Daniel Chester French

Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American

French's early education included training in anatomy with

In 1893, French was a founding member of the

French was one of many sculptors who frequently employed Audrey Munson as a model; another frequent sitter was Hettie Anderson. Together with Walter Leighton Clark and others, he was also one of the founders of the Berkshire Playhouse,^[10] which later became the Berkshire Theatre Festival. French's daughter, Margaret, also occasionally modeled for him, including for some of his rare portrait paintings, and became famous in her own right as a sculptor under the name Margaret French Cresson. In 1917, Harvard's citation in conferring an honorary Master of Arts referred to his statue of Emerson^{[clarification needed][11]} when it called him "a sculptor, whose skillful hand, unlike that of the friend whom he portrayed, has not been stopped but spared to adorn our land by the creation of his art".^[12][13] French also taught; among his pupils was the sculptor Edith Howland.^[14]

French died in

• Chesterwood, French's summer home and studio – designed by his architect friend and frequent collaborator Henry Bacon – is now a historic site owned and operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.^[16]
• In 1940, French was selected as one of five artists to be honored in the 35-stamp "Famous Americans" series.^[17]
• Chester French was an American indie band named for the artist.
• "Daniel Chester French: American Sculptor" (2022) is a documentary film by Eduardo Montes-Bradley produced in association with Chesterwood and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.HD, 60 minutes.

Works

Notable public monuments

• Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts
  , (1874)
• Bust of Major General William Francis Bartlett at Memorial Hall, Harvard University, (1881)
• John Harvard, Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Massachusetts
  , (1884)
• Lewis Cass, National Statuary Hall
  , Washington DC, (1889)
• Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Alice Cogswell (1889), Gallaudet University, Washington, DC
• San Francisco, California
  , (1891)
• Statue of The Republic, the colossal centerpiece of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. His 24-foot gilt-bronze reduced version made in 1918 survives in Chicago.^[18]
• Boston, Massachusetts
  , (1897)
• Boston, Massachusetts
  , (1898)
• Richard Morris Hunt Memorial, on the perimeter wall of Central Park, at 5th Avenue at 70th Street, opposite the Frick Collection, in New York City, (1900)
• Commodore George H. Perkins Monument at the New Hampshire State House, Concord, New Hampshire (1902)
• Alma Mater (1903), on the campus of Columbia University in New York City
• Statue of Wendell Phillips, Public Garden in Boston, Massachusetts
• The Four Continents – Asia, America, Europe, and Africa, a group of four statues outside the National Museum of the American Indian at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, Manhattan, NYC (1907)
• George Robert White Memorial, Public Garden in Boston, Massachusetts
• Atlanta, Georgia
  , (1910)
• August Meyer Memorial, 10th and The Paseo, Kansas City, Missouri (1909)
• Chippewa Square, Savannah, Georgia
  (1910)
• Standing Lincoln at the Nebraska State Capitol, Lincoln, Nebraska
  , (1912)
• Brooklyn and Manhattan, seated figures from the Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New York, (1915)
• Minuteman, Henry Bacon designer, Jno. Williams, Inc. (NY) founder, Danville, Illinois. (1915)
• The Spirit of Life, memorial to Spencer Trask, in Saratoga Springs, New York, at Congress Park, 1915
• Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial (1914–22), executed by the Piccirilli Brothers.^[19]
• The Weaver, outside the
  South Kingstown, Rhode Island (1919).^[20]
• Marquis de Lafayette Memorial, on the perimeter of Prospect Park (Brooklyn)
  , at 9th Street and Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, New York, (1917)
• Samuel Francis du Pont Memorial Fountain, Dupont Circle, Washington DC (1921)
• Alfred Tredway White Memorial, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Henry Bacon architect (1921)
• Grand Circus Park
  , Detroit, Michigan (1921).
• Marquis de Lafayette Statue, Lafayette College campus, Easton, Pennsylvania (1921).
• Gale Park War Memorial & Park, Exeter, New Hampshire (1922)
• Bust of Washington Irving and reliefs of Boabdil and Rip Van Winkle for the Washington Irving Memorial, Irvington, New York, (1927)
• Beneficence, Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. (1930)
• William Henry Seward Memorial in Florida, New York (1930)^[21]
• Death and the Wounded Soldier aka Death and Youth, The Chapel of Saint Peter and Saint Paul,
  St. Paul's School
  , Concord, New Hampshire
• James Woods, "Uncle Jimmy" Green, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS. (1924)
• Gen. William Franklin Draper, Draper Memorial Park, Milford, Massachusetts. (1912)

Gallery

• 
  John Harvard (1884), Harvard Yard at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• 
  Metropolitan Museum of Art
• 
  Statue of The Republic, (1893, reduced vers. 1918), Chicago
• 
  Boston, Massachusetts
• 
  Architecture (1901), Richard Morris Hunt Memorial
• 
  Statue of George H. Perkins (1902), New Hampshire State House, Concord, New Hampshire
• 
  Melvin Memorial (1908),

  Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts
• 
  Dupont Circle Fountain (1921), Dupont Circle, Washington DC
• 
  Russell A. Alger Fountain (1921), Detroit, Michigan
• 
  Wisconsin Capitol Building, Madison, Wisconsin
• 
  Westinghouse Memorial (1930),

  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  .
• 
  American Youth, Westinghouse Memorial (1930), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• 
  Jurisprudence, Federal Building, (1910)

  Cleveland, Ohio
• 
  The Spirit of Life (1915), Congress Park,

  Saratoga Springs

  , NY
• 
  Indian Corn
  (Bull by Edward Clark Potter)

Architectural sculpture

• Peace and Vigilance (alternatively America at War and Peace) US Customhouse & Post Office, St. Louis, Missouri, Alfred B. Mullett architect (1876–1882)
• Pediment, New Hampshire Historic Society Building, Concord, New Hampshire, Guy Lowell, architect (1909–1911)
• Bronze doors, Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts, McKim, Mead & White architects, (1884–1904)
• Justice, Appellate Division Courthouse of New York State, Manhattan, New York, James Brown Lord architect (1900)
• Adolph A. Weinman
  )
• Progress of the State, quadriga, Six statues on entablature, Minnesota State Capitol, St. Paul, Minnesota, Cass Gilbert architect (1907)
• Jurisprudence and Commerce,
  Arnold Brunner
  architect (1910)
• John Hampden, and Edward I, two attic figures, Cuyahoga County Courthouse, Cleveland, Ohio, Lehman & Schmidt architects (1908, 1911)
• Attic Figures, pediment, Brooklyn Museum, NYC, McKim, Mead & White architects (1912)
• Wisconsin, figure surmounting the dome, Wisconsin State Capitol, Madison, Wisconsin, George B. Post architect (1914)
• Abraham Lincoln (1920), Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, Henry Bacon
  architect (1914–1922)
• Peace, sculpture for the Admiral
  Madison Square
  in Manhattan, New York, in 1900.
• DeWitt Clinton, one of three statues prepared in 1903 for the New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry Building at 65 Liberty Street, Manhattan, New York. The statues were removed in 1926.
• Greek Epic; Lyric Poetry, and Religion. Sculptures for the 1908 Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences building on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, New York.
• Power and Wisdom. Sculpture for the 1919 First World War Memorial. Since destroyed.

Cemetery monuments

• Death and the Sculptor, a memorial for the grave of the sculptor Martin Milmore in the Forest Hills cemetery, Boston; this received a medal of honor at Paris, in 1900. (1893)
• Clark Memorial,
  Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
  , (1894)
• Chapman Memorial, Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, (1897)

• Council Bluffs
  , Iowa. Often referred to as the "Black Angel". (1918)
• Memory, the
  Chicago, Henry Bacon
  , architect (1906)
• Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
• Melvin Memorial,
  Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts, Henry Bacon
  , architect (1906–1908)

Selected museum pieces

• The Angel of Death and the Sculptor, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
• Mourning Victory, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
• And the Sons of God saw the Daughters of Men That They Were Fair…, For French, this was an unusually erotic sculpture depicting the verse from Genesis whereby a fallen angel seduces a mortal woman thus producing the mythical Nephilim, Corcoran Gallery of Art; Washington DC, signed and dated 1923.

Miscellaneous pieces

• The Chicago Incendiary: edition of a small bisque statuette depicting the cow alleged to have started the Great Chicago Fire of 1871
• The Minute Man: depicted on a US postage stamp issued in 1925, commemorating the Battles of Lexington and Concord
• Bust of John Brewster, who endowed Brewster Academy in 1887.^[23]

• 
  Daniel Chester French's The Minute Man depicted on US Postage Stamp, 1925 Issue, 5¢
• 
  Daniel Chester French
  Issue of 1940

References

Citations

1. ^ French, Henry F. (1859). Farm drainage: the principles, processes, and effects of draining land with stones, wood, plows, and open ditches, and especially with tiles. New York: Orange Judd & Company.
2. ^ Leonard, John W. (1908). "French, Daniel Chester". Men of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries. 1: 924.
3. New International Encyclopedia
   (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
4. ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter F" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
5. ^ "Daniel Chester French (1850–1931)". Retrieved December 22, 2023.
6. ^ The Art Students League of NY [@aslny] (April 21, 2023). "Happy birthday to League artist Daniel Chester French (1850—1931) best known for creating the Lincoln Memorial". Retrieved December 22, 2023 – via Instagram.
7. ^ Luebke, Thomas E., ed., Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix B, p. 544.
8. ^ Homren, Wayne (April 11, 2004). "Pulitzer Secrets Revealed". The E-Sylum. 7 (15, art. 5). Retrieved July 1, 2007.
9. ISBN 0-87722-822-1
   .
10. ^ "Arts & Entertainment In The Berkshires". Archived from the original on June 28, 2009.
11. ^ "Harvard Alumni Bulletin". Harvard Bulletin, Incorporated. January 1, 1916 – via Google Books.
12. ^ Callan, Richard L. 100 Years of Solitude: John Harvard Finishes His First Century. The Harvard Crimson. April 28, 1984. Retrieved October 13, 2012
13. ^ Harvard Alumni Bulletin v.19
14. ISBN 978-1-135-63882-5
    .
15. ^ "Grave of Daniel Chester French", New England Travel Planner; accessed 2023.06.29.
16. ^ "Chesterwood – National Trust for Historic Preservation".
17. ^ "1847usa.com".
18. ^ Chicago Landmarks | Statue of The Republic Archived December 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine at www.ci.chi.il.us
19. ^ "Lincoln Memorial National Memorial—Places Reflecting America's Diverse Cultures Explore their Stories in the National Park System: A Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary".
20. ^ "Around New England: The Weaver of Peace Dale".
21. ^ Ramsey Al-Rikabi (June 12, 2007). "Seward's bust gets busted". Times Herald-Record. Retrieved June 30, 2007.
22. ^ (Law, Prosperity, and Power, SIRIS)
23. ^ "Lake Winnipesaukee Historical Society". www.lwhs.us. Archived from the original on March 11, 2017. Retrieved February 9, 2016.

Further reading

• Buck, Diane M. and Virginia A. Palmer, Outdoor Sculpture in Milwaukee: A Cultural and Historical Guidebook, The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, 1995
• Caffin, Charles H., American Masters of Sculpture, Doubleday, Page & Company, New York 1913
• Caffin, in International Studio, volumes xx (1903), lx (1910), and lxvi (1912)
• Carlock, Marty, A Guide to Public Art in Greater Boston from Newburyport to Plymouth, The Harvard Common Press, Boston Massachusetts, 1988
• Chesterwood Archives, Geographical List of Works: DRAFT, unpublished manuscript, April 14, 1993
• Coughlan, in Magazine of Art (1901)
• Craven, Wayne, Sculpture in America, Thomas Y. Crowell Co, NY, NY 1968
• Cresson, Margaret French, Journey into Fame: The Life of Daniel Chester French, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1947
• Dearinger, David, Daniel Chester French: The Female Form Revealed, Boston Athenaeum, 2016
• Hucke, Matt and Ursela Bielski, Graveyards of Chicago: the People, History, Art and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries, Lake Claremont Press, Chicago, 1999
• Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, Architectural Sculpture in America
• Lanctot, Barbara, A Walk Through Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Architectural Foundation, Chicago, Illinois, 1988
• Richman, Michael, Daniel Chester French: An American Sculptor, The Preservation Press, Washington DC, 1976
• Taft, Lorado, The History of American Sculpture, MacMillan Co., New York, NY 1925
• Tolles, Thayer. "Daniel Chester French (1850–1931)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. (June 2010)
• Wilson, Susan, Garden of Memorials: A Guide to Historic Forest Hills, Forest Hills Educational Trust

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Daniel Chester French.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "French, Daniel Chester".

• Works by or about Daniel Chester French at Internet Archive
• Daniel Chester French: Sculpture In Situ
• Chesterwood Estate and Museum—Summer home, studio, and garden of sculptor Daniel Chester French
• "F" (pp. 158–182; see p. 177) in Members of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences: 1780–2012
• Daniel Chester French exhibition brochure from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• "Chesterwood: The Workshop of an American Sculptor"; "Chesterwood: The Workshop of an American Sculptor – A Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plan", a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan