Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | August 3, 1907 Cornish, New Hampshire, U.S. | (aged 59)
Nationality | American |
Education | Cooper Union, National Academy of Design, École des Beaux-Arts |
Known for | Sculpture |
Spouse | Augusta Fisher Homer Saint-Gaudens |
Children | Homer Saint-Gaudens[1] |
Augustus Saint-Gaudens (
Saint-Gaudens also created
Early life and career
Saint-Gaudens was born in
In 1861, he became an apprentice to a cameo-cutter, Louis Avet, and took evening art classes at the Cooper Union in New York City.[5][6] Two years later, he was hired as an apprentice of Jules Le Brethon, another cameo cutter, and enrolled at the National Academy of Design.[7][8] His apprenticeship was completed by the age of 19 and he traveled to Paris in 1867, where he studied in the atelier of François Jouffroy at the École des Beaux-Arts.[9]
In 1870, he left Paris for Rome to study art and architecture, and worked on his first commissions. There he met a deaf American art student, Augusta Fisher Homer. They married on June 1, 1877.[10] The couple had one child, a son named Homer Saint-Gaudens.
In 1874, Edwards Pierrepont, a prominent New York reformer, hired Saint-Gaudens to create a marble bust of himself.[11] Pierrepont, a phrenologist, proved to be a demanding client, insisting that Saint-Gaudens make his head larger.[11] Saint-Gaudens said that Pierrepont's bust "seemed to be affected with some dreadful swelling disease" and he later told a friend that he would "give anything to get hold of that bust and smash it to atoms".[11]
In 1876, he won a commission for a bronze
In New York, he was a member of the
Civil War commemorative commissions
In 1876, Saint-Gaudens received his first major commission: a
The commissions followed fast, including the colossal Abraham Lincoln: The Man in Lincoln Park, Chicago in a setting by architect White, 1884–1887, considered the finest portrait statue in the United States (a replica was placed at Lincoln's tomb in Springfield, Illinois, and another stands in Parliament Square, London). The statue was highly influential for American artists and received widespread praise by critics.[16]
A long series of memorials, funerary monuments and busts, including the
For the Lincoln Centennial of 1909, Saint-Gaudens produced another statue of the president. A seated figure,
Other works
Saint-Gaudens also created the statue for the monument of Charles Stewart Parnell, which was installed at the north end of Dublin's O'Connell Street, backing on to Parnell Square in 1911.
In 1887, when
Saint-Gaudens was also commissioned by a variety of groups to create medals including varied commemorative themes like The Women"s Auxiliary of the Massachusetts Civil Service Reform Association Presentation Medal and the World's Columbian Exposition Medal. Such pieces stand testament to both his broad appeal and the respect that was given to him by his contemporaries.
A statue of philanthropist Robert Randall stands in the gardens of
Teacher and advisor
Saint-Gaudens' prominence brought him students, and he was an able and sensitive teacher. He tutored young
Through his career Augustus Saint-Gaudens made a specialty of intimate private portrait panels in sensitive, very low relief, which owed something to the Florentine Renaissance. It was felt he heavily influenced another Irish American sculptor, Jerome Connor.[20]
Over the course of his long career Saint-Gaudens employed, and by doing so, trained, some of the next generation's finest sculptors. These included
New York City's PS40 is named after Saint-Gaudens.[citation needed]
Coinage
Saint-Gaudens referred to his early relief portraits as "medallions" and took a great interest in the art of the coin: his $20 gold piece, the double eagle coin he designed for the US Mint, 1905–1907, though it was adapted for minting, is still considered one of the most beautiful American coins ever issued.
Chosen by Theodore Roosevelt to redesign the coinage of the nation at the beginning of the 20th century, Saint-Gaudens produced an ultra high-relief $20 gold piece that was adapted into a flattened-down version by the United States Mint. The ultra high-relief coin took up to 11 strikes to bring up the details, and only 20 or so of these coins were minted in 1907. The Ultra High Reliefs did not stack properly and were deemed unfit for commerce. They are highly sought-after today; one sold in a 2005 auction for $2,990,000.[22] The coin was then adapted into the High relief version, which, although requiring eight fewer strikes than the Ultra High Relief coins, was still deemed impractical for commerce. 12,317 of these were minted, and are currently among the most in-demand U.S. coins. The coin was finally modified to a normal-relief version, which was minted from 1907 to 1933.[23] This design (an "ultra-high relief" $20) was successfully minted in 24 karat gold; 115,178 coins were produced. This coin was issued by the U.S. Mint in 2009.[24]
Later life and the Cornish Colony
Diagnosed with cancer in 1900, Saint-Gaudens decided to live at his Federal house with barn-studio set in the handsome gardens he had made, where he and his family had been spending summers since 1885, in Cornish, New Hampshire – though not in retirement. Despite waning energy, he continued to work, producing a steady stream of reliefs and public sculpture. In 1901, he was appointed a member of the Senate Park, or McMillan, Commission for the redesign of Washington, D.C.'s Mall and its larger park system, along with architects Daniel Burnham and Charles Follen McKim, and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.; in 1902, the Commission published their report, popularly known as the McMillan Plan.[25] In 1904, he was one of the first seven chosen for membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters. That same year the large studio burned, with the irreplaceable loss of the sculptor's correspondence, his sketchbooks, and many works in progress.
The
Saint-Gaudens was elected a member of the
Saint-Gaudens and his wife figure prominently in the 2011 book
Legacy and honors
During World War II the Liberty ship SS Augustus Saint-Gaudens was built in Panama City, Florida, and named in his honor.[28]
New York City's PS40 is named after Saint-Gaudens.
Among the public collections holding works by Augustus Saint-Gaudens are:
Selected works
Title | Image | Year | Location | Material | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Admiral David Glasgow Farragut
|
1881 | Madison Square Park NYC | Bronze & granite | exedra designed by Stanford White | |
The Puritan
|
1887 | Merrick Park, near Quadrangle Springfield, Massachusetts | Bronze & granite | ||
Standing Lincoln | 1887 | Chicago, Illinois
|
Bronze & granite | architectural setting by Stanford White additional castings located in Parliament Square, London, Mexico City, and at the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park | |
General John Logan Memorial | 1897 | Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois | Bronze & granite | architectural setting by Stanford White, horse modeled by Alexander Phimister Proctor | |
Robert Gould Shaw Memorial | 1897 | Boston, Massachusetts
|
Bronze & granite | architectural elements designed by Charles Follen McKim | |
Adams Memorial | 1891 | Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D.C. | Bronze & granite | architectural setting by Stanford White | |
William Tecumseh Sherman | 1903 | Grand Army Plaza, Manhattan | Bronze & granite | granite pedestal designed by Charles Follen McKim | |
Henry W. Maxwell Memorial | 1903 | Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn | Bronze & granite | Assisted by Albert Jaegers | |
Christopher Lyman Magee Memorial | 1908 | Schenley Park, Pittsburgh | Bronze & Granite | Architectural setting by Stanford White and Henry Bacon
Assisted by Henry Hering | |
Seated Lincoln | 1908, unveiled in 1926 |
Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois | Bronze & granite | architectural setting by Stanford White, Graham, Anderson, Probst and White
|
Gallery
-
Josiah Gilbert Holland monument, Springfield Cemetery, Massachusetts (1881).
-
Portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson, 1887–88, Honolulu Museum of Art.
-
Hiawatha, Marble (1872), Metropolitan Museum of Art.
-
Bas relief of Oliver Ames Jr., Ames Free Library, North Easton, Massachusetts (1883).
-
The Puritan, bronze (1883–1886), outdoors in Springfield, Massachusetts, and indoors at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art.
-
Detail of Shaw Memorial plaster model (1884–1887), National Gallery of Art.
-
Detail of Adams Memorial, Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, DC (1891).
-
Peter Cooper Monument in front of the Cooper Union, Cooper Square, New York, NY (1897).
-
Amor Caritas, Bronze (1898), Cleveland Museum of Art.
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Plaque of Robert Charles Billings, Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts (1899).
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Montana Tech campus, Butte, Montana
-
Statue of Phillips Brooks,Trinity Church, Boston(1907–1910, completed by Grimes, Ward and Hering).
-
Aspet, Saint-Gaudens' summer home and studio in Cornish, New Hampshire.
-
Abraham Lincoln
See also
References
Notes
- ^ "Saint Gaudens National Historic Site". National Park Service. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
- ^ "The Education of Henry Adams: Chapter XXII. Chicago (1893) by Henry Adams @ Classic Reader". www.classicreader.com. Archived from the original on 2008-09-05. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
- ^ "Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site". Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ^ US Mint: The American Eagles Program.
- ISBN 0151927499.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ "COOPERMADE: NYC SCULPTURE AND MONUMENTS". The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
- ISBN 0151927499.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ David McCullough (Fall 2011). "Adventures in Paris". American Heritage. Vol. 61, no. 2. p. 40.
- ^ David McCullough (Fall 2011). "Adventures in Paris". American Heritage. Vol. 61, no. 2. p. 41.
- ^ Supple, Carrie F. and Walton, Cynthia, pubs. The Nichols Family Papers 1860–1960. 2007, Manuscript Collection No. 1.
- ^ a b c "Judge Edwards Pierrepont". Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery. Retrieved 2016-02-25.
- ^ David McCullough (Fall 2011). "Adventures in Paris". American Heritage. Vol. 61, no. 2. p. 44.
- ^ David McCullough (Fall 2011). "Adventures in Paris". American Heritage. Vol. 61, no. 2. p. 48.
- ^ PMA Diana
- ^ "Diana". Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
- S2CID 192203987.
- ^ "Augustus Saint-Gaudens' Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-fourth Regiment". National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. 1997.
- ^ US 1909.com Saint-Gaudens Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Dryfhout, John (1982). The work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England. pp. 246–247.
- ^ Jerome Connor Sculptor – Annascaul Village, Annascaul Accommodation, Tom Crean, Jerome Conor, Irish Horse Fair and more!. Annascaul.net (2011-05-20). Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
- ^ List primarily gleaned from Wilkinson, Burke, Uncommon Clay: The Life and Works of Augustus Saint Gaudens, photographs by David Finn, Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch, Publishers, San Diego, 1983.
- ^ Yeoman, p. 272.
- ^ "United States, $20, 1907". National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2008-06-16.
- ^ 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle. The Saint-Gaudens obverse design was reused in the American Eagle gold bullion coins that were instituted in 1986. 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle. Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
- ^ Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, ed. Thomas E. Luebke. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013.
- ^ AAAS Membership
- ^ "The Hall of Fame for Great Americans - Face-to-Face Online Tour". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2009-12-05.
- ISBN 978-1476617541. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
- ^ Smithsonian National Postal Museum http://www.arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&tid=2028645
Bibliography
- Armstrong, Craven, et al., 200 Years of American Sculpture, Whitney Museum of Art, NYC, 1976.
- Balfour, Graham, The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson, 12th ed. Metheun, London, 1913.
- Caffin, Charles H. (February 1904). "The Work of the Sculptor August Saint-Gaudens". The World's Work: A History of Our Time. VII: 4403–4419. Retrieved 2015-05-16.
- Clemen, Paul, in Die Kunst, Munich, 1910.
- Cortissoz, Royal, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, New York, 1907.
- Craven, Wayne, Sculpture in America, Thomas Y. Crowell Co, NY, NY 1968.
- Dryfhout, John H., Augustus Saint-Gaudens: The Portrait Reliefs, The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Grossman Publishers, NY 1969.
- Dryfhout, John H., The 1907 United States Gold Coinage, Eastern National Park & Monument Association 1996.
- Dryfhout, John H., The Works of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, University Press of New England, Hanover 1982.
- Greenthal, Kathryn (1985). Augustus Saint-Gaudens, master sculptor. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9780816187898.
- Saint - Gaudens, Zorn and the Goddesslike Miss Anderson by William E. Hagans - This article first appeared in the summer 2002 issue of American Art.
- Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, St. Gaudens' America, unpublished manuscript.
- McCullough, David. The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2011.
- Podas Larson, Christine, St. Gaudens' New York Eagle: Rescue And Restoration Of St. Paul's First Outdoor Sculpture, Ramsey County History Quarterly V37 #3, Ramsey County Historical Society, St Paul, MN, 2002.
- Reynalds, Donald Martin, Masters of American Sculpture: The Figurative Tradition From the American Renaissance to the Millennium, Abbeville Press, NY 1993.
- C. Lewis Hind: Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Publisher: The International Studio, John Lane Company; New York 1908 - Internet Archive - online
- Augustus Saint-Gaudens - His Life: Chronology
- Augustus Saint-Gaudens - His Works: Chronology
- Photographic Reproductions of the Works of Augustus Saint-Gaudens
- Augustus Saint-Gaudens: The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Volume I. Edited and Amplified by Homer Saint-Gaudens, Published By The Century Co. New York, 1913 -Internet Archive - online
- The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Edited and amplified by Homer Saint-Gaudens. Volume Two. - Internet Archive - online
- Abraham Lincoln Monument. Landmark in the City of Chicago. - Internet Archive - online
- Taft, Lorado: The History of American Sculpture New York: Macmillan Company, London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd. 1903.
- Tharp, Louise Hall, Saint-Gaudens and the Gilded Era. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1969.
- Tolles, Thayer. "Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907)." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. October 2004.
- Tripp, David, "Fear and Trembling" & Other Discoveries: New Information on Augustus Saint-Gaudens and America's Most Beautiful Coin", ANS Magazine 6/1 (Winter 2007).
- Wilkinson, Burke, and David Finn, photographs, Uncommon Clay: The Life and Works of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, San Diego. 1985.
External links
- Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site
- The Papers of Augustus Saint-Gaudens at Dartmouth College Library
- Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, New Hampshire
- Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site: Home of a Gilded Age Icon, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan
- Major public works, illustrated
- Saint-Gaudens twenty dollar gold coins
- Saint-Gaudens Exhibit, American Numismatic Society