Abraham Lincoln: The Man (Standing
Lincoln), 1887
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Lincoln Park
Clark Street at North
Avenue
Considered by many to be not only the finest portrayal of
the sixteenth president but also one of the best examples of monumental
sculpture in the United States, the work typically described as the “Standing
Lincoln” was created by Irish-born American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens
(1848-1907). The artist based his depiction upon a six-foot-four farmer from
Windsor, Vermont and the plaster life mask and casts of Lincoln made in 1860 by
sculptor Leonard W. Volk in his Clark Street studio in Chicago.
This monument was funded by a $40,000 bequest in the will
of lumber merchant Eli Bates that called for a Lincoln statue in Lincoln Park.
Saint-Gaudens was chosen after he refused to participate in a design
competition for the project and all other applicants were eliminated. The
artist had seen Lincoln during his campaign in New York and would later view
his body lying in state. At the unveiling on October 22, 1887, approximately
5000 people stood in the rain to watch Abraham Lincoln’s grandson pull the rope
to reveal the statue.
The nearly 12-foot tall bronze figure stands before a
claw-legged chair inspired by a cast of a seat from a Greek theatre at the
Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Sculptor Lorado Taft admired the work and described
the chair as “an ingenious device” that helped to reinforced the silhouette of
the figure from a distance but seemed to disappear once the viewer came closer
and focused upon Lincoln’s naturalistic pose and expression. Saint-Gaudens
apprenticed as a cameo-cutter in New York and later trained at the École des
Beaux-Arts in Paris. Here he combined his technical skill with an innovative
approach that departed from the Neoclassical convention of classical garb and
idealized figures.
The figure and chair are mounted on a semi-circular pink
granite exedra designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead and White. The base
includes inscriptions from Lincoln’s speeches and he appears to have arisen
from his chair to deliver one of them. Replicas of this famous statue are
located in London, Mexico City, New York, Boston and on the farm near
Hodgenville, Kentucky where Lincoln was born.
Other statues of Lincoln in Chicago:
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