Augustus Saint-Gaudens: The Shaw Memorial, Pt. 1

Sketches in clay for Shaw Memorial

Plaster for the Shaw Memorial by Augustus Saint-Gaudens
at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

"I had scarcely moved into the studio in which I would work for the next fifteen years, when I renewed my acquaintance with the man who was largely instrumental in obtaining the one piece of work which remained in that place through almost my whole stay. The man was the architect, Mr. H.H. Richardson, the work the Shaw relief. [The monument marks Robert Gould Shaw's death on July 18, 1863, after he and his troops attacked Fort Wagner, one of two forts protecting the strategic Confederate port or Charleston, South Carolina.]

Mr. Richardson was also a great friend of Messrs. Atkinson, Lee and Higginson. Consequently it was at his suggestion that they determined to see whether it was not possible to have me execute a monument to Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, which had been proposed but abandoned. They had about fifteen thousand dollars, and I was engaged to complete it for that sum, since I, like most sculptors at the beginning of their careers, felt that by hook or crook I must do an equestrian statue, and that here I had found my opportunity. 

Therefore I proceeded with this theory until the Shaw family objected on the ground that, although Shaw was of a noble type, as noble as any, still he had not been a great commander, and only men of the highest rank should be so honored. In fact, it seemed pretentious. Accordingly, in casting about for some manner of reconciling my desire with their ideas, I fell upon a plan of associating him directly with his troops in a bas-relief, and thereby reducing his importance. I made a sketch showing this scheme, and the monument as it now stands is virtually what I indicated.

I began work on it at once, and soon it took up the entire width of the studio, as it stood about two-thirds of the way back from the street, with behind it a platform about eight feet high, on which I placed whatever statue I had to do that would ultimately be on a pedestal. However, I, through my extreme interest in it and its opportunity, increased the conception until the rider grew almost to a statue in the round and the soldiers assumed far more importance than I had originally intended. Hence the monument, developing in this way infinitely beyond what could be paid for, became a labor of love, and lessened my hesitation in setting it aside at times to make way for more lucrative commissions, commissions that would reimburse me for the pleasure and time I was devoting to this." 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens" by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his son, Homer Saint-Gaudens.)   

 

Augustus Saint-Gaudens: Cornish, New Hampshire

"Now let me turn to other pleasures, and chief among them to my coming in 1885 to Cornish, New Hampshire. For this coming made the beginning of a new side of my existence. I was thirty-seven at the time and it dawned upon me seriously how much there was outside of my little world. We hit upon Cornish because, while casting about for a summer residence, Mr. C.C. Beaman told me that if I would go up there with him, he had an old house which he would sell me for what he paid for it, five hundred dollars. I insisted that I was not wealthy enough to spend that amount, but as Mrs. Saint-Gaudens saw the future of sunny days that would follow, she detained me until Mr. Beaman agreed to rent the house to me at a low price for as long as I wished. 

However, the experiment had proved so successful and I was so enchanted with the life and scenery, I bought the house the following year for a certain amount and a bronze portrait of Mr. Beaman.

It was not long after our coming up here that Mr. George de Forest Brush, the painter, decided to pass the summer near us. He lived with Mrs. Brush in an Indian tepee he built on the edge of our woods, near a ravine, about five hundred yards from the house; for he had camped with the Indians for years and knew their habits. The spring following my arrival, my friend, Mr. T.W. Dewing, the painter, was casting about for a place to pass the summer, when I told him of a cottage that could be rented about twenty minutes' walk from my habitation. Mr. Dewing came. He saw. He remained. And from that event the colony developed, it being far more from Mr. Dewing's statements of the surrounding beauty than from mine that others joined us. 

The year after, Mr. Henry Oliver Walker bought land; and the year after that his friend, Mr. Charles A Platt, joined him. Mr. Platt brought Stephen Parrish [father of Maxfield Parrish], and so on, until now there are many families. The circle has extended beyond the range even of my acquaintance, to say nothing of friendship. The country still retains its beauty, though its secluded charm is being swept away before the rushing automobile..."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens" by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his son, Homer Saint-Gaudens.)   

Augustus Saint-Gaudens: Medallions

"Jules Bastien-Lepage" 
by Augustus Saint-Gaudens

"At this earlier time, in addition to my larger commissions, I made medallions which I exhibited at the Paris Salon, along with the statue of Farragut, in 1879. Then, too, through a mutual friend I met Bastien-Lepage, who was in the height of the renown he had achieved by his painting of Joan of Arc. This picture Mr. Irwin Davis subsequently purchased and, at my earnest recommendation, gave to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Lepage was short, bullet-headed, athletic and in comparison with the majority of my friends, dandified in dress. I recall his having been at the Beaux Arts during the period I studied there, and my disliking him for this general cockiness. He asked if I would make a medallion of him in exchange for a portrait of myself. Of course I agreed to the proposal, and as his studio was not far from mine, the medallion was modeled during a period when he was unable to work on account of a sprained ankle. He moved away shortly afterward, and I saw little of him except for the four hours a day when I posed for the full-length sketch he made of me. This painting was destroyed in the fire which burned my studio in 1904."

At this point, Homer Saint-Gaudens interjects:

"Of all the lesser commissions modeled at the time, the low reliefs, in especial were of importance, as they marked the real commencement of the series of medallions which he developed through his life until they became the one form of his art in which he considered himself a master. Yet none of the medallions he then modeled satisfied him to the extent of that of Bastien-Lepage, both because he believed the relief was as near perfection as he ever came, and because he was greatly interested in a rare combination of talent and vanity in his sitter. One example of this remains by me: my father's amusement in Lepage's often telling him not to draw the hands too large, the painter giving, as an excuse for his attitude, the reason that the hands were of small importance in comparison with the rest of the figure.

In another way, too, the medallion nearly led to further pleasure, as upon Lepage's showing his copy to the Princess of Wales, she immediately suggested that my father make the portrait of the Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII. Unfortunately, my father could remain only a little longer in Europe, so the relief was never modeled."

To be continued

* The inscription located across the top of the medallion reads: "JULES.BASTIEN-LEPAGE. AETATIS.XXXI.PARIS.M.D.C.C.C.LXXX.AVGVSTVS. SAINT-GAUDENS. FECIT." which means "Jules Bastien-Lepage, aged 31, Paris, 1880. Augustus Saint-Gaudens made [this]."

(Excerpts from "The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens" by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his son, Homer Saint-Gaudens.) 

 

Augustus Saint-Gaudens: The Farragut Monument

"Admiral David Glasgow Farragut" by August Saint-Gaudens
Pedestal by Stanford White

"One day when I had occasion to see Governor Morgan, he said to me, after questioning me about some old sketches I had made: 'I think there is a statue of Admiral Farragut to be erected in New York. Do you know anything about it?' 'No." 'Go and see Cisco.' Mr. John J. Cisco was a banker very prominent in affairs at that time. I took Governor Morgan's advice and visited him. 'Yes,' said Mr. Cisco, 'we have eight thousand dollars for a statue for Farragut, but, before deciding to whom it is to go, we shall have to have a meeting.' A meeting followed in a few days, and the work had been awarded to me, but 'only by the skin of the teeth,' five of the committee having voted for giving the commission to a sculptor of high distinction, while six of them voted for me. Again another glorious day! 

I hired an enormous studio in the Rue Notre Dame des Champs in order to begin the large statue of Farragut. It was here that Stanford White came, and in that studio composed and made the studies for the pedestal of the Farragut monument, which he modified after his return to America. Not until the Farragut was at last ready to go to the bronze founder, did I leave this ballroom size studio to take a less ambitious one. I had the Farragut cast in Paris by a man named Gruet, but the first attempt failed, so that it needed to be done over. When it had been completed successfully we came back to New York, where I was destined to remain for seventeen years before returning to Europe, a period virtually launched by the unveiling of my statue in Madison Square upon the afternoon of the beautiful day in May, 1881.

These formal unveilings of monuments are impressive affairs and variations from the toughness that pervades a sculptor's life. For we constantly deal with practical problems, with molders, contractors, derricks, stone-men, ropes, builders, scaffoldings, marble assistants, bronze-men, trucks, rubbish men, plasterers and what-not else, all the while trying to soar into the blue. But if managed intelligently, there is a swing to unveilings, and the moment when the veil drops from the monument certainly makes up for many of the woes that go toward the creating of the work. 

On this special occasion, Mr. Joseph H. Choate delivered the oration The sailors who assisted added to the picturesqueness of the procession. The artillery placed in the part, back of the statue, was discharged. And when the figure in the shadow stood revealed, and the smoke rolled up into the sunlight upon the buildings behind it, the sight gave an impression of dignity and beauty that it would take a rare pen to describe."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens" by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his son, Homer Saint-Gaudens.) 

* Admiral David Glasgow Farragut (1801-1870), began his military career at age nine. He served as a midshipman on the frigate Essex during the War of 1812, and led campaigns against Caribbean-based pirates during the 1820s. He later fought in the Mexican War. At the outset of the Civil War, Farragut’s Union sympathies compelled him to move from Virginia to Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. He won lasting fame by wresting New Orleans from Confederate control. Then, against all odds, his troops defeated Confederate forces to take Mobile Bay where he uttered the immortal words: “Damn the torpedoes. .. full speed ahead!" (Excerpt from: https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/madison-square-park/monuments/466)

Augustus Saint-Gaudens: Back to the States

"Adoration of the Cross of Angels"
by Augustus Saint-Gaudens

"At last, when my marbles were finished, I went back to America. I took a studio on the corner of Fourteenth Street and Fourth Avenue in New York, which still stands as I write. The first floor was occupied by the bank, the third contained rooms rented out to Odd Fellows Lodges for occasional meetings in the evening. There were but three floors and no elevator. I was the first tenant on the second floor. It became sad business going up an iron staircase alone, and walking across the big corridor to my room, my lonely steps echoing through the hall. I would turn on the water at the little wash basin, let it run continuously with a gentle tinkle, and thus recall the sound of the fountain in the garden at Rome.

Here were brought to me a couple of redheads who have been thoroughly mixed up in my life ever since. I speak of Stanford White and Charles F. McKim. White, who was studying with Richardson, had much to do with the designing of Trinity Church in Boston. He was drawn to me one day, as he ascended the German Savings Bank stairs, by hearing me bawl the 'Andante' of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, and 'The Serenade' from Mozart's 'Don Giovanni.' He was a great lover of music. McKim I met later on. A devouring love for ice cream brought us together.

One direct result of the various kinds of sculpture I executed at that time led to my association with Mr. John La Farge in the execution of the 'King' monument to go in the cemetery at Newport, Rhode Island. Part of the work I modeled in his studio in that town. It was absolutely his design, and possessed that singular grace, elevation, nobility, and distinction which is characteristic of what ever he has touched. I was the tool that modeled for him then, as I was subsequently in the painting I did for him as an assistant in his decoration of Trinity Church in Boston. Those again were great days, for he had with him at that time Mr. Francis Lathrop, Mr. Frank Millet, and Mr. George Maynard."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens" by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his son, Homer Saint-Gaudens.) 

 

 

 

Augustus Saint-Gaudens: Making a Living

"Mars" cameo by Augustus Saint-Gaudens

"From this point the tide began to turn in my favor. For, soon after, Governor Morgan, on a visit to Italy, learning of my presence there, came to call on me. The fact of my being in Rome, the charm of that city, the idyllic loveliness of the garden in which my studio was smothered, and, to be literal, its nearness to his hotel must have appealed peculiarly to him upon his realizing that here was the son of the interesting man who had made shoes for him in New York.  

Accordingly, upon his request, I went to see him at the hotel, where he asked me what it would cost to cut in marble the statue of Hiawatha. I have forgotten what the price was; I think in the neighborhood of eight hundred dollars. He said he would take the statue if I would execute it for him for that sum. I suppose I danced with glee when I reached my studio after that visit, as here again was one of the happiest days of my life. There seem to be plenty of them as I proceed.

The 'Hiawatha,' the 'Silence,' the busts I had made, and the copies of antiques, were being cut in marble. I was working away completing the portraits of the two daughters of Mr. Gibbs, and I was beginning the studies of statues with which I was to embellish the world. The first represented Mozart, nude, playing the violin. Why under heaven I made him nude is a mystery. The second displayed a Roman slave holding young Augustus on the top of a Pompeian column and crowning him with laurel. 

Even with all this, in order to keep his head above the water, Saint-Gaudens was forced to return to his cameos. By this time he had established himself as the most skillful cameo-engraver in Paris or Rome. So, he set up a shop in which his brother and a couple of others worked under his eye. Occasionally also, when in especial need of twenty-five or fifty dollars, he would sit at the lathe himself and finish a brooch and two earrings in twelve hours. Fortunately, this was almost the last occasion in which cameo cutting played a part." 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens" by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his son, Homer Saint-Gaudens.) 

Augustus Saint-Gaudens: To America and Back Again

"Judge Edwards Pierrepont"
by Augustus Saint-Gaudens

"A friend, Mr. Gibbs, seeing how I was held down by Roman fever* and realizing that I had been five years away from home, very kindly offered to advance me passage money with which I might go to America and return, after visiting my parents. On my way north it was strange to go through Paris and see the traces of the awful combats of the Commune. On all the principal streets, houses could be found with pieces knocked off by musket bullets and cannon balls, the iron shutters of some of the great department stores and barracks so filled with bullet holes that they resembled sieves. At Liverpool I took the steamer for America, reaching home safely to the surprised delight of my family. For I had given them no idea of my coming, and marched into Father's store quite without warning!

I was not long idle in New York, as, shortly after my arrival, I began the bust of Senator Evarts in the dressing room of his house. Thereafter one thing rapidly led to another. Through Mr. Evarts I received a commission for a bust of Mr. Edward Stoughton, and later of Mr. Edwards Pierrepont, then Attorney General under President Grant. After that followed an order from Mr. Elihu Root, now Secretary of State for two copies of the busts of Demosthenes and Cicero, which made me feel richer than I have ever felt since. And lastly, Mr. Willard, an admirer of my old employer LeBrethon, on learning that I was returning to Italy, commissioned me to have a sarcophagus cut for him and to model a figure of Silence, to be placed at the head of the principal staircase in the Masonic Building on the corner of Twenty-third Street and Sixth Avenue. The less said about that statue the better.

With this, to me, bewildering amount of work, I sailed on the 'Egypt' for Liverpool, my brother Louis having gone abroad a month or so ahead of me to see that things were ready when I got to Rome, and incidentally to earn his living, as I had done, by cameo cutting. The day of my departure was a sad one, for it was the last I saw of my mother when she stood weeping on the dock, and it seems as if I had a presentiment that it would be so."

To be continued

* "Roman fever"was a particularly virulent, historical strain of malaria that plagued Rome particularly during the 18th and 19 centuries.

(Excerpts from "The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens" by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his son, Homer Saint-Gaudens.)