WELCOME to the “Hermon A. MacNeil” — Virtual Gallery & Museum !
~ This Gallery celebrates Hermon Atkins MacNeil, of the Beaux Arts School American classic sculptor of Native images and American history. ~ World’s Fairs, statues, monuments, coins, and more… ~ Hot-links ( lower right) lead to works by Hermon A. MacNeil. ~ Over 200 of stories & 2,000 photos form this virtual MacNeil Gallery stretching east to west New York to New Mexico ~ Oregon to S. Carolina. ~ 2021 marks the 155th Anniversary of Hermon MacNeil’s birth. ~~Do you WALK or DRIVE by MacNeil sculptures DAILY! ~~ CHECK it OUT!
DO YOU walk by MacNeil Statues and NOT KNOW IT ???
Two bas relief panels by Hermon A. MacNeil have been discovered. PAN on the left – MINERVA on the right.
They have remained virtually hidden for over 100 years.
Their original installation and images are verified, but their continued deposition as of 2021 remains uncertain.
The above article from 1916 accompanied the the photos of Pan and Minerva in The International Studio, Vol 59, p LVIII.
Hermon A. MacNeil sculpted these bas reliefs over a century ago. Documentation of Pan and Minerva has appeared in recent searches by the webmaster.
Information discovered in recent weeks include:
A Pair of Bas-reliefs of PAN and MINERVA
Material: 2 terra cotta reliefs
Dimensions: 2 1/2 feet by 4 feet
Mr. Hill Tolerton, Owner
William C. Hays, Architect
Location: 540 Sutter St., San Francisco
Building originally designed as an Art establishment
Made in Italian Renaissance style with an upper mezzanine level
Adjoining Courtyard patterned after that of the Italian Building in the late Pan-Pacific Exposition of 1915
The 2 reliefs no longer appear on the face of the building as was the stated design. [SEE Google street PHOTO included below of 540 Sutter Street today]
The above images are the only recordof the MacNeil work presently found. Other evidence may be uncovered in subsequent searches.
Mr. Tolerton wanted the facade of his new Art Gallery on Sutter Street in San Francisco ornamented by two “sculptured placques”. He commissioned MacNeil, a sculptor of the Pan Pacific Exposition of 1915, to make these reliefs of Pan and Minerva to grace his new Art building.
One of Pan — the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr.
The other of Minerva— the goddess of wisdom, war, art, schools, and commerce. She was the Etruscan counterpart to Greek Athena.
THESE TWO ICONS MARKED TOLERTON’S NEW BUILDING AS AN ART CENTER. [ They do not appear in the street photo captured below from 2020 ]
No trace of the MacNeil bas relief panels of Pan and Minerva at 540 Sutter Street, San Francisco in this 2020 street photo via Google maps. Perhaps they were originally in the space high above the doorway and window a century ago in what now appears as stucco finish. SO, … PAN & MINERVA still remain hidden in the 21st century — if they still exist at all!
SOURCES:
“Two Bas Reliefs by Hermon A. MacNeil”, The International Studio, Ed: Charles Holmes, et. al. Vol.59, p. lviii. from Google Books on 1/3/2021 at https://books.google.com/books?id=q09aAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR58&dq=Pan+Minerva+san+francisco+Mr.+Hill+Tolerton+1916&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiWheuZtYPuAhVWZc0KHWyZDScQ6AEwAHoECAMQAg#v=onepage&q=Pan%20Minerva%20san%20francisco%20Mr.%20Hill%20Tolerton%201916&f=false
“A New San Francisco Gallery”, American Art News. Vol. XIV, No. 33, New York, May 20, 1916. p. 1.
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.
Hermon MacNeil often made Christmas Cards that featured his own drawings and studio images.
MacNeil Christmas card from 1922.
Here’s a Card from 1922 ==>>
This pencil sketch proclaiming“Merry Christmas 1922” appears reminiscent of MacNeil’s “Sun Vow”
In that composition, a Native Chief, possibly Sioux, coaches a young warrior through a rite of passage — shooting an arrow into the of the sun.
In MacNeil’s 1922 Christmas drawing, a similar pair of figures wave a banner of seasons greetings. Their presence seems a reprise of the Sun Vow sculpture.
While that was over a century ago, here’s what we can know today:
We know being an artist, MacNeil often carried and kept sketchbooks.
We know he would sit in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair with his sketchbook.
We know he sketched D. L Moody at an interdenominational Sunday Worship in Wild Bill’s Arena (since no Sunday shows were allowed and Moody rented the venue).
We know he traveled, sketched and sculpted on his trip to the Southwest territories in 1895 (New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado).
We know he formed clay and plaster images there; and he shipped many back to Chicago.
We know that his memory of Native images dominated his sculptures for the next ten years.
I suspect that the idea for this card sprang up from the artist’s visual memory, perhaps, revived from an old sketchbook. A dusty record of images that he first saw three decades earlier at the Worlds Columbian Exposition of 1893.
Here’s More from this website:
“Native American Themes: His first introduction to native subjects came through Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. During the 1893 Worlds Fair, Buffalo Bill’s troupe performed in a carnival setting outside the main entrance. Fascinated, MacNeil’s artist-eye and imagination took every opportunity to see the show and sketch the ceremonies and rituals of Indian life — MacNeil often carried a sketch book. He latter befriended Black Pipe, a Sioux warrior from the show, who he found down-and-out on the Chicago streets after the carnival midways of the Fair had closed. MacNeil invited Black Pipe to model for him and assist in studio labors, which he did for over a year. Inspired by these native subjects and encouraged by Edward Everett Ayers, MacNeil found a respect for this vanishing Native culture and made subsequent trips to the southwest. When the Marquette Building was constructed, MacNeil was awarded a commission to complete Four Bas Relief Panelsof over the main entrance. His work depicts four scenes from Marquette’s trip through the Great Lakes region.”
“In the summer of 1895, along with Hamlin Garland (a writer) and C. F. Browne (a painter), he traveled to the four-corners territories (now, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah) seeing American Indians (Navajo, and Moqui — now Hopi) in their changing cultural element on various reservations. While there, he was asked to sculpt, out of available materials, a likeness of Chief Manuelito. The Navajo warrior had died in despair after being imprisoned for four years as a renegade by the U. S. Government (Col. Kit Carson) twenty-five years earlier. Manuelito’s likeness (click here), made of available materials, brought tears to his widow’s eyes, and remains an object of cultural pride in Gallup, New Mexico to this day.”SOURCE: Click HERE
“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).
Hermon MacNeil came to Chicago in 1891. Preliminary work was beginning on the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893(Chicago Worlds Fair). He brought with him a Letter of Introduction to Phillip Martiny, a gift from Augustus Saint Gaudens of New York City.
“Martiny was one of the large team of decorative sculptors assembled to carry out details for the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893, where he settled for a year to carry out the clay models for many somewhat facile decorative allegorical figures, cherubs, caryatids and the like. … The sculptures, which were carried out in staff, a weather-resistant plaster, were destroyed with the exhibition buildings, but the successful effect they produced led to further similar commissions at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York (1901) and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St Louis (1904). His growing reputation led to his only medal, an award medal for the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia.” [4] Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Martiny
“So MacNeil chose to settle in Chicago where this collosal World’s Fair was “being born.” This decision proved momentous in many ways. In his ‘Chicago Years’ he met people who would remain professional colleagues and friends for the next four decades. These included Frederick MacMonnies, Lorado Taft, his pupil, Carol Louise Brooks (who MacNeil was to marry in 1895), Daniel Chester French, as well as architects Daniel Burnham, Stanford White, and Charles Follen McKim. The rest of MacNeil’s career would become a repeated succession of partnerships with these colleagues on projects, monuments, buildings, and memorials that were joint efforts of many Beaux Arts trained scupltors and architects associated with the American Academy in Rome.”The rest story has been told on thiswebsite at: “The Chicago Years” [CLICK HERE].
Fifty years later, Hermon MacNeil, revisited these “Chicago Years” when he wrote out his thirteen page Autobiography. Here’s what he wanted us to know:
“St. Gaudens was then the great sculptor in America and in my brash way [ I ] went to N. Y. City and asked him for a job, that is, the privilege of being an apprentice. He was kind enough to give me a letter to Philip Martiny, a very able sculptor who had considerable work at that time designing sculpture for the coming exposition in Chicago. He rather doubtfully took me on. At the end of the first week he asked me what I thought I should have for pay. I had had no professional experience so I told him to set my stipend. I would have taken $2 or $3 a day if he said so but he asked me if $5 would be enough! I don’t think I showed any disappointment in my face and told him that was O.K. (O.K. was not used in those days however) So for a year I revelled [sic] in assisting in the professional work and learned a great deal. Had in Paris learned to model the figure but in the studio to use intelligently and decoratively that knowledge was another thing again. As a friend of Martiny’s said to me when looking at my work, “Don’t you know their is a great difference between a school study and a work of art?” It sunk in.” [ “AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH — HERMON ATKINS MACNEIL,” June, 1943, page 4. ] Cornell University Archives.
Hamlin Garland
Garland Garland came to Chicago in 1893.
Teen Writer. “Garland began to write poetry during his teens and published his first poem in Harper’s Weekly called Lost in a Norther which announced his close connection with the adventurous American spirit and the pioneering life that would characterize a large part of his fiction.” [ https://mypoeticside.com/poets/hamlin-garland-poems ]
Keen Observer.“It wasn’t until Garland was in his early thirties though that he began to achieve some success with a collection of short stories under the title Main Travelled Roads. He used this success to move to Chicago where he gave lectures on writing in a more realistic way and later also visited the ‘untamed’ west where he observed cowboys and made copious books of notes on the life of American Indians. It was these keen character studies that he would use in his fiction in later years.” [ https://mypoeticside.com/poets/hamlin-garland-poems ]
Scene Novelist. When Garland moved to Chicago in 1893, he wanted to experience the events and excitement of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. He was already considered “a significant figure in the Chicago Literary Movement” and “one of Chicago’s most important authors”.[8] He wanted to both participate and witness this global, cultural symbol of the emerging American Exceptionalism. Garland contributed some of the featured 6,000 lectures. In doing so he became friendly “with Mark Twain, Walt Whitman and Rudyard Kipling, as well as Edward Eggleston, Joseph Kirkland and E.W. Howe.” [3]
The Woodlawn neighborhood sprung up to house the explosion of workers, businesses, and commerce necessary to construct the “White City” He settled in Woodlawn at 6427 South Greenwood Avenue, an apartment just six blocks south of the Midway and its amusements.
The White Rabbits. The story of Larado Taft and his female assistants, The White Rabblts, has been told many times here on this website. They did more than finish the works of their male sculptors counterparts.
The Rabbits weren’t just responsible for realizing other people’s visions; several of them also contributed their own sculptures to the fair. Scudder created an allegorical female Justice for the Illinois building as well as a sculpture for the pavilion of her home state, Indiana. Taft’s sister Zulime Garland made Flying Victory and Learning. Julia Bracken Wendt, who was already the most talented assistant in Taft’s studio before the fair, sculpted Faith; Charity was undertaken by Carrie Brooks MacNeil, Maternity by Ellen Copp, and “Art” by Bessie Potter Vonnoh.
Friendships and Romance. While creating the these buildings and sculptures, there evolved a unique community of White City artists. The collegiality extended through the years. Several friendships evolved into marriage. Both Garland and MacNeil found their life partners in Larado Taft”s assistants, The White Rabbits. A recurring community of Camp Life sprung up:
[1]“The spirit of playful camaraderie among the city’s artists was manifest in the first of several outings to Bass Lake, Indiana. For two weeks in August 1894 Potter experienced invigorating camp life with the sculptors Lorado Taft, Carrie Brooks, Hermon Atkins MacNeil, Lew Wall Moore, and Edward and Laura Swing Kemeys, And the painters Charles Francis Browne, Carl Heber, and Menthe Svenden. Between recreational activities and spirited antics, painters and sculptors alike engaged in plein-air oil sketching of the scenery. Evenings were given over to art lectures illustrated by the stereopticon projected on a make shift screen consisting of a sheet stretched between trees. Such a good time was had that the artist arranged another merry outing for September. There after the excursions became annual events.”
[1] Julie Aronson, Bessie Potter Vonnoh: Sculptor of Women, Cincinnati Art Museum: Ohio University Press; Athens, Ohio. 2008, p. 31.
TWO MARRIAGES:
Hermon MacNeil married Carol (Carrie) Brooks a student of Larado Taft, and Hamlin Garland married Zulime Taft, sister of Larado.
They all built The White City, BUTthe White Citysculpted their lives as well.
SOURCES:
[1] Julie Aronson, Bessie Potter Vonnoh: Sculptor of Women, Cincinnati Art Museum: Ohio University Press; Athens, Ohio. 2008, p. 31.
Jamaicia Plain Historical Society [ https://www.jphs.org/people/2005/4/14/hamlin-garland-one-of-the-great-literary-pioneers-of-america.html ]
This MacNeil Medallion is a 3" bronze medal with nickel plating minted in 2016 to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Hermon Atkins MacNeil and the 100th Centenary year of the first minting of the Standing Liberty Quarter dollar. The face duplicates the obverse of MacNeil's original sculpture of Miss Liberty from 1916. The "M" beneath the 13th star is the only form of signature allowed for the sculptor.
<== NOW AVAILABLE ON EBAY the Hermon A. MacNeil Medallion
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
