Archive for Washington as Commander-in-Chief
Hermon MacNeil ~~ Statue of George Washington as Commander of the Continental Army ~~
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MacNeil’s likeness of General Washington guards the right flank of the Washington Arch in Greenwich Village
MacNeil’s statue of George Washington as “Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army” is unique.
The majority of Statues of Washington portray him as the first President.
Perhaps, Washington is the most memorialized of the founders.
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)
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2026 MacNeil Month
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-Six years later Troops of the 82nd Airborne staged 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
in Terre Haute, Indiana,
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 Fame and Valor was designed by Hermon Atkins MacNeil and was installed in 1916. Washington as President, Accompanied by Wisdom and 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]
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INDEPENDENCE DAY ~~ 247 Years !!!
Posted by: | CommentsHermon MacNeil’s Commander-in-Chief
George Washington on Arch in NYC
General George Washington with Flags (U.S. and POW/MIA) ~ Washington Arch Greenwich, NYC (Photo courtesy of: Gibson Shell – 2011)
Hermon MacNeil was a Red-White-and-Blue Sculptor of American History.
click BELOW for MORE.
INDEPENDENCE DAY
~ ~ ~ ~ 0 ~ ~ ~ ~
Images of
Happy 4th of July
from Dan Leininger, Webmaster
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.)
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- More “Confederate Defenders” Protests; AND Ten Years Ago on this Website. (6) Sunday (July 12, 2020) saw continued protest at the Confederate…
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#4 ~ Presidents Day 2023 – MacNeil-Brooks Month
Posted by: | CommentsHermon MacNeil’s 3 Sculptures
for Presidents Day
2023
Presidents Day honors the February birthdays of
George Washington (Feb 22nd) and
Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12th)
Presidents’ Day, officially Washington’s Birthday, in the United States,
(third Monday in February)
popularly recognized as honoring
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
The day is sometimes understood as a celebration of the
birthdays and lives of all U.S. presidents.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
View MacNeil’s Presidents yourself > > > >
George Washington – Postings of MacNeil’s
George Washington as Commander-in-Chief
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Abraham Lincoln – Postings of MacNeil’s
Abraham Lincoln – Prairie Lawyer
William McKinley – Postings of MacNeil’s
William McKinkey
HAPPY PRESIDENTS DAY 2023
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- ~ ~ ~ MacNeil’s SCULPTURES of PRESIDENTS ~ ~ ~ An Inauguration Day Reflection. (6) On this Presidential Inaugural Day, the 57th in our history,…
- Presidents Day 2020 ~~ MacNeil Month ~~ Wm. McKinley ~~ Abe Lincoln ~~ Geo. Washington ~~ “THEY ARE ALL THERE” — H.A MacNeil’s Sculptures of 3 Presidents ~~ (5) “They are still there” celebrates several re-visits and discoveries of…
- Happy Birthday Mr. Washington! ~ Part TWO ~ MacNeil Month #6 ~ The President Who would NOT be King. (4) NOTE: February 22nd marks the 279th Birthday of George Washington….
- INDEPENDENCE DAY Images ~ from Hermon A. MacNeil (4) Here are a few images of Independence from Hermon Atkins…
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- 153rd Anniversary of the Birth of Hermon Atkins MacNeil ~ American Sculptor ~ Feb 27, 1866 (4) I never met Hermon MacNeil. I never met my maternal…
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MacNeil Month 2022 ~ “Pillar #4”
Posted by: | CommentsHermon A. MacNeil
The FOURTH Pillar of MacNeil Month 2022 is
Hermon Atkins MacNeil’s
MacNeil’s George Washington
has not always been treated kindly.
Vandals in June 2020 left their angry marks on
George Washington.
Both Hermon MacNeil’s and Alexander Stirling Calder’s statues were covered with RED sploches of HATE. The following post from June 30, 2020
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
In 1974 Cecelia MacNeil decried the condition of Hermon’s 1916 marble statue.(Above)
Six decades of careless sandblasting and harsh cleaning left the Commander looking
more like a LEPER than
commander in Chief of the American Revolution.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<|>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Fortunately the Washington Arch and Washington Park
continues into its SECOND CENTURY
as a gathering place and a celebration place for
New Yorkers to call out to
the Nation and World.
“Washington” in evening light
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MacNeil Month 2022 ~ Week 1 ~ Cecelia MacNeil’s alarm for the Washington Arch in 1974.
Posted by: | CommentsTwenty-seven years after Hermon MacNeil’s death, Cecelia Weick MacNeil, his second-wife, wrote a series of three articles which she entitled:
“Sculptor Americanus:
HERMON ATKINS MACNEIL”
Cecelia MacNeil, RN (1945). Born Cecelia Weick in 1897. She served as a nurse in WWI in the European theater. She married Karl Weick in about 1920.
Cecelia opens the first of three articles with memories of her 12th Birthday in 1909.
Born in 1897, Cecelia Weick told the story of first the day that she ever heard the name of “Hermon Atkins MacNeil”
NOTE: Thirty-seven years later … Hermon would ask her to marry him.
As a birthday surprise, her father took her to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ascending into the American Wing, they sat down on a bench near MacNeil’s sculpture group of “The Sun Vow.” Sixty-four years later, Cecelia described their visit to that sculpture this way:
Owen Schweers, my own grandson, in front of “The Sun Vow” that Cecelia Weick and her father saw on her 12th Birthday. He visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City about 110 Years after Cecelia. That particular casting of MacNeil’s statue was placed there by Daniel Chester French.
“The Sun Vow portrays two Indians, elder and younger, chief and future brave, grandfather and grandson. The grandfather, his body still subtle and strong, is weary just the same. The viewer knows that the chieftain’s feathered head-dress … will never again be worn. The old Indian holds this symbol of authority on his lap as he presses the young Indian to him. The grandchild holds an arrowless bow, symbolizing the celebration of coming of age in the in Indian lore but transcending the culture of any age. For when the young brave is able to shoot an arrow into the son, far enough away so that its decent to earth passes unseen, then he has attained manhood.
After at least five minutes of silence my father commented.
‘Ceil, the man who created this work is surely one of the greatest American Sculptors. Never, never forget his name.’
I am still a romantic. My father’s words were to be part of my destiny. 37 years later I married Hermon Atkins MacNeil.”
Sculptor AMERICANUS
CECELIA opened her first of three articles with those memories of her 12th Birthday. Continuing, she describes her sculptor, hero, and sunset-partner with the following phrases:
The Sculptor:
- MODESTY was so much a part of Hermon MacNeil
- Will my words of praise cause his spirit to stir ?
- Will my words cause his truly American soul to BLUSH?
- A successful bronze gives the sculptor a few steps toward immortality.
- A Creator of Memorials, Coins and Medals
- Time has made almost Hermon a forgotten American type …
- an extinct species
- whose works are ravaged by time, corrosion, spoilage …
- Hermon loved sculpting American Indians in their naturalness and beauty.
- Cecelia cites Jean Stansbury Holden’s description of Hermon in 1907 as:
- a boyish, slender, medium height, with large eyes that meet you with a twinkle …
- a serious sculptor when working …
- without pretense of his accomplishments …
- When keeps his medals from:
- Chicago Exposition – 1893;
- Paris Exposition – 1900
- Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, NY – 1901
- Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St Louis – 1904
- and numerous others …
- IN DRAWERS in his studio, and rubs off some of the tarnish before showing them
- TRULY without Pretension or POMP.
AMERICANUS:
Quoting Jean Stansbury Holden she adds,
“While his work shows this variety in subject and treatment, one quality runs through it all; Whatever he touches is, in its very essence American; it smacks of the soil.” 1
Mrs. MacNeil then suggests:
“American history can be studied by totaling up Hermon’s works. This can be seen by mentioning a mere scattering of examples — The Pony Express, McKinley, The Pilgrim Fathers, Pere Marquette, Ezra Cornell, George Rogers Clark, the eastern pediment of the United States Supreme Court Building — and the most familiar and relevant of all, the marble of Washington as Commander-in-Chief, which along with Stirling Calder’s figure of Washington as President, graces Stanford White’s Washington Arch in Greenwich Village. (bold added).
Source: Cecelia MacNeil with Dr. Allen Nestle. “Sculptor Americanus: Hermon Atkins MacNeil”. (First in a Series of Three), The Antiques Journal, April 1974, p. 54.
BUT then Cecelia sounded a shrill alarm for the Washington Arch. Pointing out 1974 photos showing decades of decay. Air pollution. traffic (Cars, buses) traveled through the arch for over 75 years. Cleaning by abrasive sandblasting and eroded the soft marble of both statues by MacNeil and Calder.
Figure 6 shows the toll on MacNeil’s statue of Washington’s pitted face.
She writes:
“Washington’s nose has been carelessly damaged by thoughtless sandblasting (figure 6). Sandblasting marble! Now th first President resembles a leper. Aldolph Block, former student of Hermon, reknowned (sic) president of the National Sculpture Society (as Hermon was on two different occasions) despairs over the disaster to this historical landmark. Smog from the air, vandalism, time, such factors can be expected. But destruction such as Washington has suffered, accidental as it may have been, seems all too contemporary.”
Over the years Cecelia MacNeil wrote many letters to the responsible officials seemingly hopeless battle.” Her complaints as well as Mr. Block’s were “for all intents and purposes, ignored.
Cecelia shares her familiarity with her late partner by suggesting:
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. Photo Credit: John Gomez, NYC. [ https://i0.wp.com/hermonatkinsmacneil.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/MacNeil-Washington-Arch-1.jpeg?resize=799%2C1024&ssl=1 ]
“One can NOT imagine Hermon and his fellow sculptors ignoring Washington’s face. In no time at all a group of them, most of whom worked with Hermon, would have a scaffold up. A roster would include (Phillip) Martiny, Daniel Chester French, Augustus St. Gaudens, Alexander Stirling Calder, giants all. I can see Hermon chewing on a small cigar, making jokes.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This concludes
Part 1 of MacNeil Month.
In Part 2 we will examine the
History and RESTORATION of the Washington Arch and the
two Washington Statues.
~~~~~~~~~~~
READ MORE: History of Washington Arch by New York Architecture
~~~~~~~~~~~
FOOTNOTES:
Traffic in the 1950s
- Holden, Jean Stansbury (October 1907). “The Sculptors MacNeil“. The World’s Work: A History of Our Time XIV: 9403–9419. [Retrieved from GOOGLE eBooks]
- Cecelia MacNeil with Dr. Allen Nestle. “Sculptor Americanus: Hermon Atkins MacNeil”. (First in a Series of Three), The Antiques Journal, April 1974, pp. 10-13, 54.
- Cecelia MacNeil with Dr. Allen Nestle. “Sculptor Americanus: Hermon Atkins MacNeil”. (Second in a Series of Three), The Antiques Journal, May 1974, pp. 28-31.
- Cecelia MacNeil with Dr. Allen Nestle. “Sculptor Americanus: Hermon Atkins MacNeil”. (Third in a Series of Three), The Antiques Journal, June 1974, pp. 32-35, 51.
- Lynn H. Burnett. (Editor’s Comments:)“Hermon Atkins MacNeil in Historical Perspective”. The Antiques Journal April 1974, pp. 4, 5, 48.
~~~~~~~
Related posts:
WASHINGTON ARCH in the 1920’s
- INDEPENDENCE DAY Images ~ from Hermon A. MacNeil (5) Here are a few images of Independence from Hermon Atkins…
- Washington Statues “Bleeding” with Red Paint! MacNeil & Calder works defaced. (5) We were saddened to hear that “red paint” was splattered…
- The death of Carol Brooks MacNeil and Hermon MacNeil’s remarriage. (5) Cecelia W. Muench MacNeil In 1944 Carol Louise Brooks MacNeil…
- Happy (actual) Birthday, Mr. Washington! ~~~ ~~~ Visit New York City for MacNeil Month ~~~ (#8) (4) George Washington February 22, 1732 Pictured below is Hermon A. …
- MacNeil’s “General George Washington” shows up on “Forgotten New York” virtual tour. (4) On this 281st anniversary of the birth of George Washington…
- Senator Bernie Sanders Calls for a Political Revolution at Washington Arch. (4) NEW YORK CITY — In Washington Square Park last evening,…
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Washington Arch Snowball Fight
Posted by: | CommentsNOT IN COMMAND !!!
Hermon A. MacNeil’s
“Washington as Commander-in-Chief”
(on back of the Arch) .
WINTER CELEBRATION AT WASHINGTON ARCH [Source: ZUMAPRESS.COM /MEGA retrieved on 2-1-2022 from [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10457267/New-Yorkers-break-HUGE-snowball-fight-Washington-Square-Park.html] ]
An Army of New Yorker’s celebrate 1 FOOT of snow with a volunteer frolic of winter surprise!
OR … are they celebrating
MacNeil Month
HERE AT www.HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com
Photo from: Daily Mail.com
NOTE: This photo shows the following WORDS of Washington engraved on the top of the Arch:
LET US RAISE A STANDARD
TO WHICH THE WISE AND THE HONEST CAN REPAIR.
THE EVENT IS IN THE HANDS OF GOD.
General George Washington with Flags (U.S. and POW/MIA) ~ Washington Arch Greenwich, NYC (Photo courtesy of: Gibson Shell – 2011)
Behind the scenes MacNeil’s likeness of General Washington guarded the rear flanks of the rally
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More Tensions on The Battery at the MacNeil Statue
Posted by: | CommentsA man was arrested in Charleston, SC, at The Confederate Defenders statue today as a woman was video recording. “For the past couple Sundays, supporters of Black Lives Matter and supporters of the Confederacy, a group called Flags Across America, have stood at the Battery near the Confederate Defenders statue to protest.”
ABC News 4 & WCIV report Charleston police stating that “a man was arrested after he allegedly “chest-bumped” a woman near the Confederate Defenders statue.
Witnesses tell ABC News 4 that a man shoved a Black Lives Matter protester. Charleston Police officials said they don’t have information on which group he was supporting.
Seven weeks ago on May 30th, the base of this statue was marked with red spray paint. Incidents have continued since then.
Since the murders at the AME Mother Emmanuel Church in 2015, The Confederate Defenders have been spray painted at least 3 times.
No one has been was injured in any of these incidents since 2015.
CLICK HERE: FOR VIDEO and further details OF THE ARREST.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OTHER VANDALISM ELSEWHERE on MacNeil works:
In New York City the MacNeil statue of George Washington as General of the Continental Army has also been spray painted. CLICK HERE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Related posts:
Related Images:
Washington Statues “Bleeding” with Red Paint! MacNeil & Calder works defaced.
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Both George Washington statues on the Arch were defaced with red paint in Washington Square. [Credit: Stefan Jeremiah for New York Post]
We were saddened to hear that “red paint” was splattered over statues of George Washington in NYC yesterday.
CLICK HERE for the New York Post story of the defacing. By Kevin Sheehan and Tina Moore June 29, 2020 | 12:26pm | Updated ]
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 of HermonAtkinsMacNeil.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
“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
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“They are still there” celebrates several re-visits and discoveries of MacNeil works made in 2019. This Presidents Day we look again at:
- “William McKinley” statue in Columbus, Ohio.
The Statue of Wm. McKinley stands in front of Ohio Capitol looking out over the city of Columbus. I always marvel at MacNeil’s works all over the U.S. of A.
- The “Lincoln Lawyer” of Illinois
Image from the Re-dedication Day of Lincoln Hall at University of Illinois in Champagne-Urbana in 2012.
This Lincoln Hall image was on the Tee Shirts worn by student-guides on Feb 12, 2012 for the re-opening of the renovated Hall
- Washington Square in New York City.
General George Washington with Flags (U.S. and POW/MIA) ~ Washington Arch Greenwich, NYC (Photo courtesy of: Gibson Shell – 2011)
In NYC MacNeil’s likeness of General Washington guards the rear flanks of the Washington Arch.
President McKinley was assassinated at the 1902 Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, NY. MacNeil was an exhibitor and sculpted the Award medal for that Worlds Fair. He later was awarded the commission for this McKinley Monument at the Ohio Capitol Square in Columbus.
McKinley detail ~ foot of “Industry” – a Blacksmith.
Industry and and his youthful student – allegorical figures in the McKinley grouping.
McKinley quote after taking office in 1900.
“Prosperity” and her her understudy, “Peace”
Here are three old Photos of the McKinley Monument
Early 1900s Postcard of McKinley Monument.
McKinley grouping in front of Ohio Capitol.
MacNeil’s 1915 “Lincoln” in Lincoln Hall
The restored East Foyer of Lincoln Hall with its gilted vaulted ceiling and columns makes a dramatic setting for Hermon A. MacNeil’s bust of Abrabam Lincoln as the famed prairie lawyer who left Illinois to lead the nation through the War to preserve the Union and the succession South states.
Another of Hermon MacNeil’s “Lincoln Lawyer” was found at the Rushville (Illinois) Public Library. The happy webmaster was pleased to see it and meet the Library staff. I am sure you recognize Abe Lincoln. Well the guy smilin’ on the right is me, Dan Leininger [the “happy webmaster of HAM (https://hermonatkinsmacneil.com/)
MacNeil of Barra tartan
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MacNeil’s “General George Washington” shows up on “Forgotten New York” virtual tour.
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The face of the General shows marble worn through 97 years of exposure and harsh cleaning.
On this 281st anniversary of the birth of George Washington (Feb. 22, 1732), we visit Hermon MacNeil’s famous statue in Washington Square, NYC. Photos here show it both today and in MacNeil’s original plaster model of 1915 from his College Point studio. His model was located just this past year. (See photos below).
CLICK BELOW for The Washington Arch as New Yorkers and visitors stroll southward from Fifth Avenue into Washington Park.
http://forgotten-ny.com/2011/11/a-walk-on-waverly-place/37-arch/
CLICK BELOW for General George Washington ~ MacNeil’s patriot Commander of the Continental Army.
http://forgotten-ny.com/2011/11/a-walk-on-waverly-place/39-washington-3/
CLICK BELOW for President Washington ~ Alexander Stirling Calder’s rendition of the civilian “Mr. President”
http://forgotten-ny.com/2011/11/a-walk-on-waverly-place/38-washington-2/
BELOW is my photo of MacNeil’s original studio plaster model for the George Washington Statue. It is about 3 1/2 feet tall.
Original Plaster model for “George Washington as Commander-in Chief” by H.A. MacNeil
The actual statues on the Arch are 12 feet tall. They were both carved by the Piccirilli Brothers. To see a clay model for the piece CLICK BELOW =>
http://www.lehman.edu/academics/arts-humanities/piccirilli/img44.php
The Picarrilli’s were a famous family of stone-carvers and sculptors who made many of the great sculpture carvings of that period (early 20th century).
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INDEPENDENCE DAY Images ~ from Hermon A. MacNeil
Posted by: | CommentsHere are a few images of Independence from Hermon Atkins MacNeil for this 237th Fourth of July Day in the United States of America.
1) From Vincennes, Indiana at the George Rogers Clark National Monument, Here is a hero of the American Revolution:
MacNeil’s “George Rogers Clark” in the rotunda of the National Monument in Vincennes, Indiana (Photo credit: Dan Leininger – webmaster)
The ranger at the monument commented on the proud dignity that MacNeil’s work conveys in the face and stance of this 26 year-old Virginia patriot, Col. George Rogers Clark. (Photo: Dan Leininger ~ webmaster)
On a recent visit to the monument, the National Park Ranger commented on the pride and confidence that Hermon MacNeil placed in his rendering of Clark’s gaze and pose for this sculpture. Clark, a Virginia Militia officer, won the approval and support of Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, to conduct a daring attack on the British in the Western frontiers. Clark crafted, trained, and commanded a special force of two hundred frontiersman, militia, and Kentucky sharpshooters. Their loyalty to the cause and Clark’s strategy of surprise resulted in capture of the British fortifications on the Western frontiers along the Mississippi, Ohio and Wabash Rivers at Vincennes, IN; Cahokia, IL; Kaskaskia, IL Enduring severe winter hardships, starvation, and sickness their monumental military achievement resulted in British withdrawal from the West and the surrender of territories east of the Mississippi in the Treaty of Paris in 1783. These are due in part to Clark’s Victories. He was the oldest of a family of famous brothers. In 1804 his brother William Clark, along with Meriwether Lewis, would explore the Louisiana Purchase west of the Mississippi for President Jefferson.
2. From New York City, Washington Square Arch. ~ “George Washington, Commander in Chief” by Hermon A. MacNeil.
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. Photo Credit: John Gomez, NYC.
General George Washington with Flags (U.S. and POW/MIA) ~ Washington Arch Greenwich, NYC (Photo courtesy of: Gibson Shell – 2011)
In 1916 the northeast statue pedestal received its Washington statue after being empty for over 20 years.
The other shelf of the Arch remained empty until 1918 when Alexander Stirling Calder’s “Washington as President” was installed. The installation on the right is a bit confusing. This photo was salvaged from a NYC flea market in June 2012 by John Gomez and used with his permission. John purchased this and other photos of interest to this MacNeil researcher and has graciously allowed their use by webmaster. This ‘strange’ photo shows the MacNeil statue resting on the right-hand side of the Arch where the Calder statue would be placed two years later. (The ladder, rope and pulleys suggest “Men at Work.” Compare the 2012 photo to its left.)
For MacNeil this event took place the same year as the first issue of his sculpture for the U.S. Mint’s “Standing Liberty Quarter.”
For more on the Washington Arch: CLICK HERE
3. From Philadelphia, PA. “The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Monument.” Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
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. CLICK HERE for Jim’s Books
The second half of the American Revolution (the preservation of the Union) is commemorated in this pair of 60 foot monuments on either side of the parkway entrance.
The back of the monuments read:
~~ “ONE COUNTRY, ONE CONSTITUTION, ONE DESTINY” ~~
~~ “IN GIVING FREEDOM TO THE SLAVE,
WE ASSURE FREEDOM TO THE FREE.” ~~
HEAR & VIEW PHILADELPHIA’S PRIDE IN THIS MACNEIL ART AT:
CLICK HERE and THEN run video by VIMEO.COM
FOR MORE INFO ON THESE MacNeil works see:
- DC Memorials – excellent photos ~ CLICK HERE
- Philadelphia Pride – “Soldiers & Sailors Monument” ~ by H. A. MacNeil (31.4)
- 75th Anniversary of the George Rogers Clark National Monument (9.2)
