Search Results for "McKinley 1906"
Jo Davidson – about 1911 [Bates College of Arts: detail from Young Artists of the Modern School]
Hermon Atkins MacNeil about 1916
~ JO Davidson ~ Adventurer ~
~ Hermon MacNeil ~ Monument Man ~
1903 – 1910
For Jo it was …
WANDERING ~~ ROVING ~~ SEARCHING
“Always moving“ ~~ He learned “moving” first at home.
Early memories of “moving” became a life theme.
He had decided to become a SCULPTOR, BUT he searched and roved for nearly a decade to discover
his own INNER SCULPTOR, the talent within.
JO DAVIDSON ~~ Adventurer
WANDERING PENNYLESS to St. Louis. When Jo Davidson finished up at the MacNeil Atlier, he decided to go to St. Louis to find work as a sculptor at the World’s Fair — the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. He carried with him a letter written by Hermon Atkins MacNeil recommending this young sculptor assistant to Mr. Zolney, the sculptor in charge.
The problem was, he had no money to travel or live on. He took a sales job selling wafers for ice-cream sandwiches. That got him to St. Louis, but when he presented his letter, Mr Zolney had NO JOBS left. He needed no more sculptors. Jo wandered the Fair midway destitute. He slept on boxes at night hiding from the Fair police who cleared the grounds of closed the gates.
Making Pyrography to Live. To survive Jo resorted to his old skills of making portraits — burning them into wood and leather goods. Showing samples of his work, he connected with a vendor and offered to do portraits and monograms on leather cushions. Now he could eat, stay alive, and gain some income. Even Geronimo, the Apache Chief, came to sit for him.
JO Becomes a Cossack. One day two Russian Cossacks in full regalia passed by the booth where Jo worked. He thought they were showfolk from the Pike, but when he used the only two Russian words that he knew to hail them…
“They wheeled around, and practically fell into my arms, jabbering away. I did not understand a word, but I could see that they were in trouble. There was one solution: the Russian Westinghouse exhibition was in the same building. Surely the man in charge could speak Russian. I took them there and they wept as they told their story.” Between … p. 19-20
Their goods had been stopped in government customs, at the fault of their interpreter who also absconded with some of their money. The Westinghouse people cleared it all up. The Cossacks hung onto Jo insisting he “had saved their lives.” They gave him a steady job promoting their booth and silver inlaid wares. In time off, he had the run of the fare, carrying his sketchbook filling it with drawings of everyone and everything he saw. His adventures continued through the summer until the Fair closed in November of 1904.
FAIR ENDS: Jo rambles around then arrives at HOME with a Black Eye. When the fair ended, Jo felt a tragic sense of loss — something had died. The exploits were over. Time to move again. He wandered on to Chicago, with the Cassocks, then Atlantic City. Jo wanted no part of “shop work.” He ventured on the Boardwalk and began drawing profiles of tourists. His motto: “Your Portrait, … No Likeness, No Pay.”
He met many people, made many drawings barely scraping by. In hope of better days, he accompanied a reporter to Philadelphia looking for a job drawing with a newspaper (but that fell through when he asked for a contract). Jobless and penniless, he wandered the streets of Philadelphia. He told his story to strangers. They offered to pay him for drawing them; but when he did, they laughed and refused to pay. A fight ensured. They gave Jo a black-eye for his troubles.
Three blocks later, he met up TOM FIELD, a friend from the Boardwalk. He asked about the black-eye. Then Tom gave Jo his hotel room, bought him dinner, and left town before Jo awoke. A warm breakfast was brought to the room with a warmer note from Tom. The note contained a railroad ticket to New York City, a five dollar bill, and advise to use both as soon as possible. Jo ate and followed Tom’s advise.
JO’S FIRST COMMISSION …
NEW YORK AGAIN! “The Art Students League gave me a room which was used by the modeling class at night,” Jo said. “In return I agreed to teach the summer class.” Several years earlier, he had sketched an idea for a work to be called “David” slinging a stone at an invisible Goliath. The sketch received honorable mention. Wanting to start the small figure, he went to his old friend Mr Partee, who liked the sketch and agreed to commission it as a two-foot high bronze statue. Jo started the work with enthusiasm but kept doing and undoing each day’s work until he became quite discouraged. Edward MacCarten, an earlier student of MacNeil, would stop by occasionally. Seeing Jo’s dilemma he offered some helpful advise.
“One day he said, “Jo, here’s an idea. When you come here tomorrow go to work as if this is your last day on earth and you have to finish your statue before you die.” This struck home. The next day I went to work with new energy. I didn’t die that night, nor did I finish the “David” that day. But as I look back, MacCarten’s advise was one of the greatest contributions that I ever received from a fellow artist.”
That advise would also become a pathway to Jo’s future as a sculptor. With it, Jo completed the work. Partee was so pleased he offered to pay for a second bronze casting. Jo sent his “David” to a jury (MacNeil was probably on that jury). The statue was accepted for the 1905 exhibition of the Society of American Artists. The day of the show Jo borrowed an ill-fitting Prince Albert coat from his uncle and with his sister, Ray (Rachel), they entered the Fine Arts Building adjoining the League.
“We walked up the few steps and entered the the great gallery all crowded with people. I must have been a very funny sight in that Prince Albert coat, but I was walking on air, completely unconscious of my clothes. We went around looking for my “David.” There he was in bronze — on exhibition with the works of real artists, sculptors, and painters. I felt timid about looking at it. I pretended to be interested in everybody else’s work but my own. We ran into MacNeil.”
JO and HERMON meet at his “DAVID”
PUPIL AND TEACHER SHARE A PROUD MOMENT.
So Jo, the studio boy, and Hermon MacNeil, the sculptor, meet again. This time not in that College Point Studio, not “mixing a little clay”, but in the great exhibition hall and in the presence of his beloved sister. Fifty-years later Jo still remembers what Hermon asked:
MacNeil: “How do you like the way we placed your ‘David’?”
Jo’s recollection: I would have liked it no matter where they placed it. I do not think I have ever felt that way since.”
Of all the sculptors that would have been at the Exhibit at that moment, Jo mentions only Hermon MacNeil’s solicitation about the piece. Obviously, MacNeil gave some thought to the placement and setting of Jo’s “David” slinging toward that invisible Goliath. Hermon probably felt warm pride at Jo’s David, possibly even recalling Jo’s first attempt to make a Corinthian capital that first day in the College Point Studio. Whatever the former Teacher and the former “studio boy” were feeling as they met, the moment had become indelible enough for Jo to include it a half century later in his autobiography after his teacher’s death, Jo certainly sculpts the story with excitement and pride both in that moment and in recalling it in his life’s “Sittings.” Between Sittings, (p. 25).
PLEASANT MEMORIES OF HERMON: One can not help but smile imagining the reunion of the QUARTET: sculptor, the sister and teacher with the “David” in the great gallery of Art. It must have been smiles all around. And I suspect that these smiles had nothing to do with ill-fitting Prince Albert jackets. Jo was excited. MacNeil was pleased. Jo’s recounting and recording of this moment with his teacher seem to radiate a growing pride in the bonds of creativity, shared work, and talent, between sculptors. PLEASANT MEMORIES from 50 years ago.
“BAH!” — JO’S FATHER stings,
After the Exhibition Jo delivered the “David” to Mr. Partee. When the second bronze copy was finished, Jo recalls:
“I took it home and placed it on the mantelpiece in our front room. The next day when I came home from the League, I found my father looking intently at my “David.” He was unconscious of my presence. Then he turned and saw me, and with a disapproving gesture of the hand, said “Bah,” turned on his heel and left the room. Father had had other ambitions for me.”
HERMON and JO’s FATHER. In Jo’s telling of his life story, the contrasts of Hermon MacNeil, his sculptor teacher, and Jacob Davidson, his father, could not be more glaring. Jo’s Father had plans and ambitions for his Son. He was the MILLION from birth! He was Jacob’s winning Lottery Ticket. The lucky blessing for the devoted faithful prayer. Jo even entitles Chapter 1 of his autobiography, “THE MILLION!” So that was a life-long moniker from his family of origin. Lois Harris Kuhn in her book,The World of Jo Davidson, explains it to her young readers in this way:
“No one was ever to know for certain what it was that Jacob Davidson thought that having a son meant. Whatever it was, it was obvious — almost right away — that Jo was unlike anyone his father had expected. In Fact, Jo was like no one else. He asked far too many questions. He made pictures of everything he saw. He was so filled with life and laughter that everyone around him responded to it. Everybody — everything — small or large — interested Jo.! It was a good thing for a boy that his mother, Haya, understood him completely.” [ Kuhn, The World of Jo Davidson, Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, Jewish Publication Society, New York, 1958. p. 4.]
Jo does not make comparisons, he just shares memories and interactions. Any reader of Jo’s recollections or descriptions of his life, however, can not help but see stark emotional contrasts between Jo’s father, Jacob Davidson, and Hermon MacNeil. Moreover, the difference in two sets of recollections appear quite awkward.
CONTINUING at HOME and the ART STUDENTS LEAGUE.
Jo Davidson’s bust of Haya Davidson, his proud mother and most willing model. [Between p. 55a]
“Those were gay days: music, dancing and parties. To those parties at the League, I brought my sisters Ray and Rose and it was not long before I brought the League to my house. We were then living on West 111th Street overlooking the Park. It was a top-floor railroad flat, but nobody minded climbing all those flights of stairs. Mother’s strawberry jam, Rose’s singing, and Rachie’s warm and vivacious charm pulled people right up to the top floor.”
Jo’s sister Rose recalls those days with a bit of free verse:
- “Like a flock of homing pigeons,
- Nostalgic memories flapped their wings,
- And rouse the slumbering past.
- A victrola,
- And listing to the Sextet from ‘Lucia’ —
- Zenbrich — Scotti — Caruso —
- Talking about victrolas — the first phonograph — New York
- 111th Street top floor — front room —
- An olive green velour curtain separating it from the rest of the railroad flat,
- And endless tea parties,
- Schubert’s ‘Serenade,’
- Sam Halpert, tears running down his cheeks …”
Jo fell hard for “Flossie”, Florence Lucius, the tall Junoesque monitor of his class. [They would later come together in the later half of their lives.] He’d hike to her home in Brooklyn. With her father’s approval he accompanied her and Grace Johnson, another art student, on a hiking trek through the Swangum Mountains in New Jersey. Taking a Hudson River boat to Kingston, NY, walking all day, stopping at farmhouses, along the way, They would entertain their hosts by singing, playing the family organ, Jo’s mouth organ, and “doing a little jig”. Many of these families had never traveled further that a few miles from home. Jo, Flossie and Grace were something of a New York traveling trio. “It was all a wonderful new experience.” They returned a week later with blistered city feet, but feeling healthy and sunburned as they rested on the Hudson River boat back home.
A STUDIO OF HIS OWN.
Early in 1906 Jo rented a studio in an old brownstone on East Twenty-third Street. Small, on the top floor, with just enough room for a couch, the skylight made a young sculptor feel right at home. Many other painters and artists filled the brownstone and the neighborhood. Jo made friends easily. He went one evening on an adventure to Upton Sinclair’s Colony in Englewood, New Jersey called Helicon Hall . The escapade was the idea of Sadakichi Hartmann, an art critic and poet, who often stopped by the studio. With his sculptor’s eye, Jo described him as a curious-looking person — tall, gaunt, with a face like a Japanese mask. One day Sadakichi described a recent trip to Helicon Hall where he met socialists, anarchists, making many friends. Jo was working on a figure and had a girl posing for it. The model chimed in to say she too had friends there.
Off the trio went on a snowy day arriving at dinner time. The Sinclairs invited them to sit and share dinner. Afterward Mrs. Sinclair sat down in a wicker rocker and Jo sketched her portrait. She told them they didn’t have a room to spare for the night. Jo gave her the sketch and went off to discover that Sadakichi was berating Edwin Bojorkman, a reporter for the New York Sun. In a huff, Sadakichi announced, “We are leaving.” They trekked back several miles into the snowy night. Sadakichi was nursing a bottle of whiskey most of the night and dancing in the snow. They found a shed, started a small fire and thaw out. Warmed and rested, The wrinkled trio all caught the first train out. Sadakichi called up several papers telling his side of the story and advised them to call Jo Davidson for further details. More stories and editorials continued. Jo thought he would never live down the sagas of their trek to Helicon.
PARIS — Adventuring Artist arrives on the LEFT BANK
At age 24, Jo felt compelled to go to Paris. John Gregory, another MacNeil student, had just returned from that center of the Art World and his stories fired up Jo’s imagination. Subsequently he moved to Paris in 1907 to study sculpture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. After borrowing $150 from his old benefactor, Mr. Pardee, Jo the Adventurer purchased a second-class ticket and arrived in Paris with $40 left — but NO scholarship and NO support.
Edward McCarten, another MacNeil student, met him at the Gare Saint-Lazare (train station). Edward had already rented a studio next-door for him, but became appalled to learn Jo had no scholarship or support. “How are you going to live?” Jobs were scarce and Jo didn’t speak French.
“At any rate MacCarten introduced me to his bakery and his creamery, and every morning a loaf of bread and a quart of milk were left at my door. It was extraordinary , the trust, the confidence that existed in Paris in pre-World War I days. Broke as I was, I never went without a meal. It may have been meager, but I didn’t starve.” [Between … P. 33-34]
Growing up in the Lower East Side of NYC, Jo was no stranger to hunger. At the St Louis World’s Fair he again learned how to live with hungry. He had to live, eat, and sleep on exposition grounds and dodge the Fair police at night when everyone was supposed to leave. Jo was a talented survivor who used those skills to launch whatever might be his next adventure.
Now in Paris he soon entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts paying $16 of his last $40 for tuition. But after just three weeks, he the decided that the adventuring-artist-within-him was not going to find his dream there.
“The instructions there were made up of the same things I had heard at the Art Students’ League in New York. I was looking for life. They gave me antiquities. SO I left the Beau Arts and decided to work out my salvation my own way. I began to hustle for myself. [Griffin, 14753-4.]
The next months were storm and stress. The poverty was hard, the rebellion he felt in the clay was even harder. He would visit the Louvre, view the great masterpieces, wait for something to happen inside of him. Nothing happened. “He had not yet found himself, and he knew it.” McCarten helped him find work giving English lessons. He earned three dollars a week. He visited the cafes meeting other artists, poets, derelicts. He would sit over a cafe creme for an hour or two. He met Jerome Blum, a painter from Chicago. Jo began cooking for both he and Jerry to stretch their pocketbooks.
One night they came out of a poker game and saw a Great Dane lying on a bench. The waiter said the dog was lost. Jerry approached but got a snarl. Being an expert on hunger in animals, Jo asked the waiter for a bowl of milk and bread. Giving the dog food, he ate. When they turned to leave, the Dane followed. The Great Dane filled a gap of loneliness for Jo who immediately named him Sultan. He was also a great introducer as people would approach the magnificent animal. Jo’s full head of hair and black beard along with Sultan’s stately stride made a striking pair as they strolled the arty neighborhoods of Paris. [Between … p. 38.]
Also, relief came from home. Jo’s sister, Rachie, knew of all his ups and down through their lively letters. Through mutual friends she learned of the Hallgarten Scholarship Fund. Rachel, the teacher, succeeded to secure a grant of scholarship for Jo amounting to thirty dollars per month for one year. Jo’s assessment, “Then I was on East Street.”
The WALK to LUCERNE – vöyagueurs à pieds
FRENCH PEASANT by Jo Davidson
After another rejection of a life-sized sculpture of a boy that he had worked on diligently, Jo too felt rejected. He decided to take a vacation from studio work. So on a sunny morning with a knapsack on his back and Sultan by his side, they started out to walk to Switzerland and Lucerne. In the fresh air he did a lot of thinking on the road. He slept at Inns or farmhouses. Sometimes his drawings would pay for his board. The issue of the failure of his work was always churning over and over in his mind.
He and Sultan caught up with a French Peasant driving an oxcart. They chatted along roadway and the driver stopped to share cheese, bread, and wine from his lunch basket. Jo asked where he could sleep overnight in the next town. The driver told him he was foolish to sleep out of doors and explained to him “the law of the land” regarding travelers on foot — vöyagueurs à pieds. He should go to the mayor of the next village and ask for lodging as a vöyagueurs à pieds. The mayor would give him a permit assigning him to a family for hospitality. After the drivers advise, the traveler fretted no more about traveling on foot. [Griffin, 14753-4.]
J. D. FERGUSSON by Jo Davidson
Working like a “madman”
After travels and “tall thinking” on the road, Jo’s found that his ideas of making art had changed. Returning to his Paris studio he fell in with a group of “Post-Impressionists.” In particular he made a close friend of John Duncan Fergusson, a Scottish painter. They walked and talked about everything. John stirred Jo’s energies and hopes. A portrait bust of Fergusson was the first thing that Jo completed. The work broke with all of Jo’s academic training. He decided to become a master of his own medium. Expressing his thoughts of sculpting as fast as they came, he “worked like a madman.” He made portrait busts of everyone he knew, sometimes two in a day.
“At last I did it, and made a portrait bust of a Swiss girl which satisfied me. I was so pleased that I went around telling everyone what a wonderful thing I’d done. I told Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney about it, and she came to my studio to see it and bought it. That encouraged me a lot.” [Griffin, 14753-4.]
Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney was better known as Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. She bought the “Head of a Swiss Girl”, but more importantly became a patron and lifelong friend of Jo. In following weeks, Jo sent his “Violinist” to the autumn Salon of 1908, and it too was accepted.
Continued Success and on to U.S.
The next spring he had three pieces accepted in the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts, the new society. He continued exhibiting in Paris and London through 1909 with dozens of pieces. Finally, by December 1909 Jo felt that he had enough accumulated enough pieces to come back to New York City to hold an exhibition. He did return and his US Exhibition brought him instant success in NYC, his home town.
REGARD 1909 [detail] marble, Signed: Jo Davidson 14 1/2x9x6 inches, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Binder. Source: Conner and Rosenkranz, Discoveries… p. 12.
“The Baillie Gallery of London presented the exhibition Modern Illustrators and Statuettes by Jo Davidson in the summer of 1909. On Davidson’s copy of the catalog, which lists Fourteen terra-cottas and one plaster, a single work is marked “sold.” It is a modest beginning, but only three months later, January 1910, Davidson’s first one-man show opened at the New York Cooperative Society, where he exhibited thirty-three terra-cotta and bronze sculptures and twenty-eight drawings. The show proved a success, for Davidson sold several works and received a portrait commission.”
“Just before the New York show opened, Davidson married Yvonne de Kerstrat, a beautiful French actress he had met in Paris in 1909. Their son Jacques was born in July 1910 and that year was was unusually productive for Davidson.” [Conner and Rosenkranz, Discoveries… p. 14.]
JO Davidson … after all the
searching,
wandering
experimenting
The “MILLION”
has found the
SCULPTOR within Him …
“Always moving” was the life-style of his home.
BUT THEN he said:
“I found the clay bin, put my hand in it,
and touched the beginning of my life”
He decided to become a SCULPTOR,
BUT he had to search and rove for nearly
a decade to discover his own
INNER SCULPTOR, the talent within.
Jo was looking for “LIFE”
Beaux Arts offered gave him “Antiquities,”
HE “moved” adventured, wandered, and roved
UNTIL …
He taught himself to CAPTURE
” L I F E “
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ HERMON A. MacNEIL ~
Monument Maker
1903-1910
Meanwhile the years from 1903 to 1910 back at College Point, Hermon MacNeil continued his various statues and monuments. Since building his studio there, he had procured a succession of commissions for various monumental works.
He worked with young sculptors sought to develop their talents in the Beaux Arts tradition in which he trained and preserved.
BELOW are Listed the Monuments completed and initiated between 1903 and 1910 by Hermon MacNeil;
CLICK on these hot links for photos and information:
1903 Chief of the Multnomah Tribe, Met Museum, NYC
1904 “The Coming of the White Man #2” ~ Queens, NYC ~ Poppenhusen
1904 “The Coming of the White Man” ~ Portland
1905 Monument to Soldiers & Sailors of the Civil War~ Whitinsville, Massachusetts
1906 President McKinley Memorial – Columbus Ohio (8 photos)
1906 President McKinley Memorial – Columbus Ohio (w. map)
1908 Cook County Building – Chicago – Video of 2 reliefs by MacNeil
1908 Four Bas reliefs on Cook County Building – Chicago
1908 Robert H. Thurston – Cornell University – Plaque and Bust
1912 “Into the Unknown” ~ Brookgreen Gardens, SC
1912 Orville Platt of Meriden, Connecticut
1912 Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Albany,NY
SOURCES:
Henry F. Griffin, “Jo Davidson: Sculptor”, The World’s Work; Volume XXII, August 1911. pp. 14746-14755.
Lois Harris Kuhn, “The World of Jo Davidson,” Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, Jewish Publication Society, New York, 1958. pp. 11-18
Standing Liberty Quarter ~ MacNeil’s First Design
Posted by: | Comments
2019 Minting of MacNeil’s first design of SLQ – OBVERSE (Photo Credit The Louisville Numismatic Exchange, Inc.)
Hermon MacNeil’s first concept for the new Liberty Standing Quarter dollar looked a good bit different than what we are familiar with.
A recent minting of his first design has come onto the silver coin market. It bears some surprises.
The late Jay Cline spent an entire lifetime and career dealing Standing Liberty Quarters. In his book, Cline introduces the coin with the following words:
THE YEAR 1915
At the request of President Teddy Roosevelt in 1906, the coinage of the U.S. in 1915 was about to change. For the first time in history the quarter would be different from the dime and the half-dollar.
There were three new coins to make their debut in 1916. The new winged Mercury dime, the Walking Liberty Half — these two having been designed by A. Weinman — and the Standing Liberty quarter designed by Hermon A. MacNeil. A renaissance of interest in United States silver coins was beginning
WEBMASTER photo of 2019 Minting of MacNeil’s first design of SLQ – Reverse (Coin purchased from The Louisville Numismatic Exchange, Inc.)
WEBMASTER photo of 2019 Minting of MacNeil’s first design of SLQ – OBVERSE (Coin purchased from The Louisville Numismatic Exchange, Inc.)
2019 Minting of MacNeil’s first design of SLQ – REVERSE (Photo Credit The Louisville Numismatic Exchange, Inc.)
For over a century the Standing Liberty Quarter has remained a collectible issue of Teddy Roosevelt’s Renaissance of American Coinage
The following article by Tom LaMarre in Coin Magazine summarizes the polulafrity of this Lady Liberty by Mr MacNeil:
MacNeil’s Standing Liberty Remains a Favorite
By Tom LaMarre, Coins Magazine
September 30, 2009
Hermon A. MacNeil created some memorable works, including the statues “The Sun Vow” and “Pony Express.” But coin collectors consider his real masterpiece to be the Standing Liberty quarter.
Rich in symbolism and finely engraved detail, the new quarter reflected the spirit of peace and preparedness just before the United States entered World War I. It also revived a classical style in sharp contrast to the abstract and modern trends that were sweeping the art world at that time.
In addition, the coin signified a different direction for its designer. MacNeil was known mainly for works depicting American Indians and Western pioneers.
Production of Standing Liberty quarters began in 1916. Despite the artistic merit of the design, its life was cut short after only 14 years (none were struck in 1922). Because of wearability and striking problems, and the decision to issue a George Washington commemorative, the last Standing Liberty quarter was minted in 1930.
The series was short, but it produced some memorable rarities, including the 1916 and 1918/7-S Standing Liberty quarters. Almost as interesting as the coins themselves is the story of how they came into existence and inspired a greater awareness of artistic values in the world of coins.
The $2,300 Design
The Barber quarter had been around since 1892, and although it did the job, no one was thrilled with the design. In December 1915, a competition was held to come up with new designs for the dime, quarter and half dollar. MacNeil, Adolph Weinman and Albin Polasek were invited to submit entries.
Each sculptor was promised $300. An additional $2,000 would go to the creator of each model that was accepted for production. The deadline for entries was April 16, 1916.
Polasek was the only loser. Weinman’s entries were selected for the dime and half dollar. MacNeil’s design was chosen for the quarter.
MacNeil reportedly found a rooftop studio in the heart of New York City. There, according to a contemporary account, he could work on his coinage design “high above the dirt and noise of the street.”
MacNeil decided to place a standing Liberty figure on the obverse of the quarter. Initially there was a dolphin on each side of the pedestal below Liberty, representing the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The Panama Canal had recently opened, and even though the canal had inspired its own commemorative coins in 1915, MacNeil apparently thought a further tribute would be appropriate on the new quarter.
A bronze cast of the obverse with dolphins still exists. Originally intended for the preparation of dies, it turned up at a garage sale in 2001.
MacNeil eventually changed his mind about the dolphins. After the deadline for entries had passed, he requested and received permission to make some changes to the design during the next few weeks. The dolphins, which had been ridiculed by Mint workers, were nowhere to be seen on the revised obverse that appeared on production quarters.
On the reverse of the quarter, MacNeil depicted a low-flying eagle flanked by 13 stars.
The winning entries in the coin design competition were unveiled on May 30, 1916. At that time a press dispatch said that Treasury Secretary William MacAdoo, Mint Director Robert W. Woolley and the Commission of Fine Arts had found them to be “most satisfactory from an artistic point of view.”
Hermon Atkins MacNeil
Mint Director Robert W. Woolley was so involved overseeing the preparation of the quarter design at the Mint that the Gettysburg Times predicted it would be known as the “Woolley quarter” or simply the “Woolley.” In reality, the designer was Hermon Atkins MacNeil, described by The Iowa Recorder as a “sculptor of prominence.”
“The designer of the new quarter is Hermon A. MacNeil, N.A.,” the June 8, 1916, issue of Cornell Magazine, published by Cornell University, reported. “Mr. MacNeil was commissioned recently to execute the statue of Ezra Cornell which is to be unveiled by the University in 1918. He is the sculptor of the memorial bust of Robert Henry Thurston in Sibley College.”
Cornell had reason to be proud of MacNeil. He had taught there, and at the Chicago Art Institute.
MacNeil was born in Massachusetts in 1866. He graduated from the Normal Art School in Boston and studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Julian Academy. By the turn of the century, he had returned to the United States and opened his own studio.
MacNeil’s “Sun Vow” was displayed at the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition and won a silver medal. It was made at the American Academy in Rome and cast in bronze in Paris. Today it is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
MacNeil designed an award medal for the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. It was presented to Victor D. Brenner, who later designed the Lincoln cent. MacNeil also designed a 1926 medal commemorating the tercentenary of the purchase of Manhattan.
For the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, MacNeil created the “Fountain of Liberty.” Other works by the sculptor include “The Moqui Runner,” “A Primitive Chant,” “The Coming of the White Man,” the McKinley Memorial in Columbus and the Marquette Memorial in Chicago.
MacNeil’s work was included in an exhibition held in conjunction with the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, and at a show staged in 1936 in New York City under a Works Progress Administration banner. The WPA was a Depression-era agency that provided employment on federal projects. Many artists and sculptors were commissioned to paint murals or create sculptures for post offices and other government buildings.
MacNeil died in his home on Long Island Sound in 1947. It had been 17 years since the last Standing Liberty quarter was struck. One of MacNeil’s last works was the statue “The Pony Express,” dedicated in 1940 in St. Joseph, Mo.
On the 100th anniversary of MacNeil’s birth, Hermon MacNeil Park was dedicated in College Point, Queens, N.Y. The guest of honor was the woman believed to be the model for the Standing Liberty quarter.
Doris Doscher
She was an actress who starred in “The Birth of a Race” (sometimes shown with the alternate title “The Story of a Great Peace”) in 1918. But when she appeared on the television program “I’ve Got a Secret” in April 1966, her secret was that she was the model for Liberty on the Standing Liberty quarter.
Time magazine also credited Doscher as the model for the coin at the time of her death in March 1970.
Doscher, sometimes going by the name Doris Doree, starred in several silent films. “The Birth of a Race” is the story of two brothers in a German-American family during World War I. One fights for the United States, and the other for Germany. Doscher played Eve, the wife of one of the brothers.
Doscher was also a professional model. She was the model for the “Pulitzer Fountain of Abundance” by Karl Bitter, completed by Isadore Konti and Karl Gruppe in 1915. The fountain represents Pomona, the Roman goddess of orchards, and stands in front of the Plaza Hotel in New York City.
Doscher also modeled for “Faith, Hope and Charity,” “Diana of the Chase,” “Memory,” “Kneeling Madonna” and Hermon MacNeil’s “The Angel of Peace.”
Possibly the earliest published reference to Doscher as MacNeil’s model for Liberty on the quarter was an item in the April 8, 1917, issue of The Syracuse Herald.
Doris married Dr. William Baum. She had a radio show on health and beauty and wrote a newspaper column, and she was a guest of honor at the dedication of Hermon MacNeil park.
Doris Doscher Baum, however, was not the only woman to claim the honor of being the model for the Standing Liberty quarter.
Irene MacDowell
Long after MacNeil died, a former Broadway actress and professional model, Irene MacDowell, claimed that she was the model for the Standing Liberty quarter. MacDowell was the wife of MacNeil’s tennis partner. For the sake of everyone concerned, it was thought best to keep her role as model a secret and let Doscher take the credit.
Irene broke the silence in 1972, at the age of 92, recalling that she posed for MacNeil for 10 days, wearing a white, sheet-like drapery that she described as “a kind of classical robe.”
MacDowell was described as statuesque and “handsome.” She frequently posed for MacNeil and reportedly was a model for some of the figures on the “Soldiers and Sailors Monument” in Albany, N.Y.
Patterns
Except for the matter of the dolphins, MacNeil had the quarter dollar design nailed down almost from the beginning. Patterns showing the development of the design are rare. One pattern is nearly the same as the Standing Liberty quarter as issued but lacks MacNeil’s initial on the obverse.
Another pattern has a reverse without stars, the eagle is flying higher and there are laurel branches at the sides. Examples exist with and without the designer’s initial.
Pattern 1916 Standing Liberty quarters are rarer than Walking Liberty half dollar and Mercury dime patterns. In the 1930s, a few 1916 Walking Liberty half dollar patterns were found in circulation. A 1916 Mercury dime pattern was discovered in pocket change in the early 1960s. In the case of the Standing Liberty quarter, however, no such circulation finds have been reported.
1916
The design process was so involved and took so long that you might say Liberty had to crawl before she could stand up and walk. The Standing Liberty quarter was scheduled to be released on July 1, 1916. A New York Times story with a July 2, 1916, dateline jumped the gun and claimed the coin made its debut as planned. In reality, however, the Mint was having trouble preparing the design for production, and another six months would pass before the Standing Liberty quarter went into circulation.
In September 1916, Albert Norris, chief clerk of the Philadelphia Mint, explained that die-makers usually had trouble when designs were prepared by artists who were not familiar with the mechanical requirements of coin production. The problem with the Standing Liberty quarter was that the relief was too high for the design to strike up properly.
Production of Standing Liberty quarters did not begin until Dec. 16, 1916 and was limited to the Philadelphia Mint in the first year of the design. By Dec. 31, 1916, only 52,000 had been struck. They were released in early January 1917.
Soon Philadelphia coin dealer Henry Chapman was offering 1916 Standing Liberty quarters for a dollar apiece. Speculation was widespread, and the Treasury Department responded with a January 1917 release of the mintage figure (incorrectly stated as 62,000 instead of 52,000). A press dispatch said the statement was being issued “to correct any impression that the coins are rare” and to thwart the “sharpers.”
An original roll of 1916 Standing Liberty quarters was available as late as the 1950s. Today it’s a different story. A Mint State-60 example is valued at $16,500.
Peace and Preparedness
Possibly more than any other coin, the Standing Liberty quarter succeeded in capturing the spirit of its time. With World War I raging in Europe and a presidential election campaign stirring things up at home, themes of peace and preparedness were on everyone’s mind.
According to the official description of the Standing Liberty quarter, the design was “intended to typify in a measure the awakening interest of the country to its own protection.” Liberty was depicted stepping forward to the gateway of the country. In her raised left arm was a shield from which the covering was being drawn, symbolizing the nation’s readiness to defend itself. In her right hand was an olive branch representing the desire for peace.
As the New York Times put it, the new quarter symbolized “America Awake.” Another writer, however, saw in the design “some too darkly veiled allegory of the Woman’s Party and the suffrage movement.”
The Standing Liberty quarter had a sculptural quality that set it apart from all previous quarter dollars. The Numismatist described it as “strikingly beautiful.” The New York Times called it a “silvern beauty.”
The Mansfield (Ohio) News said the Standing Liberty quarter was “fair to look upon,” but claimed the design should have been used on a medal instead of a coin, which it described as a “dirt collector.”
Changes
Legend has it that there was a public outcry against Liberty’s exposed right breast on the Standing Liberty quarter. But if this were the case, it doesn’t seem to have been mentioned in newspapers of the day.
MacNeil himself was dissatisfied with the original design and told a friend he was making a stand for changes. Treasury Secretary William G. McAdoo and Rep. William Ashbrook of Ohio, who also happened to be a member of the American Numismatic Association, lobbied for the passage of legislation. Public Law 27 of July 9, 1917, made the changes to the Standing Liberty quarter official.
In addition to adding a covering of mail to Liberty, what was perceived to be her “bowlegged” appearance was eliminated, her head was lowered, the covering of the shield was pulled tighter, and the border was made less ornate.
On the reverse, the eagle was repositioned so that it was flying higher, and the arrangement of stars was changed, with three stars placed below the eagle.
Two bronze casts of the revised reverse were made. One of them, which surfaced several years ago, may have been kept by MacNeil as a back-up. The other bronze cast, measuring more than six inches in diameter, is in the Smithsonian.
McAdoo approved the revised Standing Liberty quarter design on Aug. 19, 1917. A prominent numismatist, Farran Zerbe, reported that the eagle was higher on the modified design, the features of the Liberty head were stronger, and Liberty’s “undraped bust” had been given a “corsage of mail.”
Collectors classify Standing Liberty quarters of the original design as Variety 1, and the revised version as Variety 2.
A Valuable Mistake
The Philadelphia Mint was a busy place in the autumn of 1917. Workers were making dies for 1917-dated coins to keep up with heavy demand. At the same time, they were preparing 1918-dated dies for the coming year.
Each die required several blows from a hub. By mistake, an obverse quarter dollar die received an impression from a 1917 hub and was sent to the annealing room to be hardened. When it was returned to the die room for additional impressions, it went to the wrong machine and was stamped with a 1918-dated hub. The finished die somehow slipped by the inspector and was sent to the San Francisco Mint, where it was used to strike a small number of 1918/7-S quarters.
The first example of the overdate wasn’t reported until the 1930s. At first, collectors thought it was the result of wartime cost-cutting at the Mint and that a 1917 die had been restamped with an “8” so it could be used another year.
Most of the rare quarters had seen years of use before the variety was publicized. As a result, mint-state examples of the 1918/7-S are rare.
Protecting the Date
Early Standing Liberty quarters are harder to find than later issues because the date, often weakly struck to begin with, quickly wore away in circulation. In 1925 a depression was made in Liberty’s pedestal to protect the date from friction. The revision was not entirely successful, but occasional Standing Liberty quarters with the date still visible could be found in pocket change as late as the mid-1960s.
Bad Luck
In its own time, the Standing Liberty quarter was considered an unlucky coin. There are 13 stars at the sides of the gateway through which Liberty is passing, 13 stars around the border on the reverse side of the coin, 13 letters in the inscription “QUARTER DOLLAR” and 13 letters in “E PLURIBUS UNUM.”
A Wading Bird
An early newspaper item really stretched things when it said the eagle on the reverse of the Standing Liberty quarter was the same as on the Great Seal, but without the shield. The writer might just as well have said that Liberty was the same as on the Barber quarter, but she was shown standing.
The truth was that the eagle on the Standing Liberty quarter was unlike the bird on any other U.S. coin, and that difference caused some problems.
In 1928, a letter to the editor of the New York Times claimed the eagle on the quarter had the feet of a wading bird and was depicted in the act of taking off instead of in full flight. To put it bluntly, the eagle had the feet of a duck.
MacNeil was not amused. He responded with a letter defending the design, but it didn’t make much difference. Because of other factors, the Standing Liberty quarter would only be struck two more years.
Mystery of the 1931 Quarter
Quarters were struck only at the Philadelphia and San Francisco mints in 1930. No quarters were struck for circulation in 1931, a Depression year. But counterfeits may exist.
In August 1931, Secret Service agents smashed a counterfeiting ring that had been making and passing fake quarters in Pennsylvania towns for eight months. They were cast from molds in the basement of the home of Anna Kasemar and her teenage daughter Margaret.
The same year, two men were sent to the Atlanta penitentiary for possessing counterfeit quarters. At least one arrest for counterfeiting quarters was also made in New York City in 1931. Some of the counterfeits might have survived and may be the basis for the long-running rumor of a 1931-dated Standing Liberty quarter.
Replacement
In 1931 a design competition was announced for a coin commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth. At first a Washington half dollar seemed likely, but government officials instead decided on a Washington quarter.
In February 1931, the Christian Science Monitor reported that the head of George Washington may appear on the quarter in 1932. The first Washington quarters were released in August 1932. No one was sure whether the Washington quarter would be a one-year commemorative or an ongoing regular issue. The Numismatist predicted that if the design were popular, it would remain in production.
Because of the Depression, no quarters were struck in 1933. When production resumed in 1934, the Washington design returned.
Once hailed as a “silvern beauty,” the Standing Liberty quarter slipped away quietly. As the New York Times put it, Liberty was a loser on new coin designs picturing presidents, and the Standing Liberty which had adorned the quarter since 1916 was on its way out.
MacNeil intended the Standing Liberty quarter to be a symbol of wartime sentiment. According to the Treasury secretary, it was a “fast-wearing” design that never quite worked out. In the opinion of collectors, it is a masterpiece that will stand in beauty forever.
In 1931, exactly 100 years after James Monroe‘s death (b. April 28, 1758 – d.July 4, 1831), Hermon MacNeil completed a bronze bust of this U.S. President. It was MacNeil’s fourth statue of a US President.
James Monroe, 5th President of the United States. MacNeil’s bronze bust resides in the Hall of Fame of Great Americans on the campus of Bronx Coimmunity College (formerly NYU)
This bronze bust by Hermon MacNeil resides in the Hall of Fame of Great Americans on the campus of Bronx Community College (formerly NYU). The aging memorial of over 100 busts was designed by Stanford White, famous “Beaux Arts” architect of New York City.
MacNeil’s previous sculptures of U.S. Presidents include George Washington (NYC – Washington Arch ~ also designed by Stanford White), Abraham Lincoln (University of Illinois, Urbana, in $60 million restoration of Lincoln Hall), and William McKinley (Monument placed on the Ohio State Capitol grounds, Columbus, in 1906).
FOURTH OF JULY? Monroe was the third President to die on the 4th of July. Ironically, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (the second and third Presidents) died on the same day, July 4, 1826, which was the 50th anniversary of the 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence. Reportedly Adam’s last words were “only Jefferson remains… .” In truth, Adams was wrong. He did not know that Jefferson had died at Montecello earlier that same day. John Adams was the last surviving signer of the Declaration, by just a matter of hours. Five years later at the age of 73, James Monroe (the fifth President) died on the Fourth of July, as well. His death was 55 years after the signing of the Declaration.
Monroe was the fifth President of the United States (1817–1825). He was the last president from the group known as the Founding Fathers. Monroe was also the last President from the Virginia dynasty. In 1936 MacNeil would sculpt one other Virginian from the Revolutionary era — “George Rogers Clark” (National Monument in Vincennes, Indiana site of the Clark’s Revolutionary victory at Fort Sackville).
Hall of Fame: http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/halloffame/onlinetour/browse.cfm?StartRow=37&BrowserStartRow=6
Three other MacNeil busts are at the Hall of Fame:
- Roger Williams; Francis Parkman; Rufus Choate
- James Monroe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Monroe
- Hall of Fame for Great Americans; 2183 University Avenue; New York, NY 10453; (718) 289-5910; cuny.edu
The Hall of Fame of Great Americans – Series of Medals (3″ and 1 3/4″ format) were cast from 1962-1975. This occurred after Hermon MacNeil’s death in 1947. The James Monroe medal pictured below was based on MacNeil’s portrait bust. The medal was sculpted by C. Paul Jennewein, a sculptor who worked with Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington (a prolific sculptor and a student of MacNeil) who build Brookgreen Gardens into the world’s largest outdoor sculpture park.
Hall of Fame (HOF) Medallion Series were patterned after the statues. This piece by C. Paul Jennewein minted in 1968 commemorates MacNeil’s statue of James Monroe being added to the Hall in 1930. [Photo credit: http://www.medalcollectors.org/Guides/HFGA/Monroe.jpg]
~ ~ ~ MacNeil’s SCULPTURES of PRESIDENTS ~ ~ ~ An Inauguration Day Reflection.
Posted by: | Comments
Lincoln Bible and king Bible as Barack Obama takes Oath (http://www.theyeshivaworld.com)
On this Presidential Inaugural Day, the 57th in our history, President Barack H. Obama will take the Oath of the Office of President of the United States. He will place his hand on two Bibles. One used by President Abraham Lincoln, and a second belonging to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, whose birthday is also celebrated on this today. This Inaugural Day comes fifty years after M. L. King spoke at the Civil Rights March at the Lincoln Memorial and 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
THEREFORE, in tribute to this historic day, we offer images of the three Presidents of the United States that Hermon Atkins MacNeil sculpted in his lifetime ~~ George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and William McKinley.
Washington and ‘Valor’ in profile
A visit to Illinois in 2011 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
MacNeil originally sculpted a standing model of the Illinois Lawyer that he later re-sculpted as a bust. From that piece he had Roman Bronze Works make eight castings of his Lincoln Lawyer. This one is at the University of Illinois and will be returned to the Lincoln Hall when renovation is completed. (For more on Lincoln busts see below.)
The Smithsonian Institute archives contain this photo of MacNeil’s Lincoln standing.
Hermon A. MacNeil’s “Lincoln Lawyer” at the University of Illinois
McKinley Statue in Columbus, Ohio.
McKinley making his last public speech. before he was assassinated, Buffalo, New York, September 5, 1901. (His pose in this photo resembles that of MacNeil’s statue of him in 1904). (Credit: Frances B. Johnson-Ohio Historical Society-AL00501)
MacNeil’s McKinley at Ohio Statehouse plaza
MORE on MacNEIL’s BUSTS of LINCOLN: Art and museum records locate four of MacNeil’s eight “Lincoln Lawyer” castings. Public records of the four other “Lincoln Lawyer” busts by MacNeil appear to be incomplete according to the following documentation by the Smithsonian Museum:
- University of Pennsylvania, Office of the Curator, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Control_Number: 77001611
- Beloit College, Wright Museum of Art, Beloit, Wisconsin – Control_Number: 75008855
- Amherst College, Mead Art Museum, Amherst, Massachusetts: Control_Number: 20090014
- Amherst College, Mead Art Museum, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002 Accession Number: S.1932.4
Source: Smithsonian American Art Museum ~ SIRIS
Hello world!
Posted by: | CommentsWelcome to Day One of ” Hermon Atkins MacNeil, the website. ” Here you will find the gathered images of the sculpture and art of this American sculpture and come to appreciate his contributions to cities, parks, public buildings, memorials and museums across the United States.
Hermon Atkins MacNeil (1866-1947) was an American sculptor born at Chelsea, Massachusetts. He was an instructor in industrial art at Cornell University from 1886 to 1889, and was then a pupil of Henri M. Chapu and Alexandre Falguière in Paris. Returning to America, he aided Philip Martiny (1858-1927) in the preparation of sketch models for the World’s Columbian Exposition, and in 1896 he won the Rinehart scholarship, passing four years (1896-1900) in Rome.
Hermon Atkins MacNeil about the time of his Standing Liberty works.
In 1906 he became a National Academician. His first important work was The Moqui Runner, which was followed by A Primitive Chant, and The Sun Vow, all figures of the North American Indian. A Fountain of Liberty, for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and other Indian themes came later; his Agnese and his Beatrice, which are two fine busts of women, and his nude statuettes, which echo his time spent in Rome and Paris, [1]also deserve mention. One of his principal works is the sculpture in Columbus, Ohio, in honor of President William McKinley. In 1909 he won in competition a commission for a large soldiers’ and sailors’ monument in Albany, New York.
Perhaps his best known work is as the designer of the Standing Liberty quarter, which as minted from 1916 to 1930, and carries his initial to the right of the date. He also made Justice, the Guardian of Liberty on the east pediment of the United States Supreme Court building . One of his last works was the Pony Express statue dedicated in 1940 in St. Joseph, Missouri.
His wife, Carol Brooks MacNeil, also a sculptor of distinction, was a pupil of Frederick William MacMonnies and a member of the White Rabbits.
Colonel George Rogers Clark statue inside the dome of the National Memorial in Vincennes, Indiana
George Rogers Clark National Memorial.
George Rogers Clark Memorial Vincennes marks his battle with the British there in 1779
Hermon Atkins MacNeil‘s sculpture of George Rogers Clark located in Vincennes, Indiana
( http://www.nps.gov/gero/historyculture/memorial.htm ).
The George Rogers Clark Memorial in Vincennes commemorates the winning of the old Northwest by Colonel Clark and his frontiersmen in the American Revolution. Clark and his army composed of about 170 men captured old Fort Sackville here and caused the British to surrender on the morning of February 25, 1779, more than two and a half years prior to the surrender of Cornwallis to George Washington at Yorktown.
