WELCOME to the “Hermon A. MacNeil” — Virtual Gallery & Museum !
~ This Gallery celebrates my great Uncle, Hermon Atkins MacNeil an American classic sculptor of the Beaux Arts School. He sculpted Native images and American history: ~ World’s Fairs, statues, monuments, coins, and more… ~ Over 300 stories (25 per page) in 10 pages. (Click on Next Page >> at bottom). View thousands of photos from this virtual MacNeil Gallery. It stretches from New York to New Mexico ~ Oregon to S. Carolina. ~ 2016 marked the 150th Anniversary of Hermon MacNeil’s birth. ~ Hot-links ( lower right) lead to works by Hermon Atkins MacNeil. ~~Do you WALK or DRIVE by MacNeil sculptures DAILY! ~ TRAVEL DIGITALLY to my Uncle Hermon’s works here!
Daniel Neil Leininger, webmaster
DO YOU walk by MacNeil Statues and NOT KNOW IT ???
. The MacNeil home and studio in College Point, Queens, possessed a panoramic view of the New York City skyline. Airplanes departing from LaGuardia Airport were often part of this overlook.
That vista can still be enjoyed in a stroll along the East River shore that borders the Hermon A. MacNeil Park.
Hermon Atkins MacNeil, American Sculptor (1866-1947)
Carol Brooks MacNeil
When Hermon and Carol MacNeil purchased the property in 1901, they found that feature to be a pleasant bonus of their new location.
Hermon built his stone masonry studio himself using stones and boulders from the East River. He was no stranger to stone work or carpentry as his father was a carpenter teaching him all the construction skills that entailed.
The back doors of Hermon’s studio let The Pilgrim Fathers through.
The studio large north Doors of the MacNeil Studio opened onto this scenic view as well.
As described previously: (see:
MacNeil Park, formerly known as Chisholm Park, was renamed in honor of Hermon Atkins MacNeil in 1966, the 100th anniversary of his birth. MacNeil was a long time resident of College Point where he worked at his home and adjacent studio. Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe describes the spot, named for one of America’s greatest sculptors, as “a spectacular waterfront landscape … with sweeping views of the Long Island Sound from its waterfront promenades, majestic trees, ballfields, and a 9/11 Memorial, this park is worth a detour.”
A very young looking Hermon A MacNeilin 1887 when hired to teach engineers free hand drawing by Robert H. Thurston, Dean of Engineering at Cornell.
Professor Robert Henry Thurston (1839-1903). Founding Director of the Sibley College School of Engineering of the Cornell University.
“In the 1880s, Thurston was a man of vision who became a central pioneer in the developing field of Mechanical Engineering. He would soon become the first president of the newly organized American Society of Mechanical Engineers (A.S.M.E.). The faculty of Cornell brought him there to start the Sibley College of Engineering.”
“Thurston hired and mentored Hermon Atkins MacNeil from 1886-1889 — age 20 to 23 to teach industrial art, drawing, to the engineering students. A duplicate of this bronze bust and memorial plaque was erected at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) office in NYC. Thurston was the first President of ASME.” [SOURCE: https://hermonatkinsmacneil.com/2013/09/01/professor-robert-henry-thurston-encourager-of-macneils-genius-part-1/
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The young Art Instructor went on teach engineering students to sketch, mold in clay, do orthographic projections.
Key Orthographic Drawing Examples:
Mechanical Parts: Detailed views showing the front, top, and right-side projections of an object to define its exact shape and dimensions.
Simple Block Objects: A 3D model created from 3–6 blocks, sketched from different viewpoints (top, side, front) to understand spatial orientation.
Technical Designs: Shipping containers or a grand piano shown in top, front, and side views for manufacturing.
Dean Thurston wanted his engineering students to:
visualize,
think, and
communicate through drawings.
He wanted a educated artist capable of teaching such skills through.
George Washington was appointed the Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army on June 15th, 1775.
H. A. MacNeil’s “Washington at War” balances the east side of the Arch in Washington Square while Alexander Stirling Calder’s “Washington as President” graces the west side. Both sculptors studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and represent that art style.
Hermon MacNeil’s many sculptures and monuments have the Stars and Stripes nearby.
Placed on the Arch in 1916, it has been a favorite rally point for Parades, Protests, and Celebrations.
General George Washington with Flags (U.S. and POW/MIA) ~ Washington Arch Greenwich, NYC (Photo courtesy of: Gibson Shell – 2011)
For over a Century the Arch and Washington statues remain a Rally Point for NYC and the Nation.
Hermon MacNeil sculpted General George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.
In 1916 this sculpture was placed on the East plinth of the newly completed Washington Arch.
1946 WWII Victory Parade of the 82nd US Army Airborne between the statues of Geo Washington by Hermon A. MacNeil and Alexander Stirling Caulder.
Two years later on the west Plinth, Alexander Stirling Caulder’s statue of President George Washington was added to the west leg of the Arch.
Forty-Sixyears later Troops of the 82nd Airbornestaged a Victory Parade between the Two memorial statues of Washington, our 1st Commander and President.
Eventually, Fifth Avenue was closed off through the Park, a pond was added to South side, and Washington Park became the pedestrian venue it is today.
Now Eighty-years later, the Arch and both statues continue as a rally point for protests in NYC and the Nation.
OTHER Images from MacNeil work
MacNeil’s likeness of General Washington with Fame guarding from the rear flank.
I viewed and photographed MacNeil’s original plaster model of Washington as Commander of the Continental Army at the Swope Art Museum
inTerre Haute, Indiana,
where the plasters have been in storage since 1947 after the death of the sculptor. His widow Cecelia MacNeil released them from the MacNeil estate.
Jim Haas and Charlie Chiclacos, drove a rental van to Swope Museum in Terre Haute last year to retrieve some of these pieces.
Hermon A. MacNeil’s plaster sculpture of “George Washington” as concept study for the Washington Arch in NYC (1916) [Photo taken at Swope Museum of Terra Haute, IN by Dan Leininger]
Abortion rights activists hold a sign reading “Regulate Guns Not Wombs” as they march from Washington Square Park to Bryant Park protesting the overturning of Roe Vs. Wade by the US Supreme Court, in New York, on June 24, 2022. (Photo by ALEX KENT/AFP via Getty Images) Retrieved April 13, 2023
George Washington Sculptures at Washington Square Arch,Washington Square Park Designed by architect Stanford White, the Arch was dedicated in 1895. Washington as Commander-in-Chief, Accompanied by Fameand Valor was designed by Hermon Atkins MacNeil and was installed in 1916. Washington as President, Accompanied by Wisdomand Justice was designed by Alexander Stirling Calder and installed in 1918. A major restoration of the arch was completed in December 2004. Source:[http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/M090/news]
JamesHaas has recently had a first-time experience of posing as a model. He did so at the
Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore,MD.
Jim has done many things, BUT THIS was a first.
He experienced sculpture from the other side.
He sent photos of his two picks from the sessions.
Jim says the second sculptor was a student named Ana. She is also a very talented painter. Born in Italy she came to America to study art. Were you to speak with her, you would hear not a trace of an Italian accent. A number of her paintings have been exhibited and her future looks bright.
The sculptor’s name is Dooree. She graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in June. [Webmaster notes: This captures Jim in his familiar grin.]
Jim reflected about the sessions:
Having written and published a biography of American sculptor Hermon Atkins MacNeil, I have had a few occasions to mention the models he used for a number of his works. That being said, I had no real understanding of what being an artist’s model entailed. And then my friend Bob Copskey, professor of sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art asked if I would serve as the model for a portrait bust to be modeled by his students. I said “yes.”
Jim continues: … “on the appointed day one as I drove to the school, I will admit to experiencing some small amount of anxiety. While I knew I would be asked to assume a pose that would have to be maintained for a number of hours, I wondered if I would be able to stay in one position for that length of time, and what would I think about?”
He sent a photo of the whole class at the Maryland Institute College of Art:
“Returning the following week, the morning was spent with the students refining their work, the routine pretty much the same.
In the afternoon I once again gave a presentation on MacNeil followed by a review of the fifteen portrait busts during which I observed that I had never given much thought to what the back of my head looked like. Some students laughed. I enjoyed seeing every effort, a few from more experienced students standing out. Had it been possible I would have purchased one or two. Alas, the clay was remanded to the bins, but cell phone photos were taken … Sic transit gloria mundi.
Closeup of Dooree’s final sculpture of Jim Haas. [Webmaster notes: This captures Jim in his familiar grin.]
Portrait bust in clay by Ana from Italy studying in Maryland Institute College of Art
For More: Read Jim’s Reflections:
“Confessions of a First-Time Artist’s Model:
Having written and published a biography of American sculptor Hermon Atkins MacNeil, I have had a few occasions to mention the models he used for a number of his works. That being said, I had no real understanding of what being an artist’s model entailed. And then my friend Bob Copskey, professor of sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art asked if I would serve as the model for a portrait bust to be modeled by his students. I said yes and on the appointed day one as I drove to the school, I will admit to experiencing some small amount of anxiety. While I knew I would be asked to assume a pose that would have to be maintained for a number of hours, I wondered if I would be able to stay in one position for that length of time, and what would I think about?
Having given presentations about MacNeil to his students in past years, I was familiar with the studio and as it happened, had once been present to observe a model at work. At the time I did not take note of the revolving platform on which she sat, but as the session began, Bob explained that the centrally placed stage would be rotated slightly every couple of minutes. This would enable the students standing at their platforms circling the platform to have a 360 degree of my neck and head. “Call for a break at any time, assume a pose that is comfortable,” Bob directed, “and to the extent possible, maintain it by focusing on a specific floor to ceiling point. “No problem” says I and so the session began.
I watched as each student leaned into the bins to scrape the clay that would be applied, layer upon layer and bit by bit to the armature that would in time be transformed into their collective versions of yours truly. Never having sat in one position for so long a time, it was easier than I thought it would be and no breaks were taken. So, what went through my mind in the course of the two hours that followed?
For some, but not all, modeling a portrait bust was a new experience. Some were tentative; others set their minds and hands to the task at hand and, as expected, all took a turn at Prof. Copskey’s request, to “please turn the model.” As the first hour passed and much clay having been applied to their armatures, a number of students began to approach the stand to examine my head from every vantage point possible. I studiously avoided their prying eyes at the same time being curious as to what exactly they were trying to see and wondering if they would be able to retain their findings when they got back to their work stands.
Over the course of two and half hours, I had made two 360-degree revolutions around the room charting the progress of the fifteen artists noting what each of three males and twelve females did as they worked. Some had ear buds leading me to wonder if they were listening to music. One of them, a young lady, was very definitely dancing to the beat she was hearing, so I knew she was. As for the others, well, who’s to say? Common to all was the look of intent and purpose each wore as I looked at them and they looked back.
As I made my two revolutions, I watched and listened to the counsel given to each by Prof. Copskey, always encouraging, never without a positive suggestion based on many years of classroom teaching, he himself an accomplished sculptor and medalist. I thought “How fortunate they are!”
A welcome lunch break followed during which Bob asked how I thought the day was progressing, was I comfortable and other related questions. My truthful answer was that “Yes, I was very comfortable, that holding the suggested pose was not difficult, and that I was enjoying the whole experience more than I thought I would.”
Returning to the studio it did not surprise me to see the young artists already working the clay refining their version of their model’s head. Once again, I mounted the platform and retook what I thought was this morning’s pose, but was surprised when Bob, employing his many years of teaching made suggestions, very gently, that I adjust the tilt of my head ever so slightly, alter the expression on my face and as much as possible, focus my eyes and the level of my gaze as I had in the morning session. The afternoon session went well.
Returning the following week, the morning was spent with the students refining their work, the routine pretty much the same. In the afternoon I once again gave a presentation on MacNeil followed by a review of the fifteen portrait busts during which I observed that I had never given much thought to what the back of my head looked like. Some students laughed. I enjoyed seeing every effort, a few from more experienced students standing out. Had it been possible I would have purchased one or two. Alas, the clay was remanded to the bins, but cell phone photos were taken. Sic transit gloria mundi.”
The greenery of Albany’s Washington Park provides the setting for this marble monument sculpted by Hermon A. MacNeilsitting on a granite base, with a bronze female statue representing the Nation, as she cradles the palms and garlands of victory. The monument represents “The Nation at Peace Won Through Victorious War”.
It was erected by the Grand Army of the Republic as a monument to Civil War veterans. Restored in 1986, it was renamed the Albany Veterans Memorial Monument. On October 5, 2012, after another restoration funded by the Washington Park Conservancy, the Monument was rededicated at a ceremony which marked the city’s official observation of the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War.
In a competition to select the design the commission selected Hermon MacNeil over five other sculptors. The bronze figure represents “The Nation at Peace Won Through Victorious War”.
The monument is 22 ft. high and 21 ft. wide; it’s built from Tennessee marble and granite from Stoney Creek.
Etched in marble behind Victory are soldiers and sailors marching to her defense.
The inscription reads:
“In commemoration of the men of Albany who gave their lives to save the Union, and in grateful recognition of all whose patriotism aided to giving to this nation under God a new birth of freedom, in making love of country a national virtue and endowing our land with peace and prosperity. “
The bronze figure of Victory represents the country. She holds palms of victory and peace, and a sheathed sword of war. Etched in marble behind her are soldiers and sailors marching to her defense. On the other side is a Civil War battery in action. One end shows a wounded drummer boy; the other a soldier returning to his wife and child. There are about 60 life size figures cut into the monument.
Back side shows a Civil War artillery battery in action.
Soldiers and Sailors’ Monument in Washington Park, Albany NY
The right end shows a wounded drummer boy.
The Left end shows a soldier coming home to his wife and child.
There are about 60 life size figures cut into the monument.
Friends of Albany told the monuments story this way:
Sometimes we take for granted the things we see every day. The Monument honoring Albany men who served in the Civil War probably falls into that category. It sits at the entrance to Washington Park at Henry Johnson Blvd.
Estimates vary, but we think about 7,000 -8,000 Albany soldiers and sailors served in the Civil War (Keep in mind the population of the city was about 62,000 in 1860.) They were old and young, married and single, and they were white and African American.
Yes, there were Black troops from Albany in the War. Most served in “Colored” regiments, but some served in “regular” regiments. (Much more research needs to be done to identify these men.)
Some of the men enlisted in regiments mustered in Albany, like the 44th New York. Others had moved out of the Albany by the time the War started, and enlisted in the towns and cities where they lived across the North.
They fought in almost every battle and naval action, from the first Battle of Bull Run, to the siege of Vicksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the clash of the Merrimack and the Monitor, and were there at the surrender at Appomattox Court House.
And those who returned formed Veteran’s organizations.*In Albany there were about 5 – my GGG Charles Zeilman, who fought at Little Round Top helped found the Lew Benedict Post. Quickly these individual posts banded together in a great association called the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR).
And so the local chapters of the GAR across the country raised funds and lobbied governments for memorials to those who served and died. These monuments can be found in big cities and small towns all across the North.
Most were built in the latter part of the 19th century, but in the early part of the 1900s it became clear that the Vets were growing old and passing away. So there was a re-newed push for monuments to commemorate their heroic efforts. In Albany that began about 1906.
The New York State Legislature appropriated $100,000 and additional funds were raised. The original location selected was Capitol Park, but that changed. There was a competition to select the design; the commission was awarded to Hermon Hermon A. MacNeiland represents “The Nation of Peace Won Through Victorious War”.
The monument is 22 ft. high and 21 ft. wide; it’s built from Tennessee marble and granite from Stoney Creek.
The inscription reads:
“In commemoration of the men of Albany who gave their lives to save the Union, and in grateful recognition of all whose patriotism aided to giving to this nation under God a new birth of freedom, in making love of country a national virtue and endowing our land with peace and prosperity. “
A bronze figure represents the country. She holds palms of victory and peace, and a sheathed sword of war. Etched in marble behind her are soldiers and sailors marching to her defense. On the other side is a Civil War battery in action. One end shows a wounded drummer boy; the other a soldier returning to his wife and child. There are about 60 life size figures cut into the monument.
The memorial was dedicated with a grand ceremony and parade in October, 1912.
Until the Great War (World War I) and the creation of Memorial Grove and the Gold Star Mothers Monument in the Grove, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument was the focus of all Decoration (Memorial) Day activities.
*Sadly the Veterans posts mostly excluded African American soldiers who fought in the colored regiments. But in Saratoga County Billy Lattimore, (identified in the 1860 census as mulatto) fought with the 77th NY, and was an active member of the GAR for 50 years. (His grandfather Ben Lattimore Sr., a Revolutionary War soldier, is buried in Albany Rural Cemetery. )
However, the GAR national organization did include a number of African American members and officers who fought in regular and colored regiments, including a number of men who were born enslaved in the South.
Newspapers in New York and the Chicago Daily Times “all acknowledged her standing in the rarified realm of female sculptors.”
Congregational services were held in the MacNeil home.
Carol’s cremainswere transported to the family plot in Massachusetts
There in Woodlawn Cemetery she was interred beside their beloved daughter, Joie Katherine MacNeil.
Death of Carol “Carrie” Brooks MacNeil.
During her months of declining health, Carol was nursed at home by her family and Cecelia, a home nurse. As Carol’s condition worsened, the needs exceeded the home-care options of the day. She was admitted to the Jamaica (Queens) Hospital. Carol Brooks MacNeil died there on June 22, 1944. Newspapers in New York and the Chicago Daily Times “all acknowledged her standing in the rarefied realm of female sculptors.” Congregational services were held in the MacNeil home. Carol’s body was cremated and her remains transported to the family plot in Massachusetts at Woodlawn Cemetery to be interred with those of Joie.
“The 50 year Partnership
of
‘the Sculptors MacNeil’
had come to a close”
Hermon MacNeil Alone. Now Hermon must have felt an emptiness without Carol in his life, home, and studio. With Carol MacNeil’s death, their fifty-year partnership as the “Sculptors MacNeil” had ended. Their connection had begun five decades earlier in the “White City” of the Chicago World’s Fair, continued through their years of training in the city of Rome and in the city of Paris, matured in thekind-of-a-city of Queens, NY, and the not-quite-so-city of College Point.
For the next two years Hermon MacNeil continued to live alone in his College Point home. Next door was the stone Studio building where he and Carol had sculpted together through the years of their marriage. Now he was alone in their no-longer-sharedhome and studio.
Postcard of MacNeil studio in College Point. From the webmaster’s collection.
Cecelia Muench, RN, continued to care for him there. She had been his visiting nurse since 1941, when she helped him through a heart ailment. She also painted with Carrie and Hermon entering into the family of the sculptor her father had introduced her to at The Sun Vow on her 12 birthday.
A widow herself now, Cecelia accompanied Hermon to various gatherings of family, friends, and colleagues.
Months after we unveiled the Hermon MacNeil bust in 2021,
I received word that this unique piece
was exhibited
ONLY ONCE in its
75 year history.
In 1945 Jo Davidson modeled this bust of his teacher and had it cast in bronze. It remains a UNIQUE piece ~~ meaning “one and only,
one of a kind
NO OTHER Castings
Were ever made”
This “sui generis” likeness of
Hermon Atkins MacNeil
was purchased in 2021 from the Estate of Jo Davidson through Joel Rosenkranz of Conner~Rosenkranz, of New York City.
On Fri, Jun 4, 2021, Joel sent the following:
Hi Dan –
I hope you have been well. I recently was looking through a key reference in American sculpture and came across the entry for the Davidson MacNeil which the Davidson Estate loaned to the Newark Museummany years ago for a survey exhibition on bronzes. I thought you would like to have this reference for your files.
Best,
Joel
I replied as follows:
Joel,
We are well and entering into life and travel in more usual ways.
Thank you for this document scan. I appreciate more history of this MacNeil bust. I will print it out and will study it over the weekend.
It seems ironic that this little known portrait bust was used to illustrate a bio page of Jo Davidson. There are 100s of other candidates that could illustrate Jo’s life and work but his first teacher becomes the “show & tell” model for Jo Davidson’s work and style of portraits.
I am enjoying having “Hermon”in our living room on a regular basis. I showed him to friends and posted this “icon” on my website for the world to SEE.
Greatly appreciate your continued support of my MacNeil obsession. Also, expanding my knowledge of the Davidson—MacNeil interface raises my understanding to exponential levels. >>>
“Your love and work with Beaux Arts and your “calling” with Janis to represent the Davidson Estate form a strong testimony to the love, passion, and talent of so many of these sculptors who are easily forgotten in the “modern “ era of abstractions offered as art. (Forgive my bias to realism).”
The Stars and Stripes fly day and night at the home of Webmaster Dan Leininger in South Dakota. They are illuminated dusk to dawn by automatic lighting. (The tie, however, only waves on special occasions like July 4th.)
As mentioned in the previous post[on May 5, 2023] Savage applied for a summer art program at the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts in France.[9] She was accepted, BUT THEN rejected because she was BLACK.
Sculptor, Hermon Atkins MacNeil,wrote a letter of protest to W.E.B. Dubois, then Hermon invited Augusta to study with him. She later cited Hermon as one of her teachers.”
An intriguing image of a sculpture from Claude McKay’s 1940 publication, Harlem: Negro Metropolis, a narrative on the history of Harlem and its most notable African American residents. The book includes photographs of works by Black artist Augusta Savage in the early 20th century. The photographic portrait of what is a likely a maquette of the 1939 New York World’s Fair, “Lift Every Voice and Sing”.
It remains a rare material artifact of a fair centerpiece since lost to time, and a clue to the importance of her high-profile commission for American culture and Black artistry.
Standing at 16 feet in height and one of only two works by African American artists featured in the exhibition, Savage’s plaster sculpture took its name from James Weldon and J. Rosamond Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a hymn of particular meaning within Black communities. Savage modeled the piece after themes found in the song—unity, perseverance through faith, and pride, all of which are reflected in her musical scene. The harp’s form is defined by a long arm and hand cradling 12 singers in choir robes, their strong stance and the folds of their garments evocative of strings. A young man kneels in the lead holding sheet music and carrying a pensive expression on his face, uplifted (we imagine) by the beautiful melody and the image the eponymous hymn’s words recall.
“The Harp,” as it became known, was a major achievement for Savage. Born Augusta Christine Fells in Green Cove, Florida, February 29, 1892, she was raised by a Methodist minister who opposed her creative interests. Over her father’s objections, Savage returned again and again to sculpture throughout her youth and—after marrying, having a child, and becoming widowed by her early 20s—committed her focus to the arts and moved to New York City with less than $5 in her pocket. Savage quickly became a recognized talent in the art world and a vocal advocate for equal rights, generating media attention when an American selection committee revoked her award of a summer study-abroad scholarship to Paris because of her race. Defying these obstacles, Savage self-funded and completed a 4-year arts degree at The Cooper Union in 3 years, fundraised for her own trips to France to exhibit at prestigious sites like the Salon d’Automne and Grand Palais, and earned an array of accolades ranging from a Carnegie Foundation travel grant to the distinction of being the only African American member admitted into the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. By 1937, the 1939 New York World’s Fair Board of Design reached out to her with the idea of a large-scale sculpture symbolizing the legacy of African American music.
Though 44 million guests had the chance to witness and admire Savage’s triumph at the 19-month exhibition, unfortunately the work was destroyed when the fair ended, a scenario not uncommon for temporary works and pavilions. Promotional postcards and documentary photos like the one in McKay’s book, however, paint a picture of the song and sculpture’s true impact and continued resonance. Today, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is still widely celebrated as the “Black national anthem” (recently and memorably performed at “Beychella”) and metal replicas of Savage’s 1939 tribute—a testament to the inspirational power of the Black church and indomitable nature of the human spirit—are held in collections such as those of the Schomburg Center in Harlem and Columbus Museum in Georgia.
– Carlos Ascurra, FIU Humanities Edge curatorial intern
HEAR THE HISTORY OF THE ANTHEM . . .
As you ~ ~
“Lift Up Your Voice, And Sing”
–
1939 WHITE WORKMAN landscape around the “HARP” as it towers above them. Source: The Body is Memory: An Exhibition of Black Women Artists. Retrieved on May 1, 2023 at[https://sites.smith.edu/afr111-f19/the-harp/ ]
Book page, “Sculpture by Augusta Savage, evocative of Negro music; commissioned by the New York World’s Fair,” from Harlem: Negro Metropolis, 1940
Augusta Savage (American, 1892–1962), author E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., New York City, publisher The Wolfsonian–FIU, Gift of Historical Design, New York City, XC2019.02.1.12
The Body is Memory: An Exhibition of Black Women Artists. Retrieved on May 1, 2023 at [https://sites.smith.edu/afr111-f19/the-harp/ ]
Claude McKay, Harlem: Negro Metropolis, 1940. A narrative history of Harlem and its most notable African American residents. The book includes photographs of works by Black artist Augusta Savage in the early 20th century.
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 :
George Maher and
Elizabeth Brooks Maher (Carolyn’s Aunt Bess)
Carol Brooks MacNeil (Carolyn’s Great Aunt ‘Carrie’)
Arthur Wyld (Carolyn’s grandfather)
Hermon MacNeil (Carolyn’s great uncle by marriage)
Seated in the front row:
Frances Brooks Wyld (Carolyn’s grandmother),
Ellen Woodworth Brooks (Carolyn’s great grandmother) and
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.
Read the Introduction of my Article below these Tartans . . .
MacNeil of Barra (ANCIENT Tartan)
MacNeil of Barra (MODERN Tartan)
HERE IS TEASER of my ARTICLE IN THE Upcoming GALLEY …
100 Years ago, in New York City, a Story of
The Clan MacNeil Association of America
Robert Lister MacNeil — Hermon Atkins MacNeil
… and 56 other MacNeils
Daniel Neil Leininger
The year 2021 marks the Centennial of the founding of the Clan MacNeil Association of America. While the Galley, celebrates the Clan MacNeil with every issue, this one sings it — a “wee bit” louder – well, actually more in forte. One hundred years, that’s auld lang syne. (old long ago). So, let’s stop, remember, and celebrate the founding of this Association and those who made it possible.
Robert Lister MacNeil, Barra XIV, 1915
The Association is Born. One century has now passed since Robert Lister MacNeil, The MacNeil of Barra XIV, called a meeting on May 26, 1921 at the Caledonian Club in New York City. Hermon A. MacNeil, on behalf of the Barra, sent out a call to clansmen. Those who responded came together that night and accomplished four things: 1) formally organized the Association, 2) elected officers, 3.) adopted a constitution of three articles, and 4) recorded in Article 3 a list of Charter Members from across America — the United States and Canada. This event marked the official birth of the Clan MacNeil Association of America with Robert Lister MacNeil, the Barra XIV, as the patron of brighter days for MacNeils in America and Scotland.
[Full Article will be posted here after publication in Spring/Summer Issue]
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 for 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.
Curious 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. ]
Hermon MacNeilcontinued making Historical Subjects, World’s Fairs, and Monuments as he had for 20 years (1893-1912).
[ Photos and hot-links to MORE MacNeilworks appear at the end of this post …⇓ ]
Jo Davidson after a decade of searching and wandering, to fulfill some inner talent,
he discovered his “Sculptor Within.”
Review: Jo made repeated attempts (1903-7) at studying the “Beaux Arts”style at the Art Students League of New York, learning it “hands-on” in the MacNeil Studio with John Gregory, and Henri Crenier (and all their teasing), under the quiet tutelage of Hermon MacNeil. Then actually traveling to Paris without scholarship or support to enroll in the actual Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
BUT … LEAVING THERE after 3 weeks because he sensed that Beaux Arts was training him to sculpt “Antiquities” WHENhe wanted to “SCULPT LIFE.”
Jo Davidson
In 1909 before coming back to New York City, Jo married Yvonne deKerstrat, a French actress and sister of an artist friend, Louis de Kerstrat. Their son Jacques was born the next year.
The next several years were very productive for the sculptor. His figural works included a bronze statuette of Ida Rubinstein and an eight-foot bronze La Terre.
ONE-MAN SHOWS X 3. In 1911 Jo began presenting one-man shows. The first opened in the New York in April, then a second more successful one at Reinhardt Galleries in Chicago in November. This included twenty portraits and twenty figures. A third show in New York opened in January 1913 with twenty-two figural works and fifteen portraits. With this growing success in both reputation and finances, Jo could now keep two studios — one in New York and another in Paris.
69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Ave. on-street parking New York City
The Armory Show 1913
Also in 1913, Davidson exhibited in the Armory Show, also known as The International Exhibition of Modern Art. This three-city exhibition started in New York City’s 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Ave. From there it traveled to the Art Institute of Chicago and next to Boston’s Copley Society.
Walt Kuhn, American painter, and a friend of Jo Davidson, was an organizer of the famous Armory Show which was America’s first large-scale introduction to European Modernism in Art. Working with Arthur B. Davies and Walter Pach, Kuhn spent a year, much of it in Europe assembling a collection The exhibition traveled to New York City, Chicago, and Bostonand was seen by approximately 300,000 Americans. Of the 1,600 works included in the show, about one-third were European, and attention became focused on them. The selection was almost a history of European Modernism.[https://www.britannica.com/event/Armory-Show-art-show-New-York-City#ref126367]
“Kuhn and Davies had both studied in Europe and developed a strong appreciation for the groundbreaking developments that were taking place there, particularly in Paris. Both also had ambitious dreams of altering the very fabric of American art and culture. The pair would be particularly instrumental in bringing a display of European art to U.S. shores—the likes of which most Americans had never seen before. With the same sprawling exhibition, they would also provide an opportunity for American artists that they had found so lacking in their own careers.” [ https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-1913-armory-dispelled-belief-good-art-beautiful ]
The show’s sponsor, the Association of American Painters and Sculptors developed in 1911 with the aim of finding suitable exhibition space for young artists. They found ideals and policies of the National Academy of Design too restrictive to innovation. The show introduced the American public accustomed to realistic art to the experimental styles sweeping Paris, namely, Fauvism, Cubism, and Futurism. But most Americans arrived expecting “real art,” namely, the “realistic” representations of the renaissance masters. To these viewers the show was a puzzlement. Observers responded with confusion, shock, or even anger at this “satire” of “real art.”
Jo Davidson and the Armory Show.
The Armory show was labeled many things by American art critics. Frank J. Mather argued that “Post-Impressionism is merely the “harbinger of universal anarchy.”[1] It overwhelmed American isolationism with an artistic invasion of a strange avant gardearmy of artists. So to most Americans it was a puzzlement both in appearance and reporting afterward. They came expecting “real art,” as “realistic” as the renaissance masters. That was Art! But “This?” “What is this?” Observers responded with confusion, shock, anger, and harsh words at this “satire” of “real art.”
The 1913 Armory Show The International Exhibition of Modern Art opened on February 17, 1913 at the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue. The Armory Show—as it came to be known—had an immediate and profound influence, introducing the avant-garde to America and forever altering the narrative of Modernism in America. Photograph by Percy Rainford, courtesy of Bettmann/Corbis. SOURCE: https://www.thearmoryshow.com/armory-25/one-fair-one-city ON 2-6-2021
Jo Davidsonwas no stranger to European Modernism. Such experiences of “the unconventional” were part of his strolls of Paris with Sultan by his side. He loved his years on the Left Bank. This Bohemian world of the avant garde enlivened him. It pleased and excited his imagination Such images must have powered his search for that illusive “sculptor within.” His search had gone on for over a decade.
Davidson’s Impact: Jo Davidson appreciated this work, but was hardly a Modernist in his own creativity. Yet he seemed to affect the Armory show in at least two ways:
Walt Kuhn appreciated Jo Davidson works. He placed them cleverly throughout the display. As such, they became benchmarks of understandable art next to some of the more unusual Modernist pieces.“Theartists who created them might know what they intended, but most of them weren’t there and many who were [there] were too shy or found talking too difficult.” 2 Each of Jo’s portrait busts and figures became an oasis of “real” sculpture in the confusing landscape of Modern Art. Confused and puzzled viewers could wander the foreign art territory of the Armory Show and find occasional respite at a “Davidson” work of art.
In addition, Jo Davidson himself became an occasional ‘Docent’ at the Armory Show. Lois Kuhn in her children’s biography of Davidson captures an anecdotal explanation that conveys the essence of Jo to her audience: “Jo often visited the armory show himself and could easily explain to others not only his own work, but that of those artists unable to speak for themselves. What a man with words Jo was! Lois Kuhn offers this humorous ‘possible’ vignette to her young readers:
“Its outrageous.” a man protested, looking hard at one of the paintings. “Whoever heard of ‘pink’ grass?“
Jo chuckled. “But you knew it was grass, didn’t you, sir? It never once occurred to you that it wasn’t anything else, now did it?”
The man frowned. “Well I don’t care. I don’t like the darn thing anyway!”
“Nobody said you had to like it, sir, but if you dislike it, why not dislike it with a reason?” Jo thought for a moment, then asked, “Have you ever noticed what colors the shadows on the snow are?”
The viewer was silent. He was trying hard to remember. Jo knew the man had probably never before bothered to think about such an ordinary thing, although he must have seen it hundreds of times. “No I don’t think I have,” the man admitted, “Do you know?”
“They’re purple! The artist looks and sees them so. But so can you! Or anyone else. Just notice next time it snows. Then try to think how it would be if the artist painted snow, making the shadows green. You’d still know they were shadows, wouldn’t you?”
“Okay, you win!” the man sighed. I see your point and you are right!” He smiled, began to turn away, but suddenly turned back and winked at Jo. “You know,” he said strongly, “if more artists could explain things as you do, maybe plain people like me wouldn’t have so darn much trouble trying to find out what they’re up to!”
Jo grinned back. He was happy knowing just one more person would be able to look at a piece of art and try really to understand it.” 2
infrared landscapes by richard mosse at the 2013 Armory Show. CREDIT: ‘platon, north kivu, eastern congo’, 2012all images courtesy jack shainman gallery.
Note: PINK GRASS at the 2013 Armory Show ~~~ Irish photographer Richard Mosse is celebrated for his striking imagery of eastern congo, and presents ‘infrared landscapes’ at the Armory Show in New York 100 years later from the 7-10 March, 2013. “The photographs are full and rich – the arresting deep reds and crimson hues, candy floss trees and savanna grasses aflame with color. all these surreal elements created through a combination of an obsolete wooden field camera and a rare technique produced by kodak aerochrome, a product developed for military use in the detection of aerial bombing targets. in the late 1960s, the medium was appropriated in artwork for rock musicians like the grateful dead or jimi hendrix, setting the tone for the sublime psychedelic aesthetic of the time.”
Jo Davidson revels in“PORTRAIT BUST-ing”
By the end of 1913 Davidson had done more than thirty portrait busts. He had a reputation for being “fast” and “good” at that craft. The Davidson’s returned to France, with a second son, Jean, and found a house in Céret, which is near the border with Spain about 20 miles from the Mediterranean Sea. His wife’s brother Louis de Kerstrat had purchased a small house there. More importantly, growing reputation of Céret was as“the refuge of Picasso, Matisse, Soutine and Chagall” It would eventually be known as “the Mecca of the Cubists.” Moving there he met Picasso and Aristide Maillol. Soon Jo was off to London which presented a wealth of opportunities for making portraits of notables.
LORD NORTHCLIFFE 1913 by Jo Davidson. “Between …” p.54b.
“Portrait became an obsession. Meeting and knowing people meant becoming acquainted with their thinking.” Jo Davidson
From a studio in Thackery House he roved cafes, bars, watering holes seeing and being seen by journalists, authors, and celebrities. His 1914 exhibition at Leicester Galleries included busts of newspaper mogul Lord Northcliffe, Frank and Nell Harris, and George Bernard Shaw.
THE TASTE OF WAR
When WWI broke out, Davidson wanted a place in the effort and through Lord Northcliffe was appointed an artist-correspondent to accompany veteran correspondent George Lynch. The first went to Ostend, Belgium on the English Channel finding a “dead city.” They went on east to Ghent climbing 194 steps in a church tower observing the battle of Grenberegen nearly 15 miles distant. He didn’t enjoy it!
Jo Davidison’s LIBERTY BONDS poster- THE GUT PUNCH.
He later tried to make sketches but without enthusiasm. At an ambulance he met doctors and nurses who spoke no French and he was called over to translate. He received word that their hotel in Ostend had been bombed and destroyed the day they left.
The Germans were advancing and the British were retreating. He saw a priest comforting a soldier with open severe facial wounds. On the road back to Ostend he passed carts filled with old women, children and babies. People carrying pots and pans, a goat, a mattress, a chair, something they could not part with. “War” was no longer just a word in the history books.
Heartsick, Jo returned to London wanting to do something in clay to express what he saw in France. Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote three lines:
FRANCE AROUSED 1914 by Jo Davidson. [Between… p 86a.]
“When France in wrath her giant – limbs upreared,
And with that oath, which smote air, earth, and sea,
Stamped her strong foot and said she would be free.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The result for Jo was“France Aroused.”
“It was a figure of Bellona,
the goddess of War,
with her feet squarely planted on the on the ground,
her arms upraised, fists clenched,
and her head thrown back —
a cry of rage and protest.” [
Between …, p.11.]
RETURNING TO Céret — His Home was converted to a HOSPITAL
On May 26, 1915, Yvonne offered their home in Céret as an auxiliary hospital, Bénévole No. 62 with 40 beds, two nurses and Yvonne in charge. She was up at five A.M. and when all retired would pour over the books in the wee hours. Their five-year-old son, Jacques, dressed in the uniform of a Chasseur Alpin presided at the head of the evening dinner table in a black baret the Apline hunters.
In 1916 Davidson returned to New York exhibiting fifty-five sculptures and war drawings at Reinhardt Galleries and in June modeled President Wilson. He began to realize the historical value of his collection of works. When the United States entered the War in 1917 Davidson decided to make a “plastic history” by modeling portraits of Allied civil and militrary chiefs. So we left for France with funding from Gertrude Whitney and letters of reference from previous subjects. The result — The Peace Conference Series — fourteen portraits of including General John J. Pershing (1918), Marshal Ferdinand Foch (1918), who signed his portrait beginning a tradition that Jo continued, Lord Arthur Balfour (1919), George Clemenceau (1920).
1923 – Gertrude Stein and Jo had met in 1909. He assessed that a head of her was not enough. He decided to do a seated figure — “a sort of a modern Buddha.” [Between …, 174-7.]
“Gertrude was a very rich personality. Her wit and her laughter were contagfious. She loved good food and served it. While I was doing her portrait, She would come around my studio with a manuscript and read it aloud. The extraordinary part of it was that, as she read, I never felt any sense of mystification. ‘A rose is a rose is a rose,’ she took on a different meaning with each inflection. When she read aloud got the humor of it. We both laughed, and her laughter was something to hear. There was an eternal quality about her — she somehow symbolized wisdom.”
John D. Rockefeller 1924
The only person Jo Davidson ever wrote to requesting to do a portrait bust was John D. Rockefeller. One month later he received a Letter from his son, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. containing several questions.
Jo Davidson and John D. Rockefeller modeling his portrait
Several days later John D, Jr. visited the studio with more questions and discussed all details of the venture. A truck arrived carrying all of Davidson’s studio equipment to the Rockefeller Estate in Tarrytown, north of the city.
On their meeting Rockefeller told Jo, “Davis … Davison … Davidson.” The first was his secretary’s name, the second his own middle name, and finally Jo’s last name. Rockefeller voiced the ironic trilogy and his usual “A-ll good.” After meeting his new subject, Davidson, Jo entered into the daily routine and was invited to stay as a house guest rather that commute by train daily. Jo’s descriptions of his time with the family patriarch and his storytelling are as illuminating as his sculpting.
When Jo finished, Rockefeller invited all the house staff to come in and see his fresh likeness. “Come __ in,” he said. “Take__ your__ time. Have a good look at it__ yes? A-ll good. Thank You.”
The son, John D. Jr., liked the finished bust so much that he commissioned Jo to execute it in marble, and also to make a colossal head in stone to be put in the Standard Oil Building.
1927 Pioneer Woman ~ Ponca City, OK ~ E.W. Marland
A reunion for Hermon and Jo and John Gregory.
CONFIDENT – The winning PIONEER WOMAN by Bryant Baker
TRUSTING (1927) by Jo Davidson
CHALLENGING. 1927. Hermon MacNeil
SELF RELIANT by A. Stirling Calder
In 1927 wealthy oilman E. W. Marland of Ponca City, Oklahoma invited a dozen American sculptors to compete for a commission to create a statue to honor the Pioneer Woman. Each artist was to submit a two-foot bronze model for the monument, which was to express, in Marland’s words, “the spirit of the pioneer woman—a tribute to all women of the sunbonnet everywhere.”
PROTECTIVE by John Gregory
Marland’s selection of that dozen sculptors became something of a reunion for Jo Davidson[1] and Hermon MacNeil and John Gregory (an earlier assistant with Davidson in MacNeil’s studio). Others invited were invited included James Earle Fraser, Bryant Baker, and A. Stirling Calder. Each of the dozen were paid $10,000 to produce a bronze two-foot statue model with the winner to be determined by public vote.
The models were sent on a six-month tour of several U.S. cities, from New York and Boston to Minneapolis and Fort Worth and Chicago. Tens of thousands of ballots were cast, and Baker’s model “Confident” won by a margin of nearly two to one. Neither MacNeil or his two previous students won the commission.
Bryant Baker’s entry won the final comission by a wide margin of ballots. Each artist submitted a two-foot bronze model for the monument, which was to express, in Marland’s words, “the spirit of the pioneer woman—a tribute to all women of the sunbonnet everywhere.”
JO DAVIDSON STRIKES OIL
Jo Davidson charmed E. W. Marland so that he built a permanent studio for the sculptor in Ponca City. Jo declined moving there permanently, but did spent weeks there completing statues of E. W., his daughter, Lyde standing holding a large garden bonnet; and son, George, in boots and riding breeches. He also carved a seated figure of E.W. Marland in marble which remains outside the museum a century later.
After completing the sculptures, E. W. Marland took Jo on a trip to California and back to New York in his private railroad car the “Ponca City.” Jo wrote letters to Yvonne during the two-week excursion. Jo met E. W.’s friends, and E.W. met Jo’s friends. “The Trip, one of the richest experiences of my life, eventually was over, and I set out for Europe where political developments were moving at a rapid pace.” [Between …, pp. 210-220.]
Hermon Atkins MacNeil
“Monument Man”
Photos of his works from 1912 to 1929
Hot Links to MacNeil Sculptures follow …
“Into the Unknown” by H. A. MacNeil ( white marble, 1912) became the ‘seal’ image for the National Sculpture Society.
Northwestern Univ. “Pat”
MacNeil’s “Lincoln Lawyer” At the Rushville, Illinois Public Library.
“Dwight L. Moody” bust by Hermon A. MacNeil. Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts
Sherlock finds Lincoln??
The tradition of touching Lincoln’s nose for “good luck” has passed on to another generation of Illini students since the restoration.
Ezra Cornell statue at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY was dedicated in 1918 after WWI.
“Dwight L. Moody” 1920 – A bust by Hermon Atkins MacNeil now graces the campus of Northfield Mount Hermon academy in Massachusetts. The school is a merger of the two separate academies (one for girls and one for boys) that Moody founded in 1879 and 1881
1916 Photo of the installation of the MacNeil statue. Thia appears to have the statue sitting in the right hand leg of the Arch. The left leg is where it was permanently installed. This photo was salvaged from a NYC flea market by John Gomez and used with his permission Credit: John Gomez, NYC.
Behind the scenes MacNeil’s likeness of General Washington guarded the rear flanks of the rally
“George Washington as Commander-in Chief” ~ A recent photo of this MacNeil work that has graced the Washington Arch in Greenwich Village for the last 96 years.
Jim Haas, author and College Point native, sent this Philadelphia shot of Hermon MacNeil’s Soldiers and Sailors Monument on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. That is a rare shot of Jim himself, taken by Lynne, his director of public relations. : ) Jim is a Friend of HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com and a generous researcher for the website.
Philadelphia – Hermon MacNeil – Soldiers And Sailors Monument Sailors side – Being photographed by Dan Leininger, webmaster).
A studio B&W photo of MacNeil’s “WWI Monument” placed at Flushing, NY. This photo was found by John Gomez in a file of papers at a Manhattan flea market on June 9, 2012, nearly 87 years after the statue was made.
A visit to Illinois last week included a stop at the Abe Lincoln bust at Spurlock Museum at U of I. The sculpture will no longer be viewable in-the-round after being returned to its permanent home in the sparklingly-restored Lincoln Hall on campus.
Hearmon A. MacNeil’s “Lincoln Lawyer” at the University of Illinois
Hermon MacNeil include this sculpture of the ‘original telegraph’ into his tribute to Erza Cornell in 1917.
July 21, 2011. The restored bust on display at the Spurlock Museum. MacNeil’s Lincoln bust is beautifully restored on public display in the Spurlock Museum
MacNeil’s 1915 “Lincoln” in Lincoln Hall
MacNeil’s ‘Adventurous Bowman’ atop the “Column of Progress.” None the structures and sculptures seen here remained after the PPIE colsed in 1915.
“Column of Progress” with MacNeil’s “Adventurous Bowman” as the finial figure on top.
MacNeil’s 12′ 8″ Washington (left ) on the Arch (illuminated at sunset)
General George Washington with Flags (U.S. and POW/MIA) ~ Washington Arch Greenwich, NYC (Photo courtesy of: Gibson Shell – 2011)
General George Washington ~ gloves in-hand and hand-on-sword
MacNeil's "Washington as Commander" with 'Valor' in profile to the right
This older photo shows the Arch when traffic was still allowed in the Square.
World War I Memorial – Flushing, New York by H. A. MacNeil
The Soldiers side of the monument
The Soldiers side of the Monument.
ROGER WILLIAMS bust by MacNeil at “Hall of Fame” in Bronx Comm. College ~ Photo Credit: Librado Romero/The New York Times ( http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/12/05/nyregion/05metjournal2_ready.html )
The companion figure to “Intellectual Development”
Further detail to Pat’s companion figure
The sculptor’s signature and date on “Pat”
“Pat” or “Intellectual Development” holds a septer bearing the initial “N,” as in Northwestern, with the owl poised for flight in front of Patten Gym.
“Physical Development” or “Jim,” for short, achieves victory over his opponent in front of Patten Gym at Northwestern University.
Ezra Cornell now interacts with Students through “Dear Uncle Ezra” website.
Hermon Macneil’s ‘green likeness’ of Ezra Cornel is what most students visulaze.
MacNeil’s Jolliete image of 1926.
MacNeil’s depiction of Marquette has the priest with an inviting open right hand and raising a cross above his heart.
Our trip was a satisfying success as our daughter took our pictures at hefoot of the Monument.
Chicagoans approaching the Monument along Marshall and 24th Avenue Boulevards are greeted by the Jesuit’s open hand.
MacNeil’s bronze sculpture of Marquette with an Ilinois Indian on his right hand.
Face of Jolliet from MacNeil’s 1926 Statue grouping of Marquette
Visit these links for further information on these ststues and monuments:
F. J. Mather argued that “Post-Impressionism is merely the harbinger of universal anarchy.” [1913, March 6, “Newest Tendencies in Art,” Independent 74, pp.504-512.] Cited in, On The Margins Of Art Worlds, By Larry Gross p. ?
Here’s a 2010 Update on this Story: 2010 Ponca City duplicates 12 models:https://oklahoman.com/article/3455825/ponca-city-welcomes-back-one-dozen-pioneer-women
In Between Sittings, his autobiography, Jo sculpts his early home life in shapes of restlessness,rovering, and hunger.
“I was born on New York’s lower East Side and the memories of early youth are vague and shadowy. I remember long, dark halls, crowded tenements, strange sour smells, drab unpainted walls and moving — we were always moving. … we were exceedingly poor and often didn’t have enough to eat.” * Between Sittings, p. 3.
Samantha Baskind tells Jo’s story this way: Davidson was born in the ghetto of New York’s Lower East Side to immigrant parents who had fled the Russian pogroms. Encyclopaedia Judaica.
Jo “was the youngestof five children in a household of greatly limited means.” “He had a step-brother, George, and three sisters; Nancy, Rachel, and Rose.”2
Jo’s parents had real fears and emotional scars from the traumas of those anti-Jewish persecutions in Russia. After his parents emigrated to the U.S., Jo was born in New York City on March 30, 1883. Jo inherited a restless wanderer’s spirit as a an offspring of terrorized generations “who had fled the Russian pogroms” MORE.
Jo’s father, Jacob, was Jewish and a man “who lived completely within himself.” His father was “orthodox, self-absorbed, and more intent on religion than on his family.”2 He believed in miracles and fanatically hoped to hold the winning ticket in some lottery. His father’s friends teased Jacob asking if he would rather have a SON or win a MILLION dollar lottery. So after Jo was born, he was nicknamed by friends and family,“The Million.”
“Father had beautiful eyes, a long white beard, and the face of a prophet. I can still see him moving about the house almost like a spirit. He was always praying and a sign of affection from him was a rarely given luxury.” * Between Sittings, p. 3. and Joel Rosenkranz, Rediscoveries…, p. 11.
Jo went with his Father, Jacob, to synagogue on Saturdays, but kept out of his way for fear of offending him. When he asked “where did Cain get his wife?”his Father father smacked him down by stating that “with God everything is possible.”
Jacob Davidson, definitely had plans and ambitions for his son. The MILLION became the sarcastic “BRIS” label of blessing for Jacob’s only son. That moniker became a life-long label in Jo’s Life. Seven decades later, Jo entitled Chapter 1 of his autobiography, “THE MILLION!” Even after his death, Lois Harris Kuhn in her biography,The World of Jo Davidson, offered her young Jewish readers the following explanation:
“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 to 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’s personality was much like his mother, Haya, (nee: Getzoff) “was full of an unquenchable fire that brought life to everything around her… .”
“She was tiny, energetic, practical, the one on whom the whole family leaned. The Davidson’s were exceedingly poor and often didn’t get enough to eat. She would distract the family from their hunger with her wonderful story telling of her past life in Russia, her grandfather who adored her and raised her, and their father’s family filled with scholars and rabbis.” Between Sittings, p. 3,
She was a wonderful cook, could stretch a half-pound of meat into a dozen mouths. Food was very scarce, but restlessness flourished.
“It is curious how little I remember of my school days. I was always in a dream, vague and lazy. I understand now — being underfed, I wanted to sleep all the time.
Yet for all their poverty, Jo recalls the touch of “a warm glow which came from my mother (Haya) and sisters (Nancy, Rachel, and Rose) who surrounded me with love and affection.”
Between Sittings, p. 3, 6. And Joel Rosenkranz, Rediscovderies
A Train Wreck of JOBS
The needs of the family forced Jo to leave school in his teens. What followed were a series of itinerant, dead-end tasks. He first got a job as an apprentice to a house-painter and paperhanger. He worked 12 hour a day, preparing pots and paints in the mornings and washing up and cleaning brushes after returning from jobs. “I don’t remember how I lost that job, but I did,”
What followed was a succession of endeavors: messenger boy at Western Union, office boy at a weekly, and errand boy at a bookstore. Each job ran off the tracks, as he worked too fast for fellow piece-workers, or then slowed down, and got fired by the boss.
When he got board he would sit and sketch, friends, cats, anything in sight. When he sketched other messenger boys, they told him “Jo, you are wasting your time, you ought to get a job at a newspaper.” In between jobs, he hung around art galleries, or visited the afternoon drawing class at the Educational Alliance. Eventually the idea of becoming an artist appealed to him.
Talent Leads the Way
His sister, Rachie, was teaching public school. She showed some of Jo’s sketches to an interested friend who obtained a year’s tuition for Jo at the Art Students League. He enrolled in evening classes becoming the youngest member of the live class drawing from nude living models. There he also met a friend, Waterbury, who taught pyrography — burning in sketches on leather with a pyrographic needle. He mastered the technique and could sell piece work for good pay.
He continued evening drawing classes at the Art Students League. On weekends he would go to a country sketch club and on Sundays he would paint on Richmond Hill on Staten Island. He said his paintings were timid and pale. One in a discussion group he was asked if he could shut his eyes and mentally see a desired color, red, blue, yellow. Jo recalls, ” I tried and tried but all my concentration produced nothing and it was then that I decided I was not a painter.”Between Sittings, p. 8-10.
For some time, Jo’s family thought he should become a doctor. So he was sent to New Haven moved in with his sister, Nancy, and her husband, David, a graduate of Yale Medical School. In between cramming for Regents’ exam, Jo befriended Randall the college photographer. He loaned Jo a photograph of Dr. Arthur Hadley, of Yale University. Jo began using his skills to make a burnt wood portrait of the new president. When Jo finished, Randall displayed it in his storefront window. The next morning Jo returned to the store to find a crowd of people looking in the window at his portrait. It was marked “sold.” Jo got a check for $25.
The buyer, Mr. Pardee, requested that Jo visit him in his office. Seeing the sketchbook in Jo’s pocket, Pardee asked to examine it, then requested permission to show two drawing to the head of the art school. On seeing the sketches, Professor Neimeyer invited him to come and work in the Art School — tuition free — saying, “We are glad to have young men of talent.” So Jo began drawing a live model with other Art School students. Eventually he sketched the model from so many angles that he tired and lost interest. Taking a break, he roved through the building. He found a basement room full of plaster casts and modeling stands, and he walked in.
Jo finds CLAY and “touches the rest of his life … ”
“I found the clay bin, put my hand in it, and touched the rest of my life. The cool wet stuff gave me a thrill that I had never before experienced.”
He began building clay on a stand, copying a mask of Saint Francis nearby. He lost track of time, then was startled when he realized the modeling instructor, Mr. Boardman, was standing behind him. The instructor asked how long Jo had studied modeling. Jo said this was the first time he had touched clay.
“He did not seem to believe me, which gave me the feeling it was not too bad. We talked for a long time and the result was that I decided to chuck medicine and take up sculpture.” Jo asked who taught sculpture and was given the name of Hermon A. MacNeil. Between Sittings, p. 8-10.
Hermon MacNeil ~ enters Jo’s life …
JO finds Hermon MacNeil and his College Point Studio.
“By 1903, with his flirtation with a medical career ended, Jo was back in New York working as an assistant in sculptor Hermon Atkins MacNeil’s studio.” RosenKranz, p. 11.
Jo FUNNY STORY concludes: “Henri Crenier took a special delight in teasing me. I liked him and took it good-naturedly. But one day I lost my temper and we came to blows. I knocked him down and relieved my feelings by giving him a healthy pummeling. I was so busy that I did not hear MacNeil come into the studio. Suddenly I heard him say: “Jo, when you get through, will you mix me a little plaster.”
Hermon MacNeil outside his Studio about 1945. [Courtesy of Kenilworth Historical Society & Joel Rosenkranz. Photo by: Violet Wyld
Jo Davidson (about 1922)
NOTE THIS WELL:
HERMON’S INTERVENTION: MacNeil did notscold. He did not raise his voice. He did not even tell Jo to stop, for he probably saw the teasing and taunting that the young 18-year-old had taken from the other Assistants, Henri and John. In essence he said,
“When you feel you are sufficiently through pummeling Henri Crenier, (my master assistant), would you mix me a little plaster.” Jo must have found Hermon to be quiet a contrast to his Father whose“signs of affection were rarely given luxuries” Fifty years later Jo tells the above story in his biography, then concludes with: “The summer passed quickly. Those were rich and full days. I was sure of my vocation. I was going to be a sculptor.”l
“Rich and full, the “sculptor to be” went on searching the world for another decade to develop his own style and skills as a sculptor. Then in the next 40 years, Jo Davidson shaped portrait busts of over a hundred world famous people. BUT the kindness of Hermon MacNeil seemed to be a pleasant memory.
MORE “HERMON & JO” STORIES TO COME … on Feb 8th
#2 The Wanderer & The Monument Maker
~~~~
NOTES:
Jo Davidson, Between Sittings: an informal autobiography of Jo Davidson. Dial Press: New York, 1951. PP. 3.
Connor, Janis and Joel Rosenkranz, photographs by David Finn, Rediscoveries in American Sculpture: Studio Works, 1893 – 1939, University of Texas Press, Austin TX 1989.
SOURCES:
Jo Davidson, Between Sittings: an informal autobiography of Jo Davidson. Dial Press: New York, 1951. PP. 3-16.
TIME, “Political Notes: Glamor Pusses.” VOL. XLVIII, No. 11, September 9, 1946. pp
Connor, Janis and Joel Rosenkranz, photographs by David Finn, Rediscoveries in American Sculpture: Studio Works, 1893 – 1939, University of Texas Press, Austin TX 1989.
Jo Davidson, (1883-1952). Jewish Virtual Library: a project of AICE. Source: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jo-davidson. recovered on Jan 11, 2021.
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/
As we begin the New Year of 2021, we have found a Bronze Bust of Samuel Longstreth Parrish by Hermon A. MacNeil. This work has graced Southampton Village, Long Island for a century, but was not been previously credited on this growing virtual gallery of MacNeil’s works. https://hermonatkinsmacneil.com/
Bronze Bust of Samuel Longstreth Parrish by Hermon A. MacNeil.
“Samuel Parrish,a wealthy New York attorney, made Southampton his adoptive home at the end of the 19th century and became one of its most active citizens and generous benefactors until his death in 1932. During the boom years at the dawn of the 20th century, he was involved in every major civic project. He donated land forSouthampton Hospital,helped to establish the Rogers Memorial Library, served briefly as village president (mayor) and founded theParrish Art Museum, which he considered his crowning achievement. He commissioned Stanford White to build a house for his mother on First Neck Lane and made many improvements to the Rogers Mansion, which was his home from 1899 until his death.”— Copy courtesy of the Southampton Historical Museum.
Samuel Longstreth Parrish standing inside his art museum. [Photo postcard of Samuel Parrish in his Museum. Circa 1907. SOURCE: Arts and Architect Quarterly, at https://aaqeastend.com/contents/woodward-local-postcard-sampling/ on 1/1/2021]
Samuel L. Parrish Art Museum, 1898. Source: www.southamptoncenter.org
Parrish Art Museum ~ 2017
The original idea for the museum came to Samuel Parrish, who had studied the Italian Renaissance at Harvard College, while he was on a trip through Italy in 1896 gathering pieces and reproductions of Greek and Roman sculpture. Parrish commissioned fellow Southampton summer resident Grosvenor Atterbury to design the museum.
“We did not discover this bust by Hermon A. MacNeil until 2020, 100 YEARS after this sculpture was installed in its niche at New York Public Library. Here’s the story we found!”
IN 1920 THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Bulletin reported the following story and photos:
“The John Stewart Kennedy Memorial was completed and the bust of Mr. Kennedy by H. A. MacNeil, the sculptor, was installed in the niche prepared for it in the Fifth Avenue entrance lobby. Mr. Kennedy was formerly the President of the Lenox Library, and upon the consolidation became a Trustee and Second Vice-President of The New York Public Library, in which capacities he continued to serve until his death in 1909. He took an active part in the negotiations, which resulted in the consolidation, and the deep interest, which he displayed in the development of the Library and his liberal benefactions to it will be ever remembered.” [SOURCE: Bulletin of the New York Public Library, Volume 24: January to December 1920, New York, 1920]
1920 New York Public Library. The John Stewart Kennedy Memorial was completed and the bust of Mr. Kennedy by H. A. MacNeil, the sculptor, was installed in the niche prepared for it in the Fifth Avenue entrance lobby.
Kennedy was a Scottish-born American businessman, financier and philanthropist. At the time of his death his will gave away $30,000,000 to various , universities, libraries, museums, Presbyterian missions, around the city and globe, including $2,500,000 to the New York Public Library. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stewart_Kennedy]
For additional information on J. S. Kennedy see:
Albro Martin, James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest (1976) and
Ralph W. Hidy, Muriel E. Hidy, and Roy V. Scott with Don L. Hofsommer, The Great Northern Railway: A History (1988).
daughter of an Asian Indian Mother and a Jamacian Father,
Joyous New Yorkers flocked to the historic Washington Arch to dance and shout as Joe Biden was declared the next President-elect after four days of ballot counting.
It’s AnAmerican NationalBlockParty
Behind the scenes MacNeil’s likeness of General Washington guarded the rear flanks of the rally
MacNeil’s statue portrays General George Washington in the uniform of the Continental Army of 1775. Also, on the back of the Arch is Alexander Sterling Calder’s accompanying statue of President Washington as 1st President and the first civilian Commander-in-Chief.
Celebrating Americans seem relieved that new leadership will deal with the following stresses of 2020:
Political Vitriol
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
Weaponized Decision Folly
In June 2020 Vandals tossed
red paint
this MacNeil work
Both statues of George Washington suffered “red paint” vandalism during earlier demonstrations on June 29, 2020.
The accompanying “George Washington as President”statue by Alexander Sterling Calder was also damaged. They have since been cleaned. However, such vandalism takes a toll on these century old marble art monuments.
In Flushing, New York, The World War Monument by Hermon MacNeil is inscribed:
“In Memory of Those
Who Gave Their Lives”
Roger Bow lives in Bayside, NY.
Last week, his life-long interest in collecting Standing Liberty Quarters,lead him to purchase a MacNeil Medallion.
In his order he added that he grew up in Flushing and always admired the World War Monument there.
I asked him if he would send me some pictures.
WELL, HE DID!
Lady Liberty at the Flushing Monument.
Lady Liberty of the SLQ and the Flushing Lady both by MacNeil
Hermon MacNeil at the feet of Lady Liberty.
In Memory of MacNeil and the Soldiers of Flushing.
The World War Monument in Flushing is a peaceful place that invites people to stop and rest.
Tribute to dough Boys by their hometown.
Names of Flushing Boys (A-J) who died in WWI
Liberty’s wings and shield.
Liberty’s wings and shield protect the names listed below them
Names of Veterans H-W.
Libeerty’s Bell and the Roman symbol the Fascee
Hi Dan,
Received the beautiful Medallion and your nice note. I took some photos this weekend at MacNeil’s War Monument.
I grew up appreciating this striking and poignant monument in my hometown. I didn’t fully appreciate it’s magnificence until I was older and had seen and visited other war memorials in other States. Her presence never fails to remind us of the bravery, sacrifice and resolve of our troops while depicting the spiritual comfort of the lost finally coming home.
I will take a closer look at the Washington Square Monument next time I am in the area. I never knew MacNeil sculpted that figure as well. Great to make these connections and will always make an effort to visit MacNeil’s works wherever I travel.
I appreciate your preserving his legacy and for the gifts that accompanied the medallion.
Feel free to use any of the photos attached to my 3 emails.
Best regards for a safe and healthy year,
Roger Bow
THANKS, ROGER!
Very Creative.
Take a Bow!
THANKS, ROGER! Roger Bow with his MacNeil Medallion at the Flushing Memorial on Sunday — (8-23-2020)
CLICK ON PHOTOS BELOW FOR A SLIDESHOW:
The World War Monument in Flushing is a peaceful place that invites people to stop and rest.
Lady Liberty at the Flushing Monument.
In Memory of MacNeil and the Soldiers of Flushing.
Roger Bow with his MacNeil Medallion at the Flushing Memorial (8-23-2020)
Lady Liberty of the SLQ and the Flushing Lady both by MacNeil
Liberty’s wings and shield protect the names listed below them
Dueling advocacy groups are set to converge on the historic Battery in Charleston, South Carolina over the next two weekends as racial tensions continue to escalate in (and around) the Holy City. And there is a good chance their members will be armed …
The focal point of the forthcoming demonstrations? A 25-foot tall Confederate memorial located at the southern tip of White Point Garden, a 5.7-acre public park located on the Charleston peninsula at the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper rivers. Erected in 1932 by the Fort Sumter Memorial Commission, this monument has been vandalized on numerous occasions in the past. Now it is drawing crowds of antagonists (and defenders) in the aftermath of rioting that rocked Charleston a little over a month ago following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota over Memorial Day.
Entitled “To The Confederate Defenders Of Charleston,” the monument features a 12-foot bronze statue on a 13-foot granite pedestal. It is the handiwork of the late sculptor Hermon Atkins MacNeil of Everett, Massachusetts.
Per the Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog, the monument is “an allegorical depiction of the Confederate defense of Charleston during the Civil War.”
“The male figure is the defending warrior, with a sword in his proper right hand and a shield bearing the South Carolina state seal in his proper left hand,” the catalog noted.
The female figure (who stands for the city of Charleston) “holds in her proper right hand a garland of laurel, symbolizing immortality, and with her proper left hand points towards the sea to the enemy,” per the catalog.
“On the base are scenes in relief of figures repairing the shattered walls of Fort Sumter with sand bags,” the descriptor continues. “Eleven stars on the lower base represent the eleven Confederate states.”
Demonstrators affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement have made taking down this monument their top priority after successfully advocating for the removal of a 115-foot monument across town honoring the late U.S. vice president John C. Calhoun.
The removal of the Calhoun monument was pushed by liberal Charleston mayor John Tecklenburg – who recently convened a task force to recommend further historical sanitization in the Holy City (including the renaming of Calhoun Street).
Tecklenburg has been criticized for his advocacy – as well as his alleged failure to protect citizens and businesses during the riots that consumed the city on the evening of May 30, 2020.
“We sat for three-plus hours with no assistance to protect our businesses,” Jack Handegan III wrote on Facebook the day after the riots. “We watched them slowly and methodically smash and steal every single item out of (our) neighbors place while the police never came. Three-plus hours of chaos.”
“There was no law enforcement on upper King Street,” one property owner in the area told us bluntly the same day. “Whatsoever.”
While a group of Charleston business interests is emerging to challenge Tecklenburg in the halls of power in the Holy City, the threat of violence on its streets is once again rising … and the monument in White Point Garden could very well be the spark that lights the fuse.
There was at least one scuffle at this monument on Sunday (July 5, 2020) – an incident which has prompted Black Lives Matter protesters and monument defenders to ramp up their rhetoric (and call for reinforcements at future protests).
Take a look …
(Click to view)
(Via: The Contemporary Conservative/ Facebook)
“Black Lives Matter has been at the battery every weekend since the riots,” one source tracking the situation told us. “It is just escalating drastically.”
According to a report from Kelly Golden of 94.3 WSC radio, one Black Lives Matter protester showed up at the monument on Sunday armed with an AR-15 assault rifle. Another reportedly carried an axe and a taser.
“The displays at the battery have gone on for five years now without an incident ever involving a weapon,” said James Bessenger, editor of The Contemporary Conservative. “On Sunday three BLM protestors confronted (monument defenders) with an AR-15, a taser, and an axe. At one point, a protestor bumped into an individual and snatched his flag. Another BLM protestor hit the flag bearer in the head from behind, knocking him down.”
According to Bessenger, the situation is poised to escalate …
A new group calling itself “Flags Across The South” announced that it was planning on bringing weapons – possibly loaded weapons – to future demonstrations. Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter protestors and Antifa activists from across Charleston have reportedly indicated they will stage a counter-protest “with weapons,” according to Bessenger.
“Additional groups from out of town are planning to attend and carry for at least the next two Sundays,” Bessenger added.
What could possibly go wrong, right?
Clearly, this is an increasingly volatile situation … one in which we hope cooler heads on all sides manage to prevail. Certainly we believe there are cooler heads on all sides of these various issues – people of all races and backgrounds eager for a real, respectful conversation on the underlying issues that must be addressed.
Will their voices be heard above the din?
We shall see …
UPDATE || An earlier version of this story indicated the memorial in question was first erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Further research has revealed it was the Fort Sumter Memorial Commission that erected it. We apologize for the error.
Vandalism on June 29, 2020 left MacNeil’s statue “bleeding” red paint of of the 104 year-old marble monument.
The news arrived this morning from Antonio Bueti, a New York native, MacNeil buff, and Friend ofHermonAtkinsMacNeil.com/
Three weeks ago, I posted Photos and the story of BLM Protesters marching through the Arch during demonstrations over the death of George Floyd. CLICK HERE
Both Statues on the Arch were attacked. Hermon A. MacNeil and Alexander Stirling Calder made the pair of companion pieces that sit on the supporting walls of the Arch at the end of Fifth Avenue. One was “The Soldier” and the other was “The President.”
“We had to work together on those statues, Calder and I,” said Mr. MacNeil, “and we had some hot arguments over them, though we are good friends. Of course, each of us had his own statue to do, but we had to treat them in the same restrained manner, to fit each other and the Arch itself”J. Walker McSpadden, Famous Sculptors of America: Books for Libraries Press, Freeport, NY, 1924, reprint 1968
MacNeil and Calder had their work placed on the Arch several years after it was constructed.
Dylan Roof was indited for murder in the Charleston Church Massacre on July 17, 2015. “In December 2016 he was convicted of 33 federalhate crime and murder charges. On January 10, 2017, he was sentenced to death for these crimes.[9] https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/charleston-church-shooting/dylann-roof-indicted-murder-church-massacre-n388066
Turbulent times raise issues of removal and/or further vandalism.
Above the rally, MacNeil’s likeness of General Washington guarded the rear flanks of the marchers.
Protesters marched at Washington Square Park in Manhattan on Monday.(June 9, 2020) [Credit…Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times]
The photo shows H. A. MacNeil‘s statue of George Washington looking down on 1000’s of Protesters as they remember George Floyd and march for Justice two weeks after his death at the hands of four Minneapolis Police officers.
MacNeil’s statue has seen many protests in its 104 years up on that pedestal of the arch, BUT nothing as moving as this. Alexander Sterling Calder‘s statue of President Washington looks on from the left at the crowd. (FOR Bernie Sanders Rally in 2016, CLICK HERE)
Protests continue nationwide, with signs of an ebb after dark.
Two weeks after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis, demonstrations against police violence continued to fill the streets of cities and towns across the country on Monday.
About 1,000 protesters gathered in Los Angeles near a memorial for those killed by the police. Thousands more called for police reforms before a City Council meeting in Charlotte, N.C. And more than 1,000 made their way to a march that began in Washington Square Park in Manhattan.
“This is a young, young revolution,” said Vidal Guzman, 29, as he led marchers down Fifth Avenue in New York. “These are teenagers, people in their 20s, 30-year-olds. We have energy. We believe in what we’re doing, and we’re not going to let up.”
Still, there were signs in parts of the country that the demonstrations that have raged through cities after dark over the past two weeks appeared to be ramping down in many places.
PHILADELPHIA – Another BLM Protest march passes the March down the Ben Franklin Parkway from the Art Museum to City Hall.
The Rally-goers pass between the two 60 foot columns of MacNeil, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Monument
PHILADELPHIA — Thousands of people demanding justice for George Floyd flooded the streets of downtown Philadelphia on Saturday, chanting “No justice, no peace!”
Demonstrators gathered near the Philadelphia Museum of Art and its famous “Rocky” steps before setting off for the City Hall area, with the line of marchers stretching for several city blocks along the tree-lined Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
The protesters circled City Hall, clapping and shouting, “Black Lives Matter!” as some residents of an apartment building held signs on their balconies reading “BLM” and “Keep Going, Philly,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
To police officers and National Guard members, they chanted: “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”
Qadir Sabur, 22, handing out water and snacks and holding a sign that read “Don’t just say Black Lives Matter, show us,” said that in addition to opposition to police brutality, African Americans in the city should benefit from the same opportunities in jobs and education.
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS MONUMENT Philadelphia
Philadelphia – Hermon MacNeil – “Soldiers And Sailors Monument” – South pylon or Sailors side – Being photographed by Dan Leininger, webmaster).
PHILADELPHIA —->>>
~ “Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Monument”~ Soldiers side North Pylon
“I’m not just seeing blacks come together today as one,” he said, “I’m seeing everyone coming together as one,” he told the Inquirer.
By late afternoon, many protesters had left but others lingered around the Art Museum area or along the parkway. Smaller demonstrations were held in other areas, including one by the African American Museum in Philadelphia near Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.
City officials earlier announced street closures, saying much of the city center, from the Delaware River to the Schuylkill River, would be closed to vehicles. A curfew will be in effect again overnight, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., during which time only people with essential duties are allowed out.
Smaller groups also marched in other cities around the state, including several hundred in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area.
Floyd, who was black, died on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into his neck even as he pleaded for air and stopped moving. His death has sparked protests over police treatment of African Americans and racial injustice nationwide
Pennsylvania Governor speaks on the Rally s and needed reforms for Pennsylvania: CLICK 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
Hosting & Tech Support: Leiturgia Communications, Inc. WATCH US GROW
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
A bronze figure represents the country. She holds palms of victory and peace, and a sheathed sword of war. Etched in marble behind her are soldiers and sailors marching to her defense. On the other side is a Civil War battery in action. One end shows a wounded drummer boy; the other a soldier returning to his wife and child. There are about 60 life size figures cut into the monument.
During her months of declining health, Carol was nursed at home by her family and Cecelia, a home nurse. As Carol’s condition worsened, the needs exceeded the home-care options of the day. She was admitted to the Jamaica (Queens) Hospital. Carol Brooks MacNeil died there on June 22, 1944. Newspapers in New York and the Chicago Daily Times 
Published 
