Galesburg Dedicating New Lincoln Statue

A new statue of President Abraham Lincoln will be unveiled today, Labor Day, at the Galesburg, Illinois Amtrak depot at 225 Seminary Street. The new 2,500 pound granite statue will be dedicated at a ceremony after Galesburg's Labor Day parade.
Modeled after the famous statue of Lincoln by the female sculptor, Vinnie Ream, the larger than life sized image of the 16Th president, will be placed upon a granite pedestal making the entire monument approximately 11 feet tall and the overall weight at 11,000 pounds.

The statue depicts Lincoln with his right hand extended holding the Emancipation Proclamation. He has a cloak draped over his right arm and his left hand holds the other side of cloak, keeping it from dragging on the floor.

Vinnie Ream, the sculptress of the original that stands in the Rotunda of the Capital Building in Washington D.C., was born near Madison, Wisconsin in 1847. He father worked for the U.S. government and moved to the capital city in 1862.
Ream had the opportunity to model her Lincoln from life. It has been reported that she spent 5 months at the White House sculpting a bust of Lincoln, who sat for Ms. Ream many times. After Lincoln's death, she entered a competition for a $10,000 congressional commission to sculpt Lincoln for a memorial to the martyred president. The 18 year old girl, bested 18 other more noted and older sculptors to gain the commission but not without a certain amount of controversy due to the sculptors age and sex.
Her choice for the commission was quite controversial but ultimately her talent prevailed and she started working on the piece in 1867. Ream travelled to Rome where she hand picked the Cararra marble for her statue. She spent nearly two years overseas in Italy, and returned to the U.S. with her finished full length marble of President Lincoln. The unveiling occurred on January 25, 1871. The reactions to her piece were originally positive but some critics attacked her technique and skills.
Other examples of Ream's work are the the statue of Admiral Farragut in Washington's Farragut Square. In the U.S. Capital's Statuary Hall, Ream's statue of Samuel Jordan Kirkwood, the governor and U.S. Senator, represents the state if Iowa. Also in the capital, Ream's statue of Sequoya, the native American credited with inventing the written alphabet for the Cherokee language, represents the state of Oklahoma.
Vinnie Ream Hoxie died in November of 1914 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Her grave is marked by a large monument topped by her sculpture of Sappho, the ancient Greek poetess..

Cleveland Rocks

Three weeks ago my wife Wendy and I set out from the Chicago area towards our ultimate destination of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Every year for the past four years I have taken a week's worth of vacation time and I have attended the Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg. The Lincoln Forum is held annually during the three days prior to Gettsyburg Remebrance Day.

On the way, I decided to make a slight detour and to stop in Cleveland to visit the Soldier's and Sailor's Monument right in the middle of downtown Cleveland. I became familiar with the Cleveland monument from reading Donald Charles Durman's 1951 book on Lincoln sculptures, He Belongs to the Ages - The Statues of Abraham Lincoln. This work has been long out of print but is an invaluable tool for anyone interested in learning more about Lincoln statuary. Ocassionally a copy comes up for sale on the Web. I have attempted to visit and photograph the Monument several times but something always came up. I was determined that I would check this one off my list on this trip.

The imposing S&S Monument was opened in 1894 .The column in the center rises 125 feet above Public Square in downtown Cleveland. Atop the stone column is the statue of the Goddess of Freedom. Directly underneath the column, is the memorial or "tablet" room which contains a series a four deep relief bronze sculpture groups designed and executed by the sculptor and architect of the entire project Levi Tucker Scofield. The memorial room also includes bronze busts of Civil War heroes from Cuyahoga County and the walls are covered with 9000 names of county residents that served in the Civil War.

The four relief sculptures are the center piece of the room. Each of the panels measures seven by ten feet and are solid bronze. Two of the four feature Abraham Lincoln. The panel on the north side of the room features President Lincoln lifting high the shackles of slavery and offering the now freed slave a musket. The portrait of Lincoln is joined by the figures of Chase, Sherman, Wade and Giddings.

The second panel on the east side of the room, represents Lincoln meeting with his generals at City Point, Virginia in March of 1865. Lincoln is seen with many of his generals incuding Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Custer, Meade and Legett. There is one figuring peering over President Lincoln's left shoulder. This soldier is Lincoln's son Robert Todd Lincoln. Robert Todd was a captain and served on General Grant's staff. As far as I can determine there is only one other group that shows Lincoln together with his eldest son. The work is in Springfield, Illinois near the old state capital building. The artist is Larry Andersen.

The building has now been fully restored and it is glorius. If you are going through Cleveland it would be worth your time to stop and visit the Cleveland Soldier's and Sailors Monument.

More photos of the Cleveland Soldier's and Sailor's Monument can be found on my photography website located at http://dbwiegers.zenfolio.com/

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year

I hope Santa was good to everyone and none of you found coal in your stockings. I received three new Xmas ornaments from Wendy that featured Lincoln statues and Lincoln sites. She also found a vintage hand colored photograph of Abe in a gift shop in Gettysburg when we were there for the Lincoln Forum in mid-November.
It has been too long since I got back to my Lincolning blog but that does not mean that I have not been out and about visiting new and old Lincoln statues.
November found Wendy and me on the east coast in NYC, Philly and Gettysburg. There is a wonderful new Lincoln in New York and we visited and photgraphed three works in Philly.
After the first of the year, I'll post a couple of blog entries and will also upload some pictures to my photo site.
The picture above is of the Lincoln statue at the site of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Ottawa. Someone decided that Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas looked cold standing out in the middle of the park in downtown Ottawa and outfitted each with a warm scarf. I am not sure if pranksters added the scarves or if the city fathers of Ottawa added them to the statues.
I am not a huge proponent of dressing Abe up in clothing butsomeday I will have to relate the story of the HUGE bra that was placed on the statue of Lincoln in front of Millikin University in Decatur, my long time city of residence. Rumour has it that my wife may have been involved. Those crazy college kids.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. I hope your 2012 is spectacular!

Gettysburg

We arrived in Gettysburg on November 15 under threatening skies. The weather through the middle of the week was iffy at best but since we were inside it was little more than a nuisance. The biggest issue with the rain and cold was that Wendy, my wife and I, had little chance to get out onto the battlefield. I had even hoped to hook up with a certified battlefield guide named Bill Dowling for a photgraphic tour, but the weather was just to rainy and overcast. Perhaps next year.




The main reason we were in Gettysburg was to attend the Lincoln Forum being held at the Gettysburg Wyndham Hotel located east of the village of Gettsyburg. This year's theme for the Forum was "The Coming of the Civil War: Enter Lincoln, Exit the South". For parts of three days the Forum presented speakers such as Peter Carmichael, Gary Ecelbarger, Harold Holzer, Frank Williams, John Marszalek, Craig Symonds and Mark Neely.


On Thursday afternoon, the weather cleared a bit and we finally had a chance to get out of the hotel for a while and made a short trip to a little crossroads southeast of Gettysburg called Hanover Junction. Hanover Junction is famous for one thing - at this railroad station in rural Pennsylvania President Abraham Lincoln changed trains on his way to Gettysburg on November 18, 1863. The next day Lincoln would give his legendary Gettysburg Address. Hanover Junction was also the site of a minor skirmish involving Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry a few days prior to the battle at Gettsyburg 20 miles west. Stuart's troops burned bridges and other property in the Hanover Junction area but the railroad station in Hanover Junction was not damaged.
A photo exists showing Lincoln's train on the tracks next to the station and some have claimed that President Lincoln is shown in the picture. It is generally thought the man in the picture, resembling Lincoln, is a member of the traveling party.

On February 12, 2009, a bust of Lincoln was dedicated near the now restored railroad station to commemerate Lincoln shart but significant stop at Hanover Junction.
The bust, that sets on a pedestal engraved with Lincoln's signature, was executed by a local sculptor named Joe Kelly. When I saw this new Lincoln bust I thought the bust and the artist's name looked familiar but could not place it. After returning home, itfinally hit me that there is a bust of Lincoln in the old railway station in Gettysburg that is very reminescent of this piece at Hanover Junction.
Just as I suspected, the bust in Gettysburg, at the recently restored train station, is also by Joe Kelly. I have not had time to find Mr. Kelly yet. I know he lives in the Hanover/York/Gettysburg area. I want to learn more about his two Lincoln busts. I am curious about what materials he used for the statues. It is not bronze and it does not seem to be concrete. I suspect that the two works may be constructed of a resin-like material. I'll add to the blog when I am able to run down some of these facts.

Happy Birthday to Mr. Lincoln and Jeff

Okay, you know Mr. Lincoln but Jeff is not known to most of you.

Jeff is my youngest son and has lived in Dallas for nearly two years.

Today is his birthday.

He played college volleyball (its helps to be 6'6" tall and very athletic) in Pennsylvania for St. Francis and for Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His older brother Matt is 6'7" and older sister Elizabeth was 6'0" and both of them played volleyball too.

By the way, there is a statue of Abe Lincoln and John Hay on the campus of Carthage College where Jeff and Matt played and it is that statue that really started my journey with Mr. Lincoln and his sculpted images. That story some other time.

Jeff, coaches volleyball for a boy's volleyball club in the Dallas area and it worked out perfectly for him to be home for his birthday because his team journeyed to Chicago this weekend to play in a big tournament in the area. Those Dallas kids just can't handle a little Illinois cold spell. They were not prepared for what we threw at them this weekend with the snow, wind and near zero temperatures.

His team played their best but didn't do as well as they had hoped.

Twenty six years ago, Jeff was born in Decatur, IL. My wife probably recalls the weather that day and all of those other things that mom's seem to be able to recall about important dates but I just recall that he was a healthy and happy newborn.

Much to Jeff's relief now, my wife and I resisted the Abraham moniker for him. I don't even remember where the Jeffrey name came from. His middle name, Christopher, was my next to youngest brother's first name. He was killed in a tragic and utterly senseless gun accident when I was in college at Illinois State 40 years ago. Like to many young people he was killed with an empty gun - at least that is what the two kids that were playing with the gun thought.

I hadn't really thought about it until today, but it is strange that Mr. Lincoln was gunned down with so much of his life ahead of him and my brother - Jeff's name sake - was killed before his life had barely begun.

So much for the morose talk. I have a quiz for you

Does anyone recognize the statue of Lincoln above at the top of this column.?

Here are some clues:

• The statue was erected in the 1890's.



• It resided in a large park. with a large number of other statues of famous men.



• The sculptor is unknown.



• Mr. Lincoln was sculpted from marble.



• The statue is now missing!

Len you are not eligible to guess!!

That is about as far as I can go with this one. Any more detail and I make it too easy to Google for the answer.

Send me your guesses and there will be a prize for the first correct guess.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone and Happy Birthday Jeff and President Lincoln.

Love ya, Pops

Lincoln Benched!

A few weeks ago, a friend and business colleague called me and asked me if I was still doing my "Lincoln thing". I assured him I was. He wondered if I were aware that there was a statue of Lincoln in the lower level of the Village Hall in New Lenox, Illinois. I told him I was not.

I do business with the Village of New Lenox but I don't get to the lower level so I had never seen it. I thanked my friend and told him I would check it out the next time I was in the area.

There does not appear to be any direct connection between Lincoln and the Village of New Lenox. However, New Lenox is located along U. S. Highway 30 - the famous Lincoln Highway.

Perhaps I should start work on a blog post that gives the reader a look at the many Lincoln statues strung out across the USA along Mr. Lincoln's road - the Lincoln Highway.
A couple of weeks ago, I was in the New Lenox area on business and brought my camera and tripod along for the ride. I had suspected that the statue might be one that I was already familiar with.

There are a couple of artists that have sculpted Lincoln sitting on a bench and have made them available at galleries. One such artist is Gary Lee Price from Utah. His work is part of his "Great Contributors" Series which includes Lincoln, Einstein, Mark Twain and George Washington.

I have seen this particular Lincoln at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

The other artist that has a number of Lincoln's installed around the country is Colorado sculptor Gary Lundeen. Lundeen's piece has Lincoln sitting on a bench, his hat next to him, and holding notes from the Second Inaugural Address given on March 4, 1865.

Lundeen's most prominent installation of this statue is in Union Square Park in Springfield. Union Square Park, located across the street from the Abraham Lincoln Museum, also contains a large bronze statue by famed Lincoln sculptor John McClarey of Decatur, Illinois.

I made it to New Lenox and found that the piece was the Seated Lincoln by Gary Lundeen. It was installed in 2008 and paid for by a large number of corporate and individual donors.

Lincoln been portrayed many times seated on a bench. Lincoln sitting on a log or a stump is an entirely different genre which I promise to address in the future!

Perhaps the most famous is Gutzon Borglum's statue of Lincoln in Newark, New Jersey. This work was a real departure from how most sculptor's portrayed Lincoln. Instead of the standing, statesman-like Lincoln or the Great Emancipator Lincoln, Borglum's Lincoln features a sad and tired looking Lincoln seated on a bench looking very weary and contemplative. His posture invites the looker to come sit beside him for a few minutes to reflect. It is a very moving work. Borglum, the sculptor of Mt. Rushmore, sculpted this work between 1909 and 1911. His Lincoln was dedicated before a huge crowd on May 30, 1911.

There is a copy of this same piece in front of the Borglum Museum in Keystone, South Dakota.

In 2010, a larger copy of this work was dedicated in Boise, Idaho. Borglum was a native of Idaho. I was privileged to be the guest speaker at the dedication of this new copy of Borglum's masterpiece.

In 1995, a statue honoring Lincoln was placed in downtown Stamford, Connecticut's Veteran's Park and dedicated on July 11. This work, by sculptor John Blair, is an homage to Borglum's Seated Lincoln in Newark. Stamford has a strong connection to Borglum. He lived and worked in Stamford for 10 years in the early 1900's.

There is a statue of Lincoln seated on a bench in downtown Bloomington, Illinois by artist Rick Harney. Harney sculpted another Lincoln for Pontiac, IL that stands next to the historic Livingston County Court House.

If anyone reading my Blog knows of a little known or a new public or accessible private statue of Lincoln please drop me a note and if I haven' t visited it and photographed it, I will and report on it here and publish photos on my photo website.

Check out more pictures of Mr. Lincoln at my photo website at http://dbwiegers.zenfolio.com/

First Posting

This is the inaugural post of my Lincoln statue, monument and memorial blog.

The title of the blog comes from a word that I have been using when someone asks what we have been up to lately. "We have been out "Lincolning", I will tell them.

For the past many years my wife and I have travelled across the United States "Lincolning". We have visited, photographed and documented Lincoln sculptures and memorials in 35 states including Hawaii.

Most recently we took a short, quick trip right after the 4th. of July and ventured out across Illinois to visit a new statue in Marshall,Illinois by an Indiana sculptor named Bill Wolfe and to revisit a piece in Jacksonville, IL. on the campus of Illinois College by sculptors Peter Maxon and Doris parks.

In Quincy, IL, we stopped to see the recently updated site of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Washington Park in downtown Quincy. A large bas relief monument by the noted sculptor Lorado Taft was erected in 1936 at the site of the debate.

There are now statues or significant monuments erected at all 7 sites of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. The last statue group was erected in Jonesboro, in far southern Illinois, in 2008.

Our Missouri leg took us to Moberly to find an obscure marble Lincoln in a local cemetery and to document a work featuring Lincoln and his favorite son Tad, in front of Kansas City's 1937 art deco inspired City Hall.

In Kansas City, Missouri, in front of the neo-classic City Hall building, stands a statue of Lincoln with favorite son Tad by sculptor Lorenzo Ghiglieri.

Last February, a statue commemorating Abraham Lincoln's little noted week long trip to Kansas, was unveiled in Leavenworth, Kansas. Up the road from Leavenworth and across the river from St. Joseph, Missouri, in the little town of Troy, Kansas, there is a bust of Lincoln across from the county courthouse. On his trip to Kansas, Lincoln made numerous speeches and one of these speeches was given in Troy. It is claimed that Lincoln used this time in Kansas to try out and work on ideas that he would eventually use in his Cooper Union Speech in New York City in February of 1860. It is said that the Cooper Union speech helped make Lincoln president.


Another day, found us in Lincoln, Nebraska. At the west entrance to the capital building, a wonderful statue called Lincoln of Gettysburg by Lincoln Memorial sculptor, Daniel Chester French can be seen. Lincoln is in a thoughtful pose and stands in front of a huge granite monolith on which the words of the Gettysburg address are carved. The photo at the top of this post is a close-up of French's "original" Lincoln statue.

At the other end of a 6 block long boulevard, in front of the Justice and Law Enforcement Building stands a copy of a very controversial Lincoln work by the artist Louis Slobodkin. The original is in Washington DC in a private courtyard of the Department of the Interior Building. The work is called Lincoln the Rail Joiner or Lincoln the Rail Fence Builder.

The state capital building itself features two Lincoln images by noted architectural sculptor and designer Lee Lawrie. Lawrie is perhaps best known for his work in New York City and especially for the statue of 'Atlas' in front of Rockefeller Center.

Lawrie's Lincoln pieces on the Nebraska Capital Building are a large bas relief of the Emacipation and a sculpture of a young Lincoln.

The last state on our trip was Iowa. Iowa contains a large number of Lincoln works. On this ramble through Iowa, Wendy and I found an unusual pair of Lincoln monuments topped with busts of Lincoln that mark a 90 degree turn on the route of the original Lincoln Highway. The two markers are located just north of Scranton in west central Iowa. The markers are known as the Moss Markers after the local farmer that erected them.

Scranton is not far from Jefferson, Iowa where a large full sized statue of Lincoln is located in front of the courthouse. This work, by Granville Hasting, is but one of three copies of this statue. Other copies of this Lincoln work can be found in Cincinnatti, Ohio and in Bunker Hill, Illinois, near Alton, IL. The Jefferson copy is the only one of the three to feature only Lincoln. The Ohio and Illinois pieces are made up of two figures. One being Lincoln and the other a woman, half kneeling, and inscribing upon the pedestal the words, "With Malice Towards None,"

The final statue we visited on our quick Lincolning trip was found in a very small, quaint but out-of-the-way town in northeast Iowa. Clermont, Iowa, is approximately 25 miles west of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin on the Turkey river. The Clermont Lincoln is located in a small park on the north end of the city. This work is a copy of a much more elaborate statue by George Bissell located in Edinburgh, Scotland. The piece in Scotland is made up of two figures. One is the same Lincoln that is seen in Clermont. The second bronze figure is a crouching, freed slave reaching one of his arms up to the Lincoln figure standing above him.

The statue in Clermont does not include the slave figure from the Edinburgh original. Instead, Bissell added four highly detailed bronze relief panels honoring the memory of the soldiers and sailors of the Civil War. It is my guess that the bronze panels were added instead of the slave figure for both economic reasons (a second bronze figure would be quite expensive) and because the donors were most interested in honoring the men who fought in the Civil War and not to commemerate the Emancipation of the slaves.

Bissell's bust of Lincoln from this statue is quite popular and oft times can be found for sale on the Internet.

Next blog post - Lincoln goes to Norway!