WELCOME to the “Hermon A. MacNeil” — Virtual Gallery & Museum !
~ This Gallery celebrates Hermon Atkins MacNeil, American sculptor of the Beaux Arts School. MacNeil led a generation of sculptors in capturing many fading Native American images and American history in the realism of this classic style.
~ World’s Fairs, statues, public monuments, coins, and buildings across to country. Hot-links (on the lower right) lead to photos & info of works by MacNeil.
~ Hundreds of stories and photos posted here form this virtual MacNeil Gallery of works all across the U.S.A. New York to New Mexico — Oregon to South Carolina.
~ 2016 marked the 150th Anniversary of Hermon MacNeil’s birth on February 27,
Take a Virtual Journey
Since 2010 this website has transported viewers through the years and miles between 100’s of Hermon MacNeil’s statues & monuments throughout the USA.
For over one hundred years these sculptures have graced our parks, boulevards, and parkways; buildings, memorials, and gardens; campuses, capitols, and civic centers; museums, coinage, and private collections.
PERHAPS, you walk or drive by one of his public sculptures daily. HERE, you can gain awareness of this great sculptor and his many works. Maybe there are some near you! CHECK HERE!
And thereby flame Jo’s natural talent & burning desire
to become a sculptor.
And through his gentle personality and kindness,
MacNeil showedJorespect
and filled some of Jo’searly void of approval
being a FATHER FIGURE unlike Jo’s own Father,
and MacNeil also affirmed Jo’s early exhibit FIGURE of
“David”, the Jewish Boy, fighting an invisible GOLIATH.
And then decades later when
Jo Davidson’s fame and career
had eclipsed even that ofMacNeil
or any of his altier assistants — John Gregory or Henri Crenier —
Jo chose to return to honor his first teacher
by sculpting him in clay
andimmortalizinghim in BRONZE.
AND NOW WE KNOW, THAT IS JUST WHAT
HE DID !
This bust is Just Gorgeous
An amazing piece and
a more amazing discovery —
for me and this website
after being out of view
for over 70 years.
We just Love IT !
[Dan Neil Leininger: webmaster]
JO DAVIDSON’S LETTER OF SYMPATHY
On Nov. 6, 1947. Jo sent letter of sympathy to Cecelia MacNeil, Hermon’s widow expressing his heartbreak at Hermon’s passing
INTERESTING FACTS in this letter:
Jo Davidson made this sculpture in the year 1945.
He shares his heartbreak over the death.
He remembers Hermon’s happiness
He will exhibit the bust for the Art World to see & remember
He wants Cecelia to come the Exhibition and see the bust.
Jo and Flo invited Cecelia to their home to her to visit.
Cecelia was an RN
— an Army Nurse during WW I .
She nursed Carol Brooks until she died
on July 22, 1944.
She nursed Hermon as well four years later until he died
on October 2, 1947.
PERSONAL FACTS:
I am DANIEL NEIL LEININGER. My middle name comes from my mother’s maiden name — “McNeil“.
I was born in 1945 the same year this bust was made.
(June 30, 1945 Daniel Neil Leininger is born in Saint Louis, Missouri)
I am the same age as the bust. (just not as good looking)!
I was 27 months-old when Hermon died. I never saw Hermon MacNeil’s face until this BUST arrived.
Qurious QUESTIONs:
SO did JO make this portrait Bust of HERMON in Jan to April 1945, or NOV-DEC, 1945?
Before or after his 2nd Heart attack in San Francisco?
TIMELINE around Jo’s Bust of
Hermon MacNeil
TIMELINE of Events when Bust was made:
Source: Between Sittings … pp. 344-346. (Events from Jo’s narrative. Some public dates filled in)
April 12, 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt died. Jo got the call at Lahaska that afternoon. Jo had known FDR since 1933 when he sculpted the first bust of him White House. He sculpted two inaugural Medals for FDR.
April 18, 1945Ernie Pyle killed in action. Jo made his bust in 1942
April 22, 1945Jo Davidson and Florence travel (fly) to Los Angeles., Says he is exhausted. Jo is distressed self-dosing on nitroglycerin tablets
April 24, 1945 Jo Davidson has a 2nd heart attack on the opening evening of the United Nations Conference.
April 25, 1945Jo Davidson is in St. Mary”s Hospital in San Francisco under an oxygen tent.
April25,1945 to June 26, 1945 — United Nations Organizational Conference in San Francisco
Aug. 14, 1945 Florence tells Jo of Victory-in-Japan Day news report on radio in while he remains in hospital.
Sept. – Oct. 1945 For the next Two months Jo was recouping at the Ranch of Ralph Stagpole in Cloverdale CA. The Stagpoles took in Jo, his nurse, and Florence and helped him get back to health.
Oct. 1945.Jo and Flossie returned to their home in Lahaska, NY
Nov. 6, 1947. Jo sends letter of sympathy to Cecelia MacNeil, Hermon’s widow expressing his heart break at Hermon’s passing
Oct. 2, 1947 DEATH: Hermon Atkins MacNeil dies at his home in College Point.
Nov. 25, 1947 BUST EXHIBITED ~~ National Institute of Arts and Letters – Retrospective Exhibition of Jo Davidson’s Work. This bust was a part of that Exhibition
1951 Jo Davidson’s health continues to deteriorate
1951 Jo’s friends Andre Gide & Robert Flaherty died … and Sinclair Lewis
Jan. 2, 1952 Jo Davidson dies at his home in Becheron, France.
FYI
I have ordered a plain black wooden pillar stand (30′ X 12″ X 12″). It will offer a fitting display for this wonderful tribute to
Hermon A. MacNeil(1866-1947)
Beaux Arts sculptor of Indians and Monuments
HERMON MacNEIL AS HE APPEARED ABOUT 1945
Hermon Atkins MacNeil ~ About 1945 ~ when Jo Davidson sculpted him. Seated outside of his studio in College Point, Queens, NYC. [ Credit: Kenilworth Historical Society donated by Joel Rosenkranz of Conner – Rosenkranz, LLC. ]
Jo Davidson – about 1911 [Bates College of Arts: detail from Young Artists of the Modern School]
Hermon Atkins MacNeil about 1916
~ JO Davidson ~ Adventurer ~
~ Hermon MacNeil ~ Monument Man ~
1903 – 1910
For Jo it was …
WANDERING ~~ ROVING ~~ SEARCHING
“Always moving“ ~~ He learned “moving” first at home.
Early memories of “moving” became a life theme.
He had decided to become a SCULPTOR, BUT he searched and roved for nearly a decade to discover
his ownINNER SCULPTOR, the talent within.
JO DAVIDSON ~~ Adventurer
WANDERING PENNYLESS to St. Louis. When Jo Davidson finished up at the MacNeil Atlier, he decided to go to St. Louis to find work as a sculptor at the World’s Fair — the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. He carried with him a letter written by Hermon Atkins MacNeil recommending this young sculptor assistant to Mr. Zolney, the sculptor in charge.
The problem was, he had no money to travel or live on. He took a sales job selling wafers for ice-cream sandwiches. That got him to St. Louis, but when he presented his letter, Mr Zolney had NO JOBS left. He needed no more sculptors. Jo wandered the Fair midway destitute. He slept on boxes at night hiding from the Fair police who cleared the grounds of closed the gates.
Making Pyrography to Live. To survive Jo resorted to his old skills of making portraits —burning them into wood and leather goods. Showing samples of his work, he connected with a vendor and offered to do portraits and monograms on leather cushions. Now he could eat, stay alive, and gain some income. Even Geronimo, the Apache Chief, came to sit for him.
JO Becomes a Cossack. One day two Russian Cossacks in full regalia passed by the booth where Jo worked. He thought they were showfolk from the Pike, but when he used the only two Russian words that he knew to hail them…
“They wheeled around, and practically fell into my arms, jabbering away. I did not understand a word, but I could see that they were in trouble. There was one solution: the Russian Westinghouse exhibition was in the same building. Surely the man in charge could speak Russian. I took them there and they wept as they told their story.” Between … p. 19-20
Their goods had been stopped in government customs, at the fault of their interpreter who also absconded with some of their money. The Westinghouse people cleared it all up. The Cossacks hung onto Jo insisting he “had saved their lives.” They gave him a steady job promoting their booth and silver inlaid wares. In time off, he had the run of the fare, carrying his sketchbook filling it with drawings of everyone and everything he saw. His adventures continued through the summer until the Fair closed in November of 1904.
FAIR ENDS: Jo rambles around then arrives at HOME with a Black Eye. When the fair ended, Jo felt a tragic sense of loss — something had died. The exploits were over. Time to move again. He wandered on to Chicago, with the Cassocks, then Atlantic City. Jo wanted no part of “shop work.” He ventured on the Boardwalk and began drawing profiles of tourists. His motto: “Your Portrait, … No Likeness, No Pay.”
He met many people, made many drawings barely scraping by. In hope of better days, he accompanied a reporter to Philadelphia looking for a job drawing with a newspaper (but that fell through when he asked for a contract). Jobless and penniless, he wandered the streets of Philadelphia. He told his story to strangers. They offered to pay him for drawing them; but when he did, they laughed and refused to pay. A fight ensured. They gave Jo a black-eye for his troubles.
Three blocks later, he met up TOM FIELD, a friend from the Boardwalk. He asked about the black-eye. Then Tom gave Jo his hotel room, bought him dinner, and left town before Jo awoke. A warm breakfast was brought to the room with a warmer note from Tom. The note contained a railroad ticket to New York City, a five dollar bill, and advise to use both as soon as possible. Jo ate and followed Tom’s advise.
JO’S FIRST COMMISSION …
NEW YORK AGAIN! “The Art Students League gave me a room which was used by the modeling class at night,” Jo said. “In return I agreed to teach the summer class.” Several years earlier, he had sketched an idea for a work to be called “David” slinging a stone at an invisible Goliath. The sketch received honorable mention. Wanting to start the small figure, he went to his old friend Mr Partee, who liked the sketch and agreed to commission it as a two-foot high bronze statue. Jo started the work with enthusiasm but kept doing and undoing each day’s work until he became quite discouraged. Edward MacCarten, an earlier student of MacNeil, would stop by occasionally. Seeing Jo’s dilemma he offered some helpful advise.
“One day he said, “Jo, here’s an idea. When you come here tomorrow go to work as if this is your last day on earth and you have to finish your statue before you die.” This struck home. The next day I went to work with new energy. I didn’t die that night, nor did I finish the “David” that day. But as I look back, MacCarten’s advise was one of the greatest contributions that I ever received from a fellow artist.”
That advise would also become a pathway to Jo’s future as a sculptor. With it, Jo completed the work. Partee was so pleased he offered to pay for a second bronze casting. Jo sent his “David” to a jury (MacNeil was probably on that jury). The statue was accepted for the 1905 exhibition of the Society of American Artists. The day of the show Jo borrowed an ill-fitting Prince Albert coat from his uncle and with his sister, Ray (Rachel), they entered the Fine Arts Building adjoining the League.
“We walked up the few steps and entered the the great gallery all crowded with people. I must have been a very funny sight in that Prince Albert coat, but I was walking on air, completely unconscious of my clothes. We went around looking for my “David.” There he was in bronze — on exhibition with the works of real artists, sculptors, and painters. I felt timid about looking at it. I pretended to be interested in everybody else’s work but my own. We ran intoMacNeil.”
JO andHERMON meet athis “DAVID”
PUPIL AND TEACHER SHARE A PROUD MOMENT.
So Jo, the studio boy, and Hermon MacNeil, the sculptor, meet again. This time not in that College Point Studio, not “mixing a little clay”, but in the great exhibition hall and in the presence of his beloved sister. Fifty-years later Jo still remembers what Hermon asked:
MacNeil: “How do you like the way we placed your ‘David’?”
Jo’s recollection: I would have liked it no matter where they placed it. I do not think I have ever felt that way since.”
Of all the sculptors that would have been at the Exhibit at that moment, Jo mentions only Hermon MacNeil’s solicitation about the piece. Obviously, MacNeil gave some thought to the placement and setting of Jo’s “David” slinging toward that invisible Goliath. Hermon probably felt warm pride at Jo’s David, possibly even recalling Jo’s first attempt to make a Corinthian capital that first day in the College Point Studio. Whatever the former Teacher and the former “studio boy” were feeling as they met, the moment had become indelible enough for Jo to include it a half century later in his autobiography after his teacher’s death, Jo certainly sculpts the story with excitement and pride both in that moment and in recalling it in his life’s “Sittings.” Between Sittings, (p. 25).
PLEASANT MEMORIES OF HERMON: One can not help but smile imagining the reunion of the QUARTET: sculptor, the sister and teacher with the “David” in the great gallery of Art. It must have been smiles all around. And I suspect that these smiles had nothing to do with ill-fitting Prince Albert jackets. Jo was excited. MacNeil was pleased. Jo’s recounting and recording of this moment with his teacher seem to radiate a growing pride in the bonds of creativity, shared work, and talent, between sculptors. PLEASANT MEMORIES from 50 years ago.
“BAH!” — JO’S FATHER stings,
After the Exhibition Jo delivered the “David” to Mr.Partee. When the second bronze copy was finished, Jo recalls:
“I took it home and placed it on the mantelpiece in our front room. The next day when I came home from the League, I found my father looking intently at my “David.” He was unconscious of my presence. Then he turned and saw me, and with a disapproving gesture of the hand, said “Bah,” turned on his heel and left the room. Father had had other ambitions for me.”
HERMON and JO’s FATHER. In Jo’s telling of his life story, the contrasts of Hermon MacNeil, his sculptor teacher, and Jacob Davidson, his father, could not be more glaring. Jo’s Father had plans and ambitions for his Son. He was the MILLION from birth! He was Jacob’s winning Lottery Ticket. The lucky blessing for the devoted faithful prayer. Jo even entitles Chapter 1 of his autobiography, “THE MILLION!” So that was a life-long moniker from his family of origin. Lois Harris Kuhnin her book,The World of Jo Davidson,explains it to her young readers in this way:
“No one was ever to know for certain what it was that Jacob Davidson thought that having a son meant. Whatever it was, it was obvious — almost right away — that Jo was unlike anyone his father had expected. In Fact, Jo was like no one else. He asked far too many questions. He made pictures of everything he saw. He was so filled with life and laughter that everyone around him responded to it. Everybody — everything — small or large — interested Jo.! It was a good thing for a boy that his mother, Haya, understood him completely.” [ Kuhn, The World of Jo Davidson, Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, Jewish Publication Society, New York, 1958. p. 4.]
Jo does not make comparisons, he just shares memories and interactions. Any reader of Jo’s recollections or descriptions of his life, however, can not help but see stark emotional contrasts between Jo’s father, Jacob Davidson, and Hermon MacNeil. Moreover, the difference in two sets of recollections appear quite awkward.
CONTINUING at HOME and the ART STUDENTS LEAGUE.
Jo Davidson’s bust of Haya Davidson, his proud mother and most willing model. [Between p. 55a]
While at home in New York, Jo modeled a bust of his “intensely proud” Mother who most willingly posed for him. He was spending entire days at the “League” with other students.
“Those were gay days: music, dancing and parties. To those parties at the League, I brought my sisters Ray and Rose and it was not long before I brought the League to my house. We were then living on West 111th Street overlooking the Park. It was a top-floor railroad flat, but nobody minded climbing all those flights of stairs. Mother’s strawberry jam, Rose’s singing, and Rachie’s warm and vivacious charm pulled people right up to the top floor.”
Jo’s sister Rose recalls those days with a bit of free verse:
“Like a flock of homing pigeons,
Nostalgic memories flapped their wings,
And rouse the slumbering past.
A victrola,
And listing to the Sextet from ‘Lucia’ —
Zenbrich — Scotti — Caruso —
Talking about victrolas — the first phonograph — New York
111th Street top floor — front room —
An olive green velour curtain separating it from the rest of the railroad flat,
And endless tea parties,
Schubert’s ‘Serenade,’
Sam Halpert, tears running down his cheeks …”
Jo fell hard for “Flossie”, Florence Lucius, the tall Junoesque monitor of his class. [They would later come together in the later half of their lives.] He’d hike to her home in Brooklyn. With her father’s approval he accompanied her and Grace Johnson, another art student, on a hiking trek through the Swangum Mountains in New Jersey. Taking a Hudson River boat to Kingston, NY, walking all day, stopping at farmhouses, along the way, They would entertain their hosts by singing, playing the family organ, Jo’s mouth organ, and “doing a little jig”. Many of these families had never traveled further that a few miles from home. Jo, Flossie and Grace were something of a New York traveling trio. “It was all a wonderful new experience.” They returned a week later with blistered city feet, but feeling healthy and sunburned as they rested on the Hudson River boat back home.
A STUDIO OF HIS OWN.
Early in 1906 Jo rented a studio in an old brownstone on East Twenty-third Street. Small, on the top floor, with just enough room for a couch, the skylight made a young sculptor feel right at home. Many other painters and artists filled the brownstone and the neighborhood. Jo made friends easily. He went one evening on an adventure to Upton Sinclair’s Colony in Englewood, New Jersey called Helicon Hall . The escapade was the idea of Sadakichi Hartmann, an art critic and poet, who often stopped by the studio. With his sculptor’s eye, Jo described him as a curious-looking person — tall, gaunt, with a face like a Japanese mask. One day Sadakichi described a recent trip to Helicon Hall where he met socialists, anarchists, making many friends. Jo was working on a figure and had a girl posing for it. The model chimed in to say she too had friends there.
Off the trio went on a snowy day arriving at dinner time. The Sinclairs invited them to sit and share dinner. Afterward Mrs. Sinclair sat down in a wicker rocker and Jo sketched her portrait. She told them they didn’t have a room to spare for the night. Jo gave her the sketch and went off to discover that Sadakichi was berating Edwin Bojorkman, a reporter for the New York Sun. In a huff, Sadakichi announced, “We are leaving.” They trekked back several miles into the snowy night. Sadakichi was nursing a bottle of whiskey most of the night and dancing in the snow. They found a shed, started a small fire and thaw out. Warmed and rested, The wrinkled trio all caught the first train out. Sadakichi called up several papers telling his side of the story and advised them to call Jo Davidson for further details. More stories and editorials continued. Jo thought he would never live down the sagas of their trek to Helicon.
PARIS — Adventuring Artist arrives on the LEFT BANK
At age 24, Jo felt compelled to go to Paris. John Gregory, another MacNeil student, had just returned from that center of the Art World and his stories fired up Jo’s imagination. Subsequently he moved to Paris in 1907 to study sculpture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. After borrowing $150 from his old benefactor, Mr. Pardee, Jo the Adventurer purchased a second-class ticket and arrived in Paris with $40 left — but NO scholarship and NO support.
Edward McCarten, another MacNeil student, met him at the Gare Saint-Lazare (train station). Edward had already rented a studio next-door for him, but became appalled to learn Jo had no scholarship or support. “How are you going to live?” Jobs were scarce and Jo didn’t speak French.
“At any rate MacCarten introduced me to his bakery and his creamery, and every morning a loaf of bread and a quart of milk were left at my door. It was extraordinary , the trust, the confidence that existed in Paris in pre-World War I days. Broke as I was, I never went without a meal. It may have been meager, but I didn’t starve.” [Between … P. 33-34]
Growing up in the Lower East Side of NYC, Jo was no stranger to hunger. At the St Louis World’s Fair he again learned how to live with hungry. He had to live, eat, and sleep on exposition grounds and dodge the Fair police at night when everyone was supposed to leave. Jo was a talented survivor who used those skills to launch whatever might be his next adventure.
Now in Paris he soon entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts paying $16 of his last $40 for tuition. But after just three weeks, he the decided that the adventuring-artist-within-him was not going to find his dream there.
“The instructions there were made up of the same things I had heard at the Art Students’ League in New York. I was looking for life. They gave me antiquities. SO I left the Beau Arts and decided to work out my salvation my own way. I began to hustle for myself. [Griffin, 14753-4.]
The next months were storm and stress. The poverty was hard, the rebellion he felt in the clay was even harder. He would visit the Louvre, view the great masterpieces, wait for something to happen inside of him. Nothing happened. “He had not yet found himself, and he knew it.”McCarten helped him find work giving English lessons. He earned three dollars a week. He visited the cafes meeting other artists, poets, derelicts. He would sit over a cafe creme for an hour or two. He met Jerome Blum, a painter from Chicago. Jo began cooking for both he and Jerry to stretch their pocketbooks.
One night they came out of a poker game and saw a Great Dane lying on a bench. The waiter said the dog was lost. Jerry approached but got a snarl. Being an expert on hunger in animals, Jo asked the waiter for a bowl of milk and bread. Giving the dog food, he ate. When they turned to leave, the Dane followed. The Great Dane filled a gap of loneliness for Jo who immediately named him Sultan. He was also a great introducer as people would approach the magnificent animal. Jo’s full head of hair and black beard along with Sultan’s stately stride made a striking pair as they strolled the arty neighborhoods of Paris. [Between … p. 38.]
Also, relief came from home. Jo’s sister, Rachie, knew of all his ups and down through their lively letters. Through mutual friends she learned of the Hallgarten Scholarship Fund. Rachel, the teacher, succeeded to secure a grant of scholarship for Jo amounting to thirty dollars per month for one year. Jo’s assessment, “Then I was on East Street.”
The WALK to LUCERNE – vöyagueurs à pieds
FRENCH PEASANT by Jo Davidson
After another rejection of a life-sized sculpture of a boy that he had worked on diligently, Jo too felt rejected. He decided to take a vacation from studio work. So on a sunny morning with a knapsack on his back and Sultan by his side, they started out to walk to Switzerland and Lucerne. In the fresh air he did a lot of thinking on the road. He slept at Inns or farmhouses. Sometimes his drawings would pay for his board. The issue of the failure of his work was always churning over and over in his mind.
He and Sultan caught up with a French Peasant driving an oxcart. They chatted along roadway and the driver stopped to share cheese, bread, and wine from his lunch basket. Jo asked where he could sleep overnight in the next town. The driver told him he was foolish to sleep out of doors and explained to him “the law of the land” regarding travelers on foot — vöyagueurs à pieds. He should go to the mayor of the next village and ask for lodging as a vöyagueurs à pieds. The mayor would give him a permit assigning him to a family for hospitality. After the drivers advise, the traveler fretted no more about traveling on foot. [Griffin, 14753-4.]
J. D. FERGUSSON by Jo Davidson
Working like a “madman”
After travels and “tall thinking” on the road, Jo’s found that his ideas of making art had changed. Returning to his Paris studio he fell in with a group of “Post-Impressionists.” In particular he made a close friend of John Duncan Fergusson, a Scottish painter. They walked and talked about everything. John stirred Jo’s energies and hopes. A portrait bust of Fergusson was the first thing that Jo completed. The work broke with all of Jo’s academic training. He decided to become a master of his own medium. Expressing his thoughts of sculpting as fast as they came, he “worked like a madman.” He made portrait busts of everyone he knew, sometimes two in a day.
“At last I did it, and made a portrait bust of a Swiss girl which satisfied me. I was so pleased that I went around telling everyone what a wonderful thing I’d done. I told Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney about it, and she came to my studio to see it and bought it. That encouraged me a lot.” [Griffin, 14753-4.]
Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney was better known as Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. She bought the “Head of a Swiss Girl”, but more importantly became a patron and lifelong friend of Jo. In following weeks, Jo sent his “Violinist” to the autumn Salon of 1908, and it too was accepted.
Continued Success and on to U.S.
The next spring he had three pieces accepted in the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts, the new society. He continued exhibiting in Paris and London through 1909 with dozens of pieces. Finally, by December 1909 Jo felt that he had enough accumulated enough pieces to come back to New York City to hold an exhibition. He did return and his US Exhibition brought him instant success in NYC, his home town.
REGARD 1909 [detail] marble, Signed: Jo Davidson 14 1/2x9x6 inches, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Binder. Source: Conner and Rosenkranz, Discoveries… p. 12.
Joel Rosenkranz describes this period of Jo’s successes in these words:
“The Baillie Gallery of London presented the exhibition Modern Illustrators and Statuettes by Jo Davidson in the summer of 1909. On Davidson’s copy of the catalog, which lists Fourteen terra-cottas and one plaster, a single work is marked “sold.” It is a modest beginning, but only three months later, January 1910, Davidson’s first one-man show opened at the New York Cooperative Society, where he exhibited thirty-three terra-cotta and bronze sculptures and twenty-eight drawings. The show proved a success, for Davidson sold several works and received a portrait commission.”
“Just before the New York show opened, Davidson married Yvonne de Kerstrat, a beautiful French actress he had met in Paris in 1909. Their son Jacques was born in July 1910 and that year was was unusually productive for Davidson.” [Conner and Rosenkranz, Discoveries… p. 14.]
Meanwhile the years from 1903 to 1910 back at College Point, Hermon MacNeil continued his various statues and monuments. Since building his studio there, he had procured a succession of commissions for various monumental works.
He worked with young sculptors sought to develop their talents in the Beaux Arts tradition in which he trained and preserved.
BELOW are Listed the Monuments completed and initiated between 1903 and 1910 by Hermon MacNeil;
CLICK on these hot links for photos and information:
Will Rogers By Jo Davidson 1939. Jo started as Studio Boy for Hermon A MacNeil in 1903 for $10 per week.
Jo Davidson was the “studio boy” for Hermon Atkins MacNeil in 1903.
Since 1939,Jo Davidson’sstatue of
“Will Rogers”
has looked down on Senators and Congress members as they speak and are interviewed in the Capitol Statuary Hall.
Jo Davidson’s statue watched again today as raging Trump protestors turned into rioters (mixed with vigilantes) attacking the Capitol Building. [ breaking windows, carrying fire arms, vandalizing desks and offices, creating chaos and danger … ]
Senators were in the Constitutional process of certifying the votes of the Electoral College which authorizes the Inauguration of the 46th President on January 20, 2021.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
In February CHECK BACK HERE at HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com for FOUR stories of Hermon MacNeil and Jo Davidson
BUT NOW
listen instead to our prized political sage of
HUMOR from 100 years ago:
(Then tell me if Will Rogers still speaks to us in 2021.)
WILL ROGERS’ QUOTES
tell Us what he might say today:
“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” – Will Rogers
“Never miss a good chance to shut up.” – Will Rogers
“Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else.” – Will Rogers
“I never met a man that I didn’t like.” – Will Rogers
“Rumor travels faster, but it doesn’t stay put as long as truth.” – Will Rogers
“Common sense ain’t common.” – Will Rogers
“Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today” – Will Rogers
“The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces.” – Will Rogers
“Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.” – Will Rogers
“Everyone is ignorant, only on different subjects.” – Will Rogers
“Do the best you can, and don’t take life too serious.” – Will Rogers
“When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging.” – Will Rogers
“There are three kinds of men. The ones that learn by readin’. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.” – Will Rogers
The minute you read something that you can’t understand, you can almost be sure that it was drawn up by a lawyer.” – Will Rogers
“We can’t all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.” – Will Rogers
“A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people.” – Will Rogers
“The short memories of the American voters is what keeps our politicians in office.” – Will Rogers
“If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of Congress?” – Will Rogers
“If stupidity got us in this mess, how come it can’t get us out.” – Will Rogers
“A fool and his money are soon elected.” – Will Rogers
“I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.” – Will Rogers
“I’m not a real movie star. I’ve still got the same wife I started out with twenty-eight years ago.” – Will Rogers
“Always drink upstream from the herd.” – Will Rogers
“The trouble with practical jokes is that very often they get elected.” – Will Rogers
“If you want to be successful, it’s just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing.” – Will Rogers
“Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.” – Will Rogers
“The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it in your back pocket.” – Will Rogers
“The more you observe politics, the more you’ve got to admit that each party is worse than the other.” – Will Rogers
“Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know “why” I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved.” – Will Rogers
“Ten men in our country could buy the whole world and ten million can’t buy enough to eat.” – Will Rogers
“It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but you can lose it in a minute.” – Will Rogers
“An onion can make people cry, but there has never been a vegetable invented to make them laugh.” – Will Rogers
“You know horses are smarter than people. You never heard of a horse going broke betting on people.” – Will Rogers
“Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.” – Will Rogers
“The difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.” – Will Rogers
“I am not a member of any organized political party — I am a Democrat.” – Will Rogers
“If you feel the urge, don’t be afraid to go on a wild goose chase. What do you think wild geese are for anyway?” – Will Rogers
“The problem ain’t what people know. It’s what people know that ain’t so that’s the problem.” – Will Rogers
“Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re actually paying for.” – Will Rogers
“Buy land. They ain’t making any more of the stuff.” – Will Rogers
“There are men running governments who shouldn’t be allowed to play with matches.” – Will Rogers
“What the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds.” – Will Rogers
“There is no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.” – Will Rogers
“The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has.” – Will Rogers
“Lord, the money we do spend on Government and it’s not one bit better than the government we got for one-third the money twenty years ago.”- Will Rogers
“It is better for someone to think you’re a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” – Will Rogers
“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.” – Will Rogers
“Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people that they don’t like.” – Will Rogers
“There are two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither works.” – Will Rogers
“All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that’s an alibi for my ignorance.” – Will Rogers
CREDITS:
Photo: Will Rogers Statue https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/exhibitions/timeline/image/will-rogers-jo-davidson-1938
Will Rogers Quotes: https://inspirationfeed.com/will-rogers-quotes/
Happy Birthday to all you “Leaplings” out there. It’s Leap Day.
It only comes once every four years or 1,460 days, if you’re counting. Today is just another Leap Day to 99.73% of us. But to you Leapsters, it is another long-awaited actual birthday – a full 24 hour birthday. Congratulations. Celebrate being alive! Today, we will join in with you from afar.
There are approximately 187,000 of you leaplings in the U.S, and about 4 million Leaplings in the entire world. Since your actual birthdate only comes once in 1,461 days, we will give you 4 exclamation points after the usual greeting today. So “Happy Birthday, Leaplings!!!!”
Thomas Henry McNeil in 1894
My grandfather, Tom Henry McNeil, was a Leapling (or a Leapster, if you prefer), born on February 29, 1860. He was quite a man. His Wikipedia page at Thomas H. McNeil states in part:
“Thomas H. McNeil (February 29, 1860 – October 1, 1932) was an American football player and lawyer. He was the first University of Michigan football player to be the starting quarterback in consecutive years. He led the Michigan football team to undefeated seasons in 1884 and 1885. He later became a lawyer practicing in Missouri”
My mom gifted me with “Neil” (from her birth name) as my middle name. So I’ve always felt a mysterious closeness to this grandfather I have never met. Her love and gift sealed the deal.
Tom was an older cousin of the sculptor, Hermon Atkins MacNeil, to whom this website is dedicated. He taught all his children to address Hermon as “Uncle Hermon” out of respect for him as a distinguished elder of the MacNeil line.
Yes, today is special. It’s Leap Day. But it is also special because it is another day to live. A great truth of life is that every day is special. Every day is a day for us to be truly live. “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Psalm 90:12. – a verse from Sunday School. It’s sort of a prayer, asking God to: “Teach us how short our life is, so that we may become wise.”
Oh, wise! Growing old comes kind of naturally. Growing wise takes a bit more help. It really helps to be taught that we have a heart and a soul, to be loved into growing as a human being. And to learn to listen to both and apply our hearts to becoming wiser than we used to be.
Why do we celebrate MacNeil Month each February? Two reasons:
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Hermon MacNeil.
Hermon A. MacNeil Commemorative sketched by Artist Charles D. Daughtrey as the seventh work in his Series of Coin Designers is available at http://www.cdaughtrey.com/
Hermon Atkins MacNeil about the time of his Standing Liberty works.
February 27 is the 154th anniversary of the birth of Hermon A. MacNeil, born in 1866. Hermon is the patron-sculptor whose work and life are celebrated at this website – HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Tom Henry McNeil, My grandfather ~ And the older cousin of Hermon MacNeil.
Thomas (Tom) Henry McNeil (b. 1860 – d. 1932)
February 29 is the Anniversary of the birth of Thomas (Tom) Henry McNeil (my grandfather) born in 1860, one-hundred and sixty years ago.
Tom told his daughters to address “Hermon” as “Uncle Hermon.” “Uncle” was the title of respect bestowed on their first-cousin-twice-removed.
This MacNeil Medallion is a 3" bronze medal with nickel plating minted in 2016 to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Hermon Atkins MacNeil and the 100th Centenary year of the first minting of the Standing Liberty Quarter dollar. The face duplicates the obverse of MacNeil's original sculpture of Miss Liberty from 1916. The "M" beneath the 13th star is the only form of signature allowed for the sculptor.
<== NOW AVAILABLE ON EBAY the Hermon A. MacNeil Medallion
Nearby or far away, there is no ONE place to go and appreciate this wide range of art pieces. Located in cities from east to west coast, found indoors and out, public and hidden, these creations point us toward the history and values in which our lives as Americans have taken root.
Webmaster: Daniel Neil Leininger ~ HAMacNeil@gmail.com
Hosting & Tech Support: Leiturgia Communications, Inc.
COME BACK & WATCH US GROW
WE DESIRE YOUR DIGITAL PHOTOS – Suggestions
1. Take digital photos of the entire work from several angles, including the surroundings.
2. Take close up photos of details that capture your imagination.
3. Look for MacNeil’s signature, often on bronze works. Photograph it too! See examples above.
4. Please, include a photo of yourself and/or those with you standing beside the work.
5. Add your comments or a blog of your adventure. It adds personal interest for viewers.
6. Send photos to HAMacNeil@gmail.com Contact me there with any questions. ~~ Webmaster