The Republic

The Republic, 1918

Daniel Chester French

Jackson Park

Hayes (63^rd) and Richards Drives

            Best known for his Seated Lincoln (1922) at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Daniel Chester French (1850-1931) was an East Coast sculptor who successfully combined his own naturalistic style with the Beaux-Arts approach favored by Lorado Taft. Much admired by Taft and others of his generation, French created the original version of this work for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, where it stood over the eastern end of the Grand Basin that filled the Court of Honor. The original statue was 65-feet tall and stood upon a 35-foot tall pedestal, so large that it reached well above the cornice line of the surrounding buildings. Made of staff (reinforced plaster) and partially covered in gold leaf, the original also featured electric lights in the crown that glowed at night. Like most of the other buildings and sculptural works, however, it was destroyed at the end of the fair. This 24-foot high gilded bronze version, based upon the surviving plaster model, was erected in Jackson Park to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of the fair and the centennial of Illinois statehood. The site where it stands was the location of the 1893 Exposition’s Administration building.

            A female personification of the “Republic” fashioned after classical forms, French’s figure holds a globe surmounted by an American eagle and a pike topped with a liberty cap. A static figure with both feet planted firmly on the ground, she exudes stability and permanence. Henry Bacon, architect of the Lincoln Memorial, designed the pedestal for the 1918 statue and worked with French on many other commissions. 

Other works:

• Memory: Marshall Field Monument
• George Washington Monument
• Bulls with Maidens

Memory: Marshall Field Monument

Memory: Marshall Field Monument, 1906

Daniel Chester French with Henry Bacon

Graceland Cemetery

North central section, west of the lake

2001 North Clark Street

            At one time the wealthiest man in Chicago, Marshall Field started out as a store clerk but became a partner in Potter Palmer’s dry-goods store in 1865. Upon the departure of Palmer and the buyout of his partner Levi Leiter, Field established Marshall Field & Company, which would become the largest wholesale and retail dry-goods enterprise in the world. In his will, Field allocated $8 million to build a home for the Field Museum of Natural History on the Museum campus in Grant Park.

            Chicago sculptor Lorado Taft described Daniel Chester French’s sculpture as “genial, sympathetic and dignified” and his bronze, female personification of “Memory” emanates an air of melancholic solemnity and strength. The setting, with surrounding trees and bushes and a reflecting pool, was designed by Henry Bacon, frequent collaborator with French on projects, including the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The monument features carved panels of male figures labeled as “Equity” and “Integrity.” The female figure holds oak leaves, symbolizing courage in the face of death, and the granite plinth features the caduceus, the staff carried by Hermes/Mercury, god of commerce.

            Marshall Field (1835-1906) is not named on the monument itself but he, his family and his descendants are identified with a row of simple headstones placed at some distance from the statue and pool of water.

Other works:

• The Republic
• George Washington Monument
• Bulls with Maidens
• Illinois Centennial Monument

George Washington Monument

George Washington Monument, 1904

Daniel Chester French and Edward C. Potter

South Martin Luther King Drive, north of Washington Park, north of East 51^st Street

            The original version of this monument was commissioned by the Daughters of the American Revolution as a gift to the French for their assistance in the American fight for independence. It was unveiled at the Place d’Iéna in Paris, near the Trocadero, on July 3, 1900, and was the first monument by an American sculptor to be erected in that city. Two years later a group of Chicagoans, including Benjamin F. Ferguson and Clarence F. Buckingham, asked permission to install a replica of the bronze equestrian figure and granite base at the northern entrance to Washington Park.

            Washington is depicted with sword upraised as he took command of the Revolutionary forces at Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 3, 1775. Potter created the horse while French was responsible for the figure and he modeled the face after a bust created from life by Jean Antoine Houdon. Potter collaborated with French on several works that included human and animal figures, including groups that flanked the Grand Basin at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Potter remains best known, however, for his lions at the New York Public Library.   

Other works:

• The Republic
• Bulls with Maidens
• Memory: Marshall Field Monument

Pulcinella II

Pulcinella II, 1965-66

Sorel Etrog

University of Chicago

Courtyard, Cummings Life Science Center

920 East 58^th Street

            A character from the Italian commedia dell’arte, Pulcinella is a hunch-backed, poor worker who has little to lose and suffers abuse at the hands of his superiors. This ten-foot high bronze statue by Sorel Etrog (born 1933) features an upright sword-like shape extending from round forms, suggestive of genitalia, that is restrained and hampered in its efforts by twisted and interwoven links. The smooth texture of the round forms contrasts with the rough surfaces elsewhere.

            Etrog was born in Romania and spent his youth under Nazi occupation. He emigrated to Israel in 1950 and was awarded a scholarship from Brooklyn Museum Art Institute in 1958 to study “primitive” art. He settled in Canada in 1963 and was named a National Living Treasure in 1994. This work was gifted to the University by Nathan Cummings, founder of Consolidated Foods Corporation and philanthropist noted for his generosity to Michael Reese Hospital and the University of Chicago. 

Other work: 

• Mother and Child

Mother and Child

Mother and Child, 1968

Sorel Etrog

University of Chicago

Near entrance to Cummings Life Science Center

920 East 58^th Street

            Given by the Sara Lee Corporation, this bronze work by Romanian-born, Canadian artist Sorel Etrog has replaced sculptures by Antoine Poncet, Aileronde and Oreillart, which had been installed in 1970 for the opening of the Cummings Life Science Center. The addition of the Etrog work makes sense, as it joins another bronze piece, Pulcinella II, by the same artist in a nearby courtyard.

            Exhibiting Etrog’s characteristic combination of rough textures alongside smooth geometrical organic forms, Mother and Child speaks to his interest in figurative styles associated with non-Western art. He was able to study such forms with the help of a scholarship from the Brooklyn Museum Art Institute in 1958.