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Plus #2 the 

‘Supreme Secret’

from the  Family …

MacNeil.

Guess, WHO SCULPTED the Tortoise and the Hare on the East Pediment?”

NOW, just this week,

Carolyn Saul (‘Carrie’ MacNeil’s  grand niece)

shared a MacNeil family story, 3 generations old. 

“I was always told that

Hermon let one of his sons

design the tortoise and the hare. 

Have you heard that?

[Yes,  I heard  that “tender tidbit”  years ago

but it never became a story on this site.]

WHICH son, Claude or Alden?   This bit of MacNeil Lore does not say.  Claude worked in aviationAlden was an architect, who formally studied art at Fountainbleu.

The brothers are described in the March 1928 Obituary of their younger sister Joie Katherine MacNeil as follows:

She leaves behind her parents, two brothers, Alden a recent graduate of Cornell University and now a student in the famous Fountainbleu art school, and Claude, an aviator and mechanical engineer on the staff of the Sikorsky Aircraft Manufacturing Company at College Point.  Source: The Daily Star, Queens Borough, Tuesday Evening, March 20, 1928. Page 4, column 7.

Alden seems the more probable

of Hermon’s sons to assist in the 1932

rendering of the East Pediment pair

of the Tortoise and Hare.

NOW, Carolyn’s comment validates that idea from

MacNeil-family-lore

through three generations.

~ ~ ~ ~

The MacNeil’s SUPREME COURT statues

JUSTICE THE GUARDIAN OF LIBERTY”

Are the most viewed pages on this website.

Here’s just two days of page views to sample from MacNeil Month:

 

Page Titles viewed on Feb. 10, 2023
  Views
1. Hermon MacNeil’s Supreme Court Sculptures: ~ ~ ~ Moses Revisited ~ ~ ~   6
2. Home page / Archives   5
3. Moses, Confucius, and Solon at Supreme Court

TOTALS:

  2

13

 

 
“SLOW BUT STEADY”
 
Justice WINS the RACE
 
Thanks, Uncle Hermon
 
 

Hermon MacNeil’s 3 Sculptures

for Presidents Day

2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Presidents Day honors the February birthdays of

George Washington (Feb 22nd) and

Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12th)

Presidents’ Day, officially Washington’s Birthday, in the United States

(third Monday in February)

popularly recognized as honoring

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

The day is sometimes understood as a celebration of the

birthdays and lives of all U.S. presidents.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~ 

View MacNeil’s Presidents yourself > > > >

George WashingtonPostings of MacNeil’s

George Washington as Commander-in-Chief

CLICK HERE 

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~ 

Abraham Lincoln  –   Postings of MacNeil’s

Abraham LincolnPrairie Lawyer

CLICK HERE

 

William McKinley – Postings of MacNeil’s

William McKinkey

CLICK HERE

 

HAPPY PRESIDENTS DAY 2023

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Comments (0)

BACK ROW (lt. to rt.) George Maher, Elizabeth Brooks Maher (I always called her Aunt Bess. I was 16 when she died.), Carrie, Arthur Wyld (my grandfather) and Hermon. On the front row, Frances Brooks Wyld (my grandmother), Ellen Woodworth Brooks (my great grandmother) and Alden Finney Brooks (my great grandfather).

After contacting

Carolyn Saul,

I sent her a  family photo

of MacNeil-Brooks faces

that I thought

she could recognize.

~ ~ ~ ~ 0 ~ ~ ~ ~

and sure enough  here’s what she said …

In the back row (left to right) Carolyn named her relatives :

  1. George Maher and
  2. Elizabeth Brooks Maher (Carolyn’s Aunt Bess)
  3. Carol Brooks MacNeil (Carolyn’s Great Aunt ‘Carrie’)
  4. Arthur Wyld (Carolyn’s grandfather)
  5. Hermon MacNeil (Carolyn’s great uncle by marriage)

Seated in the front row:

  1. Frances Brooks Wyld (Carolyn’s grandmother),
  2. Ellen Woodworth Brooks (Carolyn’s great grandmother) and
  3. Alden Finney Brooks (Carolyn’s great grandfather)

CAROLYN CONTINUED WITH:

Thanks for the photo, too.  You probably already know, but the people in the area photo are George Maher, Elizabeth Brooks Maher (I always called her Aunt Bess.  I was 16 when she died.), Carrie, Arthur Wyld (my grandfather) and Hermon. On the front row, Frances Brooks Wyld (my grandmother), Ellen Woodworth Brooks (my great grandmother) and Alden Finney Brooks (my great grandfather).
 
I received the last medallion, thank you! I loved The Galley issue you sent.  I appreciate you including it.  You have a long way to drive from South Dakota to Virginia!  I would love to meet you the next time you come through this way. 
 
HERE’S THE LINK TO THAT
 
CLAN MACNEIL
 
“GALLEY” ISSUE
 
SHE LOVED

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Our 1st SerendipityIn December 2022 an order came in for three (3) MacNeil Medallions.

In eight years of offering these commemoratives, no one has ever asked for three.  I was so surprised, that I mistakenly shipped 2 medals.

Duuh ...

The buyer pointed out my error; and I apologized and sent a third medallion. 

The 2nd Serendipity.   In corresponding with the buyer, I asked,

“Are you a SLQ (Standing Liberty Quarter) collector or a

MacNeil enthusiast?”

The answer below surprised and pleased me greatly

“I am the great niece of Carol (Carrie) MacNeil. Alden Finney Brooks was my great  grandfather.  I have been corresponding with Jim Haas for many years. Your medallion is beautiful.

While these medallions have reached over a hundred people I’ve labeled: “Friends of HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com”; I have never knowingly found a MacNeil relative.  In the second mailing included an article I wrote for The Galley (the Clan MacNeil Magazine) to make amends.

The buyer, Carolyn Saul, added:

“I have been looking at your website.  You have a treasure!

I have been to Brookgreen Gardens to see Hermon’s statues and to the Columbus Capitol to see his work there.  Well and the Supreme Court Building.  I was always told that Hermon let one of his sons design the tortoise and the hare.  Had you heard that?

The ‘Tortoise’ of Aesop’s fable as MacNeil’s Finale.

The ‘Hare’ of Aesop’s fable as to ‘Slow but Steady’ Justice.

While I heard that “tender tidbit” years ago, it slipped from my memory, and never became a story on this site. NOW, Carolyn’s comment validates  it as MacNeil-family-lore through three generations.  It makes a fitting “punch line” to Hermon’s “humor” of framing the East Pediment with a Greek (Eastern) fable.

 

 

Definition:  Serendipitous – occurring or discovered by chance in a happy or beneficial way,  “a serendipitous encounter”

Stay Tuned for our 3rd Serendipity in next post.

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 ‘MacNeil Month’ becomes ‘MacNeil~Brooks Month’ in 2023

Hermon A MacNeil about 1895

Carol ‘Carrie’ Brooks about 1895

Each February is MacNeil Month.This year it is MacNeil~Brooks Month

<- Two Sculptors made a young looking pair ->

From their first meeting at the

Chicago Worlds Fair of 1893,

to the Eagles Nest**

[a summer artist colony in Oregon, Illinois.] 

then the Reinhart Award of 1895;

Hermon and Carrie knew what they wanted next.   So…

Hermon MacNeil and Carol ‘Carrie’ Brooks

were married on Christmas Day 1895.

Here’s Hermon and Carrie nestled with some visiting MacNeils.

Left to right: Hermon, Carrie, Alice MacNeil (Hermon’s sister), Wilbur MacNeil (Hermon’s younger Brother), and Elizabeth Louisa Barlow (Wilbur’s wife). The child is Claude (son of Hermon and Carrie.  Location: Side porch of MacNeil home at College Point, N.Y.  [Credit: Photo courtesy of James Haas, MacNeil biographer].

Our first MacNeil-Brooks Month photo for 2023 comes to us courtesy of:

James Haas, Hermon MacNeil biographer ==>

Jim dates the photo above as 1903. After identifying Hermon, Carrie, and Alice, he adds:

“The child sitting on his (Wilbur’s) lap is probably his nephew Claude, born in France in 1900. The woman to his left is Elizabeth Barlow who Wilbur had married in California in 1901. After earning a Master’s degree in Agriculture at Cornell where Hermon had taught, he moved to California to teach science in Petaluma high school. There he met and married Elizabeth Louisa Barlow a teacher in the Petaluma elementary school. In 1903 they left California for Honolulu; the photo likely taken prior to their departure.  For the rest of his life Wilbur taught science at Oahu College later called Punahou School. During a visit in 1911, Hermon modeled a portrait bust of Elizabeth Barlow found on page 162 in Hermon Atkins MacNeil: American Sculptor in the Broad, Bright Daylight. During the visit, Hermon gave Wilbur a tour of the Poppenhusen Institute. He admired the building’s architecture, looked in on classes and was introduced to school head John Gyger Embree as well as faculty members and other Institute Trustees. Wilbur died in 1937, a highly regarded educator. The couple had no children.

Then Jim adds a 21st Century surprise:

a MacNeil ~ Obama connection!

If Punahou School sounds familiar, it was from this school that Barack Obama graduated.

Barack Obama    (Class of ’79) was the 44th President of the United States. He attended Punahou from 5th grade until graduation. (’79), Harvard Law Review editor, U Chicago lecturer on Constitutional Law, Nobel, Grammy and Emmy winner, author, state basketball champion, US Senator, Elected 44th US President in 2008 and 2012.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SOURCE:  Brooklyn Daily Star, March 15,1911 [Courtesy of James Haas]

Wilbur MacNeil also visited

his brother Hermon in 1911.

Wilbur MacNeil toured the Poppenhusen Institute in College Point, Queens, NYC.  (See news clipping)

Wilbur MacNeil was a distinguished visitor touring the Institute.  He was escorted by two trustees of the Institute, namely, Dr. Hugh Gray and Hermon MacNeil (Wilbur’s older brother)

Jim Haas adds that “Dr. Hugh Gray was a physician in College Point between 1905 and 1915.  His wife Geretrude was the daughter of Hermon Pratt, whoise sister was Mary Lash Pratt MacNeil.”

 

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~ 

Why is February is so special?
Hermon MacNeil was born on February 27, 1866

Hermon’s older cousin, Tom Henry MacNeil (my grandfather),

was born on February 29th, 1860. 

So February is MacNeil~Brooks Month in several ways.

This is the first of several postings that will celebrate this theme. 

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~ 

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WHAT YOU FIND HERE.

Here is ONE place to go to see sculpture of Hermon A. MacNeil & his students. Located in cities from east to west coast, found indoors and out, public and private, these creations point us toward the history and values that root Americans.

Daniel Neil Leininger ~ HAMacNeil@gmail.com
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WE DESIRE YOUR DIGITAL PHOTOS – Suggestions

1. Take digital photos of the work from all angles, including setting.
2. Take close up photos of details that you like
3. Look for MacNeil’s signature. Photograph it too! See examples above.
4. Please, include a photo of you & others beside the work.
5. Tell your story of adventure. It adds personal interest.
6. Send photos to ~ Webmaster at: HAMacNeil@gmail.com